Flic et rebelle

Kiefer plays an undercover cop who infiltrates a gang and takes part in a heist. Enter Phillips as a quiet dignified Lakota Indian who teams up with Kiefer because the baddies stole his people's sacred lance. Yes, I said sacred lance. The supporting cast don't help. Bill Smitrovich appears in the one note role as Sutherland's police superior and the moment Michael Moriarty shows up it's the "Hey I'm this movie's dirty cop. Yeah me!" dance.

The only noteworthy element is how quick the police response time is. Anything breaks out and they're on the scene pronto! In most movies, there's enough time to kill twenty people, blow up a building and have a car chase before the police even show up.

I should mention the whole Native American Indian sub-plot. They don't use it as an attempt at mixing cultures. It's only surface level. Another variation on the whole buddy cop movie. Who's going to be the white guy's partner. Teaming up because of the sacred lance is equal parts funny and lazy. 'They stole my secret lance now we're partners'. Give me a break. 'Renegades' is somehow a nearly two hour long caper.

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.

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 can't understand why the cop drama/action film 'Renegades' has such a steady following (relegating it, of course, to cult status), although I can guess that it's familiar cast--Sutherland, Phillips, and Gertz--had much to do with it, because this is certainly one bland, if not condescending "thriller." Kiefer Sutherland plays good cop and bad cop. He's working undercover investigating a ruthless gang leader who is in cahoots with a dirty cop and brokers a deal with the gang leader on a jewel heist in exchange for giving up the cop's name. But, the ruthless leader is of course, ruthlessly violent, and the heist goes seriously foul. When the leader decides to take with him a valuable Native American relic, killing one young man's brother in the action, Lou Diamond Phillips seeks revenge like a martial arts film.

This movie is wholly unconvincing. You can figure it out almost immediately who the "dirty cop" as it is done without any subtleties. The story lingers on far longer than it should, especially with all of the effects of car chases and explosions of a good (if not cheesy) action film, minus the need for all of it. With either Sutherland's arrogant and seemingly out-of-place character or Phillip's "spiritual-mined" character-with-a-vengeance, this film probably would've been much better, even if following more of a martial arts genre routine, with just the story of the Native American family seeking revenge on the drug dealer. There is something here that does not mesh between the two main leads. And Gertz is wasted altogether.

For a good 1980s cop thriller, look elsewhere.

(53%) A decently sized step up from the more average buddy cop movies of the 80's and 90's, that has still managed to get itself largely forgotten about. The plot is simple as you like fluff surrounding undercover Kiefer Sutherland tracking down a typical, yet without doubt very dangerous bad guy criminal who just so happens to steal a native American spear and kill a family member of Lou Diamond Phillips (big mistake) which of course leads to an unlikely team-up. The action sequences are better than most with plenty of car chases, shoot-outs and it's all solidly entertaining. The script could have been improved by giving more depth to the characters as the cast are fed on scraps throughout resulting in no real lasting impression. Which probably explains why this has fallen through the cracks a little. For fans of police action movies this is well worth a look, as it does give most of what one could possibly want from a mid-budget 80's flick.