Stone Cold (1991)

I wanted to but couldn't!

A different way of telling a story

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

A police officer goes undercover in a biker gang called The Brotherhood to take them down. Nothing new really and it goes along in a familiar way to the unsurprising climax. The last action scenes are well staged however so it does end with a bit of excitement. Brian Bosworth in his first film can't act but he looks the part, despite having a silly earring and a chortle inducing mullet. He does indeed look like a grown up version of Bam-Bam as remarked by one of the characters. Thankfully the film has Lance Henriksen, William Forsythe and Gregory Scott Cummins as villains to liven up proceedings. Magic Schwarz plays Poker. Not the game, that's his monicker of course. Jerry Colker plays 'Market Psycho' and does it very well. If you like leather, bikes and violence this is the film for you.

There are similarities to this and Harley Davidson and The Marlboro Man, which I won't go into. Suffice to say, I'd option for this instead. Stone Cold is a new wave action thriller that rides high on violence and action, that bikie fans will love. Although it didn't get a cinema release in Adelaide (I wish to hell it had) this action extravaganza has a good story too would you believe. Certain political figures and agents are getting bumped off, by a vicious bikie gang called The Brotherhood, led by the sadistic and always good Henrickson. The opening scene, just a set up of character, that has no bearing on the story, has agent Bosworth, chewing on a cookie as if it was the best one he ever had, when he's rudely interrupted by some two bid robbers. This readily confirms that our action fans are not gonna be disappointed by this one. Blackmailed by these agents into infiltrating the Brotherhood, he plays the part, going undercover, and of course falling in love with Henrickson's girl. And how could you not have the great character actor, the wild and unruly William Forsythe as one of the rowdy gang. This movies got everything, babes, explosions, gunfights, chases, and of course humor. Though the end, I hated. Why? Cause, it contradicts itself, with a couple of good people, intended victims, die, where Bosworth fails. Here, his retribution goes into overdrive, where on the other side of that coin, our audience who love craving revenge, this unpredictable mishap does deliver a more explosive, but stupid and forgettable ending. In the acting stakes, Bosworth, not the worst actor I've seen, is surpassed by his supporting players, one of course being Henricksen. But we're not really here to watch Bosworth's acting, though there is room for some bloody improvement.

My summary is not really a compliment at all. Brian Bosworth was not a horrible actor, but was a horrible professional football player. I am surprised that he was not able to get many roles after this one, unless he declined to play villains and secondary characters. He is not star material, he reminds me of Dolph Lundgren, but whereas Dolph seems to recognize that the only roles he is going to get in more big time fare is by not being the lead, my guess is the Boz felt he should be the big cheese in any film he participated in. Still, all the negative stuff aside this movie was not exactly bad. It was enjoyable in places and did provide entertainment as it was very violent and had nudity and all that stuff that were the stuff back in the 80's and early 90's. Brian plays a guy who goes undercover or something to stop these biker dudes who are linked to crimes or something to that effect. The plot is not really important in a film such as this, you watch these films for the action and shoot outs and the boobs and this movie offers plenty. Still, it may have been better had they put someone bigger in the starring role and perhaps even got someone better for the villain role too. Lance Henrickson is a good actor, just did not have the look of a biker leader that he played here.

This movie truly is awesome. Its fun all the way through. There's rarely a moment of downtime in the film. The action sequences and the acting is so over the top that it makes the movie work. The violence is high here with over the top crazy explosions. In a beginning scene a head biker shoots a cars door and the car explodes like a bomb went off under it. In another scene above the courthouse Bosworth jumps out of a helicopter, through a glass roof and onto a marble floor, a good 60 ft drop, he rolls out of it and kills a bad guy. Truly something not to be missed. Great over the top action. Kudos to Lance and William for playing such awesome bad bikers. They were the definition of scum and they played it beautifully. This movie is a early 90's action gem with an over the top "Commando" like feel. Great watch for any true action lover.