Gunmen

Rating:
Summary: Congratulations Artisan, You've Ruined Another Great Movie
Review: Gunmen is one of my favorite action movies, it's got great scenery, action galore, a fast pace, and great performances, especially from Denis Leary, who steals the show as villain Armor. However this DVD really hurts the film. It's presented in pan-and-scan with poor quality and so-so sound, and has no extras. Artisan ruined another great movie called Joshua Tree (or Army Of One, as the DVD cover for that movie incorrectly states) with the DVD, which featured a similar DVD transfer (very poor). I'd wait for a re-release with a better transfer and sound and with the film in it's OAR plus with some extras, like a commentary and making-of featurette...

Rating:
Summary: Great movie, Lame DVD
Review: I have always found GUNMEN to be a fun movie, and I am a fan of both Christopher Lambert and Dennis Leary, so I was very happy to see this DVD finally became available. Unfortunately, the DVD does the movie no justice. The picture and audio quality are just slightly better than the copy I made on VHS from cable ten years ago. The so-called extras are a waste, amounting to two very limited actor bios, and a one paragraph plot summary.

The movie itself is enjoyable in a B-movie buddy picture kind of way. It involves a dim-witted criminal(Christopher Lambert)and a former NY police officer(Mario Van Peeples) who are forced to work together to try to find a fortune in abandoned drug money before a cold blooded mercenary gang(led by Dennis Leary) or a local crime lord(Star Treks Patrick Stewart) can get to it.

It's probably worth it to pick up the DVD just to have a copy of the film in a format other than the rapidly vanishing VHS.

I give the film ***, I give the DVD *

Rating:
Summary: Good movie hurt by video format.
Review: It is a shame Gunmen didn't get fair treatment when it was brought to DVD. Originally shot in 2.35:1 widescreen, the DVD and obviously, the video are only available in 1.33:1 full TV screen format. Almost half the picture is missing, and it shows. Even ignoring the lush scenery cut off, too often the characters' faces are missing from the frame. Even worse is that the DVD transfer is rotten. It may have been from a S-VHS master from what it looks like. It is full of film grain which compresses awfully on DVDs, making the entire movie look muddy.

This is a terrible shame because Gunmen is a fun, lightweight flick of two guys, one good, the other bad, forced to work together against a common enemy. There are many funny one liners, and the action scenes are pretty good, though low budget. Denis Leary is always fun to watch when he's angry or evil, and he's almost always both in Gunmen.

Rating:
Summary: Horrible
Review: Mario is a cop who is looking for some drug money. It was a waste of time for me to watch this. IMHO it was just poorly put together.

Rating:
Summary: Inoffensively silly action-comedy
Review: With its mixture of broad humour, violent action and buddy-buddy storyline, "Gunmen" appears to be a film nostalgic for the eighties genre which produced the likes of "Lethal Weapon" and "48 Hrs". It is no match for either, however. The performances are all mostly second-base. The dialogue is strictly B-movie quality. It will afford plenty of entertainment to undemanding audiences. Includes some beutiful vistas of Latin American locations and some genuinely unlikeable villains, as portrayed by Denis Leary and Patrick Stewart.