Movie Review - Gunmen (1993) Christopher Lambert, Mario Van Peebles & Patrick Stewart star as criminal DEA agent and Drug lord all looking for 400 million which was stolen and hidden on a boat somewhere Movie Review

Gunmen (1993)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Christopher Lambert in Gunmen (1993)

Less Than 48 Hrs.

Following the murder of his brother, Dani Servigo (Christopher Lambert - Highlander) finds himself being paid a visit in prison by DEA agent Cole Parker (Mario Van Peebles - Crown Heights) who busts Dani out of prison in order to get him to lead him to the boat where his brother stashed 400 million dollars. But Cole isn't the only one wanting to talk to Dani as drug boss Loomis (Patrick Stewart - X-Men: Days of Future Past) has hired Armor O'Malley (Denis Leary) to find Dani as it is his money which went missing, With O'Malley and his heavies taking no prisoners Dani and Cole are forced to work together to stay ahead of the trouble in order to get their hands on the money.

Let's be really frank, there is not a single original idea in "Gunmen" and feels little more than a b-movie where the writers have cobbled together a story which is heavily influenced by other movies such as 48 Hrs.. As such the opening scene which sees us meeting Dani in a dirty jail where a fly is buzzing around his face is a familiar scene from a western as is the following jail break scene as a walk is blown to pieces. And so it goes on as other cliches enter the mix, from Loomis being an evil wheelchair bound drugs baron to O'Malley being a double crossing mercenary. It makes "Gunmen" the sort of movie which will entertain if you have limited movie knowledge but will bore those who grew up on these sorts of movies during the 80s.

Mario Van Peebles in Gunmen (1993)

But in a way the focus of "Gunmen" was never really about the storyline but purely an exercise in delivering action and comedy. Whilst there certainly is action it again falls foul of being derivative and in all honest only one action scene ends up memorable which revolves Dani being dangled on a rope from a helicopter and being dunked into the ocean to get him to talk. That scene is also meant to be comical but most of the comedy is meant to come from the unlikely buddy situation of Cole and Dani forced to work together and not trusting each other. Unfortunately it's not really that funny and fails to really spark in to life with some seriously dumb gags such as when they shoot each other in their legs forcing them to limp together.

In the end there is only one good thing about "Gunmen" and that is Christopher Lambert or in fact Lambert's face because his facial expressions, the look of dumb shock, is the only truly funny thing in the movie. Aside from Lambert's facial expressions none of the acting is good even from Patrick Stewart who at the time must have been desperate to agree to this but then when every actor is saddled with a cliche character you don't really expect a great deal.

What this all boils down to is that "Gunmen" ends up another derivative movie which tries to give us the antagonistic buddy set up of "48 Hrs." but never comes close to getting it right. Whilst I wouldn't say that "Gunmen" is terrible it is below par and ends up a bit of slog due its lack of originality.


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