Good movie but grossly overrated

good back-story, and good acting

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

A generically hip, but brutal offbeat comedy action joint that moves at a breakneck pace and offers a lot time for Denis Leary to do his ruthlessly lip-smacking viper bad-guy shtick (and constantly calling those who work for him "morons") … and lets not forget Patrick Stewart in somewhat of an unconventional role as a crippled, cold-blooded South American drug lord. I don't know why, but I had trouble seeing Stewart in the part. I guess Capt. Picard kept coming to mind. Anyhow Mario Van Pebbles finds himself teaming up with Christopher Lambert (who both shares a good chemistry) on the hunt for $400 million dollars of stolen drug money stole away on a boat with Leary on their trail that was hired by Stewart.A very enjoyable, if inflamed b-grade action buddy fare that's held together by a vacant on-the-run narrative laced with self-irony and the screenplay was written by Stephen Sommers (known for "The Mummy" blockbusters). Razor-sharp one-liners fly about ("You talk more sh!t than a radio") and the edgy violence is explosively staged with some cracking (and over-the-top) stunt-work amongst some flavorous exotic locations. It's slickly made and the camera-work simply excels. Performances are fitting. Van Pebbles' brings a rough and ready trait to his agent character and Lambert gives his crooked character a twitchy, but capable side. Although his accent was a bit of a stretch. A bold Brenda Bakke also makes an impression as one of the mercenaries. Furthermore there's good minor support by Sally Kirkland and a comical Kadeem Hardison.

Christopher Lambert and Mario Van Peebles play two bumbling tough guys who go up against a mobster who Lambert stole money from, while Lambert and Van Peebles escape the bullets fired at them, a conspiracy is abound and the usual double-crosses take place in this dull movie which is so bland I can't even come up with a clever opener for my summary. Lambert has an interesting screen presence in his roles that almost always makes him more likable than most other B. stars, however his style is not a style that works with comedy. If you do not believe you can go and immerse yourself in the movie "Why Me?" (An appropriate title for the hapless audience) and see what I mean, Gunmen is painfully trite with dialog so tired and action so uninspired you just sit and watch in darkness as you hear your eyes glaze over and freeze in the sub zero temperature the entertainment registers in. Gunmen is an awful movie, so painfully obnoxious and obvious in it's set up that one would prefer the pairing of Lambert and Van Peebles only slightly over Chuck Norris and Louis Gossett Jr in Firewalker. Strangely this movie feels a lot like that 1986 dud. As reported by others watching Patrick Stewart swear is funny but aside from that, do you really want to see a movie that feels like a rejected TV pilot? * out of'4-(Bad)

"Gunmen" was loosely based upon Sergio Leone's "The good, the bad and the ugly". But it isn't that much of a rip off. It's actually pretty good. Here are the most obvious resemblances :1. In "The good, the bad and the ugly", there are three men : the good, a lonesome cow-boy (Clint Eastwood); the bad, an gun-for-hire(Lee Van Cleef) and the ugly, a thief (Eli Wallach). In "Gunmen", Mario Van Peeples plays a bounty hunter (the good), Dennis Leary plays a cutthroat (the bad) and Christopher Lambert plays a thief (the ugly). The relationship between Van Peeples and Lambert in "Gunmen" is similar to Eastwood and Wallach's partnership in "The good, the bad and the ugly".2. There also is what I call the "you've got the gun and I've got the bullets" situation. In "The good, the bad and the ugly", Eastwood and Wallach are forced to work together to find the treasure because Wallach knows the name of the cemetery and Eastwood knows the name of the grave in which the treasure is buried. In "Gunmen", Van Peeples and Lambert both have their own part of the secret. Lambert knows where his brother hid the boat with 400 millions dollars aboard and Van Peeples knows its name.3. Finally, there are many scenes in "Gunmen" similar to the ones in "The good, the bad and the ugly" like the scene where Lambert is forced to reveal where the boat is to Leary (Wallach is beaten up and reveals the name of the cemetery to Van Cleef) and the scene at the end when Van Peeples makes Lambert believe he'll get rid of him to keep the treasure (Eastwood hangs Wallach but cuts him loose and shares the treasure).With all these resemblances, it makes no doubt that "Gunmen" is a remake of "The good, the bad and the ugly". A good remake, though. Considering this movie was made with a very low budget with terrific cast, I thought "Gunmen" was a cool action/adventure flick. Mario Van Peeples and Christopher Lambert are great in their roles and Dennis Leary is excellent as the main bad guy. Patrick Steward also gives a very believable performance as the drug dealer.Overall, "Gunmen" is a fun modern day remake of Sergio Leone's epic western. I give it a strong 7/10.

I think it's fair to say Christopher Lambert has had his fair share of duds in recent years. Started off in a great way in the 80's and then it's been one long slide into obscurity (Highlander 4 anyone?). Mario Van Peebles career path has been pretty similar since 'Heartbreak Ridge' though he seems to have done all right recently appearing in Ali. Anyway ‘Gunmen' co-stars the two the same year they appeared together in Highlander 3. The basic plot of this South American actioner is that Dani Servigo (Lambert) is the only one who knows the name of harbour where a boat with 400 million dollars of drug money onboard is moored. Cole Parker (Van Peebles) is the only one who knows the boat's name. Together they're trying to get there before Loomis (Patrick Stewart), the drug lord the money belongs to and Armor O'Malley, his right hand man (Dennis Leary) who's starting to strain at the leash.Why am I recommending this film? Well, Sam Raimi said that the success of the Evil Dead films is dependant on how much abuse Bruce Campbell suffers. I think it's the same with this. At one point Van Peebles is tortured for information by being hung below a helicopter and flown through trees and then dunked in a lake. The more they suffer the more you want them to overcome the obstacles in their way. Mind you, Dani and Cole not the nicest of ‘heroes'. Actually they're a couple of complete jerks. They bicker constantly and don't trust each other, stooping so low as to shoot each other in leg so they other can't run off with the money (this being a early 90's action film all this does is give them slight limps, how realistic). What makes it great to watch them is Lambert and Van Peebles aren't afraid to go for it and it's obvious they're bouncing off each other. On top of this we have Leary playing exactly the nasty driven character he's so good at (don't believe me? watch Judgement Night), whether it's shooting his own men or having people buried alive. An interesting fact to note is that this is an early writing effort from Stephen Sommer, who went on to demonstrate his ability with action pictures with such films as Deep Rising and The Mummy.