Lone Hero

I put this movie in the same catagory as "Roadhouse" and "Maximum Overdrive" cheap and forgettable, but for some reason, I own all 3....

Lone Hero is not for everyone's taste, but like the commercials for India Pale Ale up here in Canada say, "Those who like it, like it a lot."

Possibly the greatest B-lister working today, Sean Patrick Flannery, stars as a bad guy in a wild west show who turns into a real hero by roughing up some criminal bikers.

The cowardly townsfolk turn against him, and soon he only has a whacked out war veteran on his side. Is the fact that this is a made for cable movie obvious? yes. Is it cliched? yes.

This is just a modern western, and by the time the credits role, the film will be forgotten, but it is fun escapism for the 90 minutes that it lasts. And the theme song is kind of catchy.

This movie was shot on the same set as "The Wild One" 1953 Marlon Brando, yeah? It really looks like it. I don't know for sure, can anyone confirm? Motorcycles, small town set, someone help me here. Even the bar looks the same. The storefronts, everything. If it is the same set, what a poor tribute to the original. Most folks these days have not seen that movie, but it is a classic. Brando with his hat skewed, 50 years before Ashton Kutcher did it on "Punk'd". Black and white movies at their best. Beers cost coins. James Coburn is a young punk. Bikers are hep cats. Can't tell if Brando is a beatnik in a leather jacket or Hollywood just wanted the best of both worlds.

This film was recently shown in the spring of 2002 on HBO. The twist to this film involves one of the participants in a local town's wild west show given to tourist. A criminalistic motorcycle gang invades the town. It is that participant mentioned above who cleverly fights off this gang, one with the help of a friend who apparently is well versed in weapondry and by getting a few of the towns participants to assist him when the gang makes its final assault to seize the town with their ultimate goal of perhaps killing innocents and pillaging the town for whatever they can use on their travels. Lou Diamond Phillips is ideal as the head of the biker gang with a mean wise guy attitude. Sean Patrick Flannery is perfect as the mild mannered participant that wards off the gang. Robert Forster is good support as the friend of Flannery and the weapons expert.

There is a style to this action film that although makes it a sort of "B" film that makes it a cut above similar type films. I would say that the plot-story line is the key that is carried out very well.

Survivalists across the nation will love Lone Hero who takes on a gang of murderous bikers who threaten their peaceful western theme village. Our Lone Hero in this case is Sean Patrick Flannery with a little help from iconoclastic Robert Forster and others.

The film is The Wild One meets 3:10 To Yuma. Lou Diamond Phillips heads a biker gang only these dudes carry weapons that Marlon Brando and Lee Marvin never had. He gets into town and robs a local bar and one of actors in a western reenactment show for the tourists actually arrests Phillips and hands him over to the law.

But like in 3:10 to Yuma, the gang comes in and then it's a battle between Flannery forced to become a real western hero and Phillips and the gang.

The film really does belong to Lou Diamond Phillips however. He actually makes this murderous thug charming in his own gruesome way. He overacts to the max, but in this situation that's what I'd have done. He's far more colorful than pallid Sean Patrick Flannery as the hero.

Lone Hero is not a great film, but definitely easy to take and a film the National Rifle Association ought to be buying the rights to and disseminating as it perfectly puts their case against gun control.

For those living in the Ivory Tower who think that "Citizen Kane" is the movie by which all others should be judged, this movie is complete trash. For the rest of us who remember that movies are ENTERTAINMENT before ART, this movie certainly has the capacity to be entertaining.

It's a modern western: A small town in the west, a gang of bandits, and a nobody who has to save the day thanks to an older, tougher mentor. The action is fast-paced, yet refreshingly simple, and the movie deserves bonus points for not taking itself too seriously...in fact, the general pace of the movie switches fluidly between action and comic relief. The direction is effective, with a few inventive shots, and the score has the perfect "modern western" feel to it. The acting, however, is a bit weak. Sean Patrick Flanery acts like he's about to fall asleep, and most of the rest of the cast is completely forgettable. Two exceptions however, are Robert Forster (who is for the post part solid) and Lou Diamond Phillips, who actually overplays to the point of being likable (it's an over-the-top character, thus requiring an over-the-top performance).

Anyone looking for a meaningful cinematic experience will surely be disappointed, but if you're looking for an entertaining shoot 'em up, you can do a lot worse.

7/10