The Rage

**SPOILERS** Outragous movie about a gang of psycho Vietnam Vets who are at war with not only the US government, whom they feel betrayed them back in Nam, but the entire country as well for not giving them the moral and political support that they needed when they came back home.

Led by a Rambo-like Art Dacy, Gary Busey,these angry and unstable individuals have taken their rage and hatred back to the states by waging a guerrilla war of their own against the people and law enforcement personnel of Wasatch County.

Assigned to finding out who's responsible for over sixty murders in and around Wasatch county is both FBI man and women Nick Travis & Kelly McCord, Lerenzo Lamas & Kristen Cloke. We learn early in the movie that the man in charge of this FBI operation agent John Taggert, Roy Scheider, is actually more interested in doing in his agents on the case, Travis and later McCord, then catching the gang of psychos who turned the entire north-west into a free fire zone.

Taggert has it in especially for Travis since an unfortunate shooting incident at a place called Quantico where because of his screwing things up caused a number of FBI agents and white separatists to be killed in a Ruby Ridge-like assault by the FBI. This foul-up on Agent Taggert's, not Travis',part cost him the chance of being promoted director of the FBI and he's held Travis responsible for that ever since.

Meanwhile crazy Dacy and his and his gang of loonies are planing to wipe out the entire bunch of US government representatives who are about to have a big get together between themselves and the North Vietnamese at an exclusive compound outside of Bear Lake called the Bountiful Society. Shades of the super secret Bohemian Grove retreat outside of San Francisco?

Hard to follow because of all the side plots and double-crossing going on all throughout the film that you find yourself having trouble keeping up with what's happening on the screen. The movie "The Rage" goes from a psycho, or psychos, on the looses to a gang of veterans who were mentally damaged and left out in the cold by their government to a crazed and unstable FBI man. Who's obsessed w with hanging the man who he holds responsible for his failures. To finally a massacre of the leadership of the US government during the Vietnam war by the veterans that they sent there to do the fighting.

You have to say one thing about the movie and that is that it didn't skimp on the action scenes which were like every ten minutes. The ending mercifully made sure that the villain, Art Dacy, wasn't going to come back for an encore. I have to say that even though Dacy was as vicious and venomous as they come you could still work up some sympathy for him, not his actions, in the movie. Dacy was turned into a Frankenstein monster by the government who refused to grant him, and many other vets, the medical and psychological help they they so desperately needed and in fact even cut the meager funding that Dacy and his fellow psychotic already got.

Taggart was an entirely different type of cuckoo bird who had no reason for his despicable actions, in regard to both agents Travis & McCord. Taggarts demise at the end of the movie evoked a much more unsympathetic response even by his fellow lawmen as the SWAT team leader. As local Wasatch Sheriff Dobson(Brandon Smith), who gunned him down before he could do in both Travis & McCord,reported as he called for back up by saying: Come on down boys and pack up this trash, we ain't no litterbugs".

I saw this 1997 movie because I am a fan of Lorenzo Lamas (and of his father, the late Fernando Lamas). In my opinion, Lorenzo looked his best in this film, mostly due to his hairstyle and the preppy wardrobe that were flattering to him.

As the plot progressed, I realized the movie was more than just entertainment or a reason to see a favorite actor. The story was about a ring of serial killers and the attempts of law enforcement to investigate the ring and bring the members to justice. There was adequate suspense, and I believe the violence was necessary to relate the story to the viewer.

At the end of the film I was shocked to learn the film is the true account of horrendous murders that occurred in Utah. Furthermore, Lorenzo and his leading lady were portraying actual FBI agents who solved the disappearances of many young women and contributed to the apprehension of the ring. I believe the film is worthwhile as it informs the public about the dangers and capabilities of the criminal element.

This was absolutely the worst movie I have seen in quite a while. And not in a good way. Some bad movies are fun to watch. This was a complete waste of time. The characters were typical -- bad guys being over the top bad, bad cops being over the top bad, the tormented good cop who is fighting the system in the name of a good cause and the stock rookie female partner who offers help and redemption for the good cop. The writers were so lazy that they lifted events out of current headlines to add to the movie without any real value. Bad script. Bad dialogue. Even over the top shoot-em up car chases. Nothing good to be found here. The only positive thing I can say about this movie was the beautiful background scenery. Other than that, it was a bust.

As I happened to stumble upon this 1997 action thriller here in 2024, I opted to sit down and watch it, since it was a movie that I hadn't already seen, nor actually ever heard about.

I didn't know what I was in for here, so writers Sidney J. Furie and Greg Mellott had every opportunity to impress and entertain me with their movie. It was an okay enough script, but definitely had its flaws and shortcomings. I love how police officers and FBI just randomly shoot their weapons at vehicles without regards for bystanders and such.

A large portion of the movie was spent showing police officers and FBI agents on foot standing and shooting at driving vehicles or running and shooting at driving vehicles.

The dialogue in the movie was pretty terrible. It was poorly written, the actors and actresses didn't really have much to work with.

There are some familiar faces on the cast list in this movie, with the likes of Gary Busey, Lorenzo Lamas, Roy Scheider, David Carradine and Jeff Doucette. The acting performances were fair enough, though you're not in for an evening of Shakespearian theater here. I wasn't familiar with female leading actress Kristen Cloke, but talk about delivering a wooden performance of a staggering slaughter of dialogue.

Not a great movie, nor a movie that I will ever return to watch a second time. There are far better action thrillers readily available.

My rating of director Sidney J. Furie's 1997 movie "The Rage" lands on a five out of ten stars.

What a show! Lorenzo Lamas once again proves his talent as a cop who committed the worst crime a good cop can commit, by being a good cop. Then, again, he shows how sensitive a cop can be, displaying a range of emotions like no other actor can except, maybe, himself in Terminal justice.

HUGE ENJOYMENT!