Lone Hero

I saw parts of this movie on HBO while flipping between channels looking for something worthwhile to watch. I thought this made for HBO movie was far from what I was looking for. After seeing parts of it probably half a dozen times and being drawn in, I finally sat down and watched it from beginning to end.

This movie has a straightforward simple plot. At a glance it looks like "Hollywood stock" and the average back cover synopsis at the movie store wouldn't lead you to believe different. But, this film is of higher quality. The writing is good, even witty. The acting is good. The action is a vehicle to the plot, not center stage. It is a light, benevolent, and heroic movie, with action as its backdrop.

Unfortunately I haven't seen anything else written or directed by Ken Sanzel that was worth the time to watch it.

The "High Noon" story has been told so many ways on the screen that its hard to think that another retelling could be anything but tedious.

Surprisingly, however, "Lone Hero" is an entertaining, low-budget variant on the tale, thanks to a terrific performance by Lou Diamond Phillips as the vicious, but sardonically perceptive biker villain with most of the good lines. Sean Patrick Flanery, as the title hero, and Robert Forster, his ally with a unspoken past, provide more than able support.

The plot is by the book (or is it by the screenplay?), but there is enough nicely mounted action to keep fans of the genre happy, and enough good dialog to keep most others from getting bored.

This film has what so many direct-to-video action films lack--good acting with a script whose iconic characters rise well enough above the trite to make the scenes between the fights worth watching.

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 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.

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