Mean Guns

The post-modern gangsters pioneered in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction didn’t take long to spread to every corner of the cinema landscape.  Suddenly pop-culture references became just as important as shoot-outs and characters were swimming in quirky idiosyncrasies.  Even low-budget auteurs like director Albert Pyun (Cyborg, The Sword and the Sorcerer) jumped in headfirst, dragging meat-and-potatoes action stars like Christopher Lambert along for the ride.  

In Mean Guns (1997), Lambert stars as Lou, one of a hundred-or-so assassins hired by the Syndicate, all of whom are invited to a secret meeting led by Vincent Moon (Ice-T).  In the spirit of competition, Moon offers up 10 million dollars to the three survivors of what turns out to be a Battle Royale-style death match.  Lou teams up with Marcus, Dee and Cam – an innocent bystander – in a group effort to shoot their way to the top of the leaderboard.

 

Set against an ironically peppy mambo music score, Pyun delights in letting the bullets fly, imitating the two-fisted, gun-fu stylings of John Woo to good effect.  Although the action is frenetic, with multiple actors blasting in every direction, the clever editing manages to make sense of all the chaos.  Sure, there are some clumsy attempts to incorporate backstories, subplots and comic relief, but they never distract from what is an all-around good time.  Genre fans will recognize plenty of faces (Deborah Van Valkenburgh from The Warriorssurvives yet another gang apocalypse!) and even Ice-T brings his A-game.  

 

Mean Guns brings the sort of inspired B-movie mayhem that MVD’s Rewind Collection was made for!  The new Blu-ray features a 1080p HD transfer that still sports cigarette burns but otherwise looks just fine.  Extras include new interviews with producers Gary Schmoeller and Paul Roseblum as well as composer Anthony Riparetti.  Those go along with an archival commentary from the late Albert Pyun, a trailer, collectible mini-poster and clever retro slipcover.

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