Renegados pela Justiça

The only reason I give Renegades as high a rating as I do is because I'm a great big fan of the leads Lou Diamond Phillips and Kiefer Sutherland. Rarely have I seen a major theatrical motion picture resting on a supposition as outrageous as this one.

Kiefer Sutherland is a Philadelphia detective gone undercover on his own to find a corrupt cop. He's infiltrated a mob headed by a very cold blooded hood played by Robert Knepper who's planning a jewel heist.

The heist goes off, but with some unforeseen complications. Such as the fact that Knepper while fleeing from the cops in hot pursuit, goes through the Philadelphia American Indian Museum and on impulse steals a sacred lance of the Lakota Sioux tribe. He also shoots Gary Farmer who tries to stop him and cold conks Sutherland who tries the same.

Phillips is Farmer's brother and he and Sutherland form an alliance of convenience to accomplish their separate goals. But I have to say that the whole idea here is just plain preposterous.

Phillips is a stoic Indian figure, he's carrying over his performance from Young Guns where he and Sutherland met and became lifetime friends. Sutherland's performance is a combination of Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry and Steve McQueen from Bullitt.

For action fans there are enough gun battles and one great car chase as in Bullitt through the streets of Philadelphia/Toronto as some of Renegades was filmed there. As Sutherland and Phillips are good friends in real life as well the spirit of camaraderie does come through. Jami Gertz as Knepper's girl friend has a very nice role as basically an old time gangster moll.

Yet the whole idea behind Renegades is just plain preposterous and unless you're a fan of either one or both the leads you're going to laugh yourself silly.

RENEGADES is a great formula film from Jack Sholder. The films format is action adventure with a heavy native american theme. The film tells the tale of police corruption, mafia dirty dealings and the theft of a sacred lance from a native american tribe. The film has predictable elements yet is worthwhile. Of note is the directing style of sholder which is kinetic enough to keep the audience interested. RENEGADES is formula but succeds at being good formula; good formula never fails. I recommend this film as a popcorn and coke film.

I will always like this movie for 3 reasons- 1. That Jami Gertz was in it--2. That fellow Canadian Kiefer Sutherland was in it and 3. It was shot here in Toronto,Ontario downtown and I watched alot of the location shooting. I remember watching alot of the filming downtown and they had alot of the streets blocked off that made for traffic nightmares donwtown Toronto. But getting to meet Jami Gertz was the exciting part. She was very friendly to the people who would be standing around watching the filming. At this time I had only known who she was from Lost Boys and the TV Show Square Pegs.

Anyhow Kiefer is great in this as a cop who is on a corruption in the police force task force but seems to never have the best luck. Lou Diamond Phillips plays a native indian and he is not too bad in it. But Jami Gertz I say steals this movie for sure. Lots of pretty good action and shoot ups. I don't see what people never liked about it. I guess nowadays it is just waaay too hard to have a viewer actually not go into watching a movie with a closed mind nowadays unless someone like Tom Cruise or Brad pitt is in it. I didn't really see any boring parts in it and Sutherland,Phillips and Gertz all together have some charisma on screen. Surprising with Phillips who is usually hot and cold in his flicks.

RENEGADES is your standard buddy-buddy action cop thriller from the late '80s, with the twist here that one of the central twosome is a Native American and the other's, well, Kiefer Sutherland. Otherwise it's business as usual as the pair are forced into an unlikely partnership when they have to track down a gang of diamond thieves.

The film benefits immensely from the presence of skilled director Jack Sholder, straight from the excellent B-flick gem THE HIDDEN and bringing plenty of style in his wake. The early heist-turned-chase sequence is the definite highlight of the whole movie and although it never regains this level of expertise, it proves to be perfectly adequate.

The script is fairly routine but the addition of some Indian philosophy (and more than a little mumbo-jumbo) makes for a welcome change. Sutherland is a solid leading man even this early in his career, but Lou Diamond Phillips is the real star, bringing a zen-like calm to his character. RENEGADES isn't brilliant and certainly doesn't have the intensity of the likes of the first two LETHAL WEAPONs but it does pass the time well enough.

Keifer Sutherland is an undercover cop who has gotten himself in too deep, and Lou Phillips is a long-haired Indian on the trail of a stolen lance sacred to his tribe. The two team up against the bad guys, and all hell breaks loose. Plenty of car chases, shootouts and general mayhem ensue, in the best style of all those late 1980s low-budget crime thrillers. Sutherland and Phillips are always fun to watch, although Phillips is maybe a bit too stoic from time to time. The finale is high on the body count, which is all we can ask from many of these '80s action setpieces. If it all looks a bit dated now, especially Sutherland's funky-chicken hairdo, so be it. They can't all be DIE HARD or LETHAL WEAPON. Having said that, RENEGADES beats TANGO AND CASH any day.