Young Guns II
Young Guns II
PG-13 | 01 August 1990 (USA)
Young Guns II Trailers

Three of the original five "young guns" — Billy the Kid (Emilio Estevez), Jose Chavez y Chavez (Lou Diamond Phillips), and Doc Scurlock (Kiefer Sutherland) — return in Young Guns, Part 2, which is the story of Billy the Kid and his race to safety in Old Mexico while being trailed by a group of government agents led by Pat Garrett.

Reviews
Pluskylang

Great Film overall

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Teringer

An Exercise In Nonsense

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SpunkySelfTwitter

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

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Dynamixor

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

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polsixe

Unnecessary glamorizing iof Billy the Kid. But interesting cast and to see how they developed careers afterwards. I'd give the nod to Sutherland for his TV leads, but Mortenson may be a more established "movie" actor. Phillips is very busy. Estevez has faded and wasn't really good in the YG movies either. Young Guns 2 1990 28 years later: Kiefer Sutherland 1966 101 credits, Designated Survivor, 24, Viggo Mortenson 1958, 57 credits, LOTR, HoV, William Petersen 1953 40 credits, CSI Lou Diamond Phillips 1962 136 credits, Christian Slater 1969 123 credits, Emilio Estevez 1962 47 credits, Mighty Ducks Alan Ruck 1956 108 credits,

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p-stepien

After the end of the Lincoln County War a new governor comes to town - one gen. Lee Wallace. He is here to bring order back to the region and plans on doing so by hanging whoever was connected to the war (nevermind what history tells us). Amongst those captured are Doc Scurlock (Kiefer Sutherland) and Chavez y Chavez (Lou Diamond Phillips). Meanwhile Billy the Kid (Emilio Estevez) is roaming the state rustling and hustling. Even tries to get pardon from the new governor, only to be tricked and put in jail. Billy soon manages to escape and breaks out his old pals with him. Together with some new pals like Arkansas Dave (Christian Slater) and Hendry William French (Alan Ruck) the come back as the scourge of Lincoln County. But this time a former friend and ally Pat Garrett is hired as the new sheriff...When taking on this movie Emilio Estevez stated it would be closer to historical fact and more gritty. And I would have to say he lied. As far as the original part took some historical liberties this one just rapes them. Naturally some of the changes made in the first part had repercussions in the follow-up (like the death of Charles Bowdre), but I find no logic behind recasting Sutherland and Phillips in the follow-up and even less in them being killed off (given that both Chavez and Scurlock actually had relatively long lives for gunslingers).The main problem with the movie isn't however the history, but the general tone, which basically attempts to make a cool western. Characters are supposed to be savvy, funny and fun, while none of the grit of western movies makes it to the forefront. The whole Billy the Kid character is very poorly thought out by Estevez and his portrayal is one of the weakest. The movie (as in the first part) lacks heart and plods out from beginning to end with no real attempt to entice and engage. The biggest flaw is the lack of a proper counterpoint to Billy's character, someone who would put sense to his actions. There are a few brief scenes, which attempt to do this, but neither Pat Garrett or Doc Scurlock are given good enough lines to actually be able to pull it off. Instead the scenes just dissipate without any dramatic consequence.Given that the action is also not worth of any note it is not surprising that the movie has not stood the test of time and is slowing dropping into oblivion. Nonetheless the movie does have a brilliant score, although I did find myself wondering at times if it actually fits a western.

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Spikeopath

Young Guns II is directed by Geoff Murphy and written by John Fusco. It stars Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Christian Slater, William Petersen, Alan Ruck, Vigo Mortensen and Balthazar Getty. Music is scored by Alan Silvestri, with contributions from Jon Bon Jovi, and cinematography is by Dean Semler Brushy Bill Roberts, old and crusty, claims to be Billy The Kid. Which is quite a claim considering the Kid was long thought to have been killed by Patrick Floyd Garrett in 1881. Roberts tells a listening historian that after the break up of the Tunstall Regulators, the remaining members hooked up with Garrett and Arkansas Dave Rudabaugh and still lived the outlaw life.....Young Guns was released in 1988 and became a big enough hit to warrant this sequel two years later. Reuniting gunslingers Billy the Kid (Estevez), Doc Scurlock (Sutherland) and Chavez (Phillips) from the first film, Young Guns II follows the same formula that worked two years previously. Billy is still a borderline nut case and his gang, for better or worse, follow him into a number of escapades. This time around, though, we have some added interest in the form of Christian Slater's cocky Rudabaugh, who, as an egotist, wants to run the gang himself. Things are further given a lift when Garrett (a darn fine William Petersen resplendent with major face fuzz) leaves the gang and is persuaded to become a law man. His first job being of course to catch Billy!Both Young Guns movies are frowned upon by many old school Western purists, which to a degree I understand. They lack any sort of psychological aspects outside of a brat packer like cast shooting and quipping with care free abandon. Character depth is lacking so there is nothing on which to hang your hat on. Here, much like the first film, creative license is used with historical facts but the core basis of story is solid, with many of the events leading up to the documented death of Billy the Kid holding true. Major problem here, though, is that the makers are spinning off from the iffy claim of Brushy Bill Roberts that he was Billy the Kid and did not die at the hands of Pat Garrett. Knowing Billy survives the pursuit and show-down with Garrett at the start of the film kind of dilutes the wonder and impending drama! Film also at times feels like a composite of Little Big Man, Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid and of course Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid.However, both films, and more so with this sequel, have such a sense of fun like homage to them it's not hard to forgive the obvious flaws. Action is plentiful, with much blood shed during the course of the story, while the story always remains intriguing by way of the character dynamics. Semler's photography is more in tune with the Wild West this time around, as is Silvestri's score, the latter of which lifts parts of his Predator arrangement to blend with more traditional cowboy harmonies. Great song from Bon Jovi to close the film down as well. There's also a nice link to Peckinpah's movie with an important cameo for James Coburn as John Chisum (Coburn played Pat Garrett). But most of all it's just great fun to be in the company of Estevez's Billy, true enough to say it comes at the expense of the other characters around him, it's a film owning show, which also dubiously swerves us into cheering for the baby faced "outlaw hero", but it plays out as a rollicking good ride in spite of grey area thematics and roll call of clichés. And boys, oh boys, Jenny Wright pops in to raise the temperatures considerably with a Lady Godiva moment. If for nothing else, the Young Guns movies got people talking about the Western in the MTV age, that has to be a bonus to the discerning Western fan. Acknowledge the faults by all means, but viewing them as gunslinging fun wrapped around real Western folklore might just help you enjoy the experience. 7/10

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insomniac_rod

The perfect movie to watch as a kid and understand the "buddy" term in pop culture, well, in Western.The action is great but the movie's best feature is it's fast pace. The events are all extremely entertaining if you really get into the plot. You know, it deals with the good against the bad guys.The acting is also pretty good specially from Lou Diamond Phillips and Emilio Estevez. Both were my childhood heroes! Well there's not much to say about the movie except that it deals with good against evil and the Western problematics that have to be solved with plenty of guns!Watch it in order to understand the early 90's way of film making.

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