Absolutely Fantastic

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

One hundred hit men are locked in a prison with a thousand guns and the last three left alive gets ten million dollars. Sounds a bit to me like a recipe for disaster. Sounds also like a pathetic excuse for some pointless violence. The violence on one hand may seem pointless, but I feel that there is a lot more to this movie than simple pointless movie, and those who simply argue about the shamelessness of the violence in this movie will have missed the point.My friend compared it to the Italian movies where in the end everybody is dead. We must remember that everybody (except for two people) who are in this prison are all there for one reason, and that is because they upset the syndicate. Instead of just killing them, they told them that they must earn their freedom, but none can. Even Moon (Ice T), the syndicate boss who organised this little event, does not escape. The only people who escape are a little girl and an accountant that was dragged in there because she took too many photos.My friends commented that the dialogue in this movie was quite bad, but I feel that some of the dialogue extracts the theme to the movie. At the beginning, some of the hit men are sitting in a Cadalac and are swearing, and another does not appreciate this. The comment that comes out is the more that something is said, the less meaning that it has. This is the theme of the movie: the more you do something the less meaning that this deed has. These people are all killers, and as they have killed so much, the act of killing has simply lost all meaning. Moon says that the money is there because there is nothing else to entice them to do anything, but the mere existence of the money is not going to stop them from killing each other, it just encourages it. The whole idea of only having three people left is also very interesting, as it comes out as to who these three people are and they consider whether those that they are associating with are the three, or if Moon must be one of the three as well.The violence in this movie is not explicit, rather there is simply a lot of killing, and this emphasises the attitudes of these characters: they will kill another human without another thought. As such, none of them can be redeemable. It is interesting to notice that the accountant is the only one to survive (excluding the little girl who spent most of the movie in the car) and she was the only one who was not a killer, nor did she have any connection with the syndicate. The only reason that she was here was because she had evidence to convict the syndicate of many crimes, yet she escaped. Evil is so ingrained in society, that a few pictures could simply tear it apart. This prison, the symbol of justice in society, was built and is controlled by the syndicate, the symbol of crime in society. This paradox is the paradox of society - is there such as thing as an incorruptible judge? This movie is not a movie about pointless violence, but rather about the darkness of the human soul, corruption in society and they way that we become desensitised to the wrongs that we do. It is actually quite a good movie, and Moon is the type of character that Ice-T plays very well.

I can agree with other sentiments here: "Mean Guns" is more than just the standard B movie. I was lured to this thing by the names involved, but what we get here is not relentlessly predictable stuff. A crime boss named Vincent Moon (Ice-T) gathers a large group of lowlifes together, people who've "betrayed" their organization basically by being screw-ups. Moon's idea is to put all of them into a "kill or be killed" situation, providing them with various weapons, and the last three standing will supposedly walk away with the sum of $10 million. In addition to The T, we get other B movie perennials doing their thing; Christopher Lambert brings his own brand of acting to a more jovial - and unhinged - character than usual. Also appearing are Deborah Van Valkenburgh ("The Warriors"), Thom Mathews ("The Return of the Living Dead"), Yuji Okumoto ("The Karate Kid, Part II"), Tina Cote ("Omega Doom"), Kimberly Warren ("Blast"), and Michael Halsey ("Dollman"). Hoke Howell of such classics as "Kingdom of the Spiders" and "Humanoids from the Deep" has a cameo at the outset. As one will notice, the cast is largely made up of regulars in the films of the prolific Albert Pyun, and it don't matter if the acting ain't ever gonna win any awards; it still gets the job done. The T is amusing in the lead, and Lambert is actually a hoot, although it's veteran Halsey that really stands out, playing one of the most interesting characters in the whole thing. Van Valkenburgh is likable enough as the most sympathetic of them all. Mathews and Okumoto have their moments as a consistently bantering pair of buddies. It's hard to knock a movie that immediately goes for the approach of underscoring the fast and furious action with mambo music, which adds to the humour. Of course, when one sees the ridiculous fate of one of the characters, they'll see this is never meant to be taken too seriously. At an hour and 50 minutes it IS awfully long for this sort of thing, but that kooky charm still pervades the proceedings. And, despite all the violence, there's really no gore at all. Fans of low budget escapist fare should find this reasonably interesting and diverting, all the way to its unexpected ending. Seven out of 10.

This movie is a classic of film noir. Just because it has a low budget and a noted B movie director doesn't mean that he didn't create a bit of art out of what could have been schlock.Give it a chance if you like intense movies about the nature of violence or just a good shoot 'em up testosterone-fest that allows the few females a chance to shine as well. This movie is just a completely under-appreciated gem. Christopher Lambert does psycho well and there are quite a few of the usual suspects in this director's movies, but they all come together to do a good job.Try a few of the other of this director's works such as Omega Doom with Rutger Hauer and Tina Cote from this movie shows up as well, or try Nemesis which is a kind of terminator knockoff, but has a lot more edge and again some of the same actors.

Mean Guns (1997) was a nice surprise. I saw this movie on video a few years back and I enjoyed it. The plot is a re-working of the old "man hunting man" theme. Like I have said in the past, it's one of my favorite plot devices. The director Albert Pyun is one of those hit or miss directors. But this time the material succeeds despite the mundane direction and writing.The film for the most part takes place within a warehouse that is maintained by Ice-T. He's rounded up a hundred people and has filled several rooms with duffel bags filled with firearms. The participants have to play a game. Whoever survives wins the cash prize. An eclectic bunch of criminals, junkies and low-lives round out the cast of b-movie actors. A few old favorites also appear as well. The action is heavy and it seems to be heavily edited. I have to recommended this movie. The action is fast paced and the actors seem to be having fun and enjoying themselves. The only problem I had with this movie was the video transfer. It's a shame that they couldn't have produced a nice widescreen transfer (the movie was shot in Scope). A nice updated version of The Most Dangerous Game.