Point Blank (1998)

To me, this movie is perfection.

One of my all time favorites.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Blistering performances.

A gang of dangerous criminals escape from confinement and take over a shopping mall in Texas. It's up to rugged mercenary and ex-Texas Ranger Rudy Ray (a credible performance by a pumped-up Mickey Rourke) to stop these no-count scum and rescue his wayward criminal brother Joe Ray (well played by Kevin Gage) who's mixed up in the whole mess. Director Matt Earl Beesley gets right down to exciting brass tacks in the opening scene and brings a blithely low-grade and enthusiastic pulpy sensibility to the derivative, but still lively and enjoyable premise: the brisk pace rarely lets up for a minute, the characters are drawn with some surprising depth, the violence is both plentiful and excessive, the rousing action set pieces are staged with genuine rip-snorting verve and flashy style, a coked-up slut in a g-string does a hilariously gratuitous pole dance just because she can, and there are even welcome moments of touching humanity amid all the brutal carnage (the strained relationship between Rudy and Joe proves to be unexpectedly moving, with the poignant and tragic last scene between them rating as a truly heart-breaking sequence). The solid professional cast helps matters a whole lot: Danny Trejo goes totally over the top with infectious maniacal glee as vicious and volatile psycho Wallace, Werner Schreyer does well as token sympathetic hard-luck young con Billy, Michael Wright brings real soul to his part of no-nonsense former Marine turned killer Sonny, Paul Ben-Victor is a slimy hoot as shrewd nd duplicitous gay ring leader Howard, Nina Savelle doesn't embarrass herself as sweet sales lady Tracey Deakin, Frederic Forrest is typically fine as amiable good ol' boy sheriff Mack, and veteran character actor James Gammon has a nice bit as Rudy's father. Keith L. Smith's slick cinematography offers lots of snazzy razzle-dazzle visuals. The thrashin' pulsating score by Stephen Edwards likewise hits the stirring spot. The big knock-down bash 'em up confrontation between Rudy and Wallace is simply priceless, with Wallace absorbing a ridiculous amount of punishment and refusing to die. An immensely fun Grade B action thriller.

Warning: Spoilers! I remember first watching this movie not so many years after its release on VHS.Mickey Rourke in his career's best shape, along with Double Team (1997) was what struck me first. There's no doubt he'd been spending some time doing bench press and curls for this part. An impressive physique for somebody who otherwise had an average build. In his boxing days he didn't look anything like this. And I'm pretty sure he could've done the fighting scenes all by himself, had director Matt Earl Beesley given him a chance. Instead, it was wrongly decided he had to be some 'karate master'. Unsuccessful editing ahead, unfortunately. Part from that, he does not speak many lines throughout the movie, but his emotional scenes along with Kevin Gage are as real as can be.Paul Ben-Victor as the 'boss'. I loved him. A bad guy, with his witty comments and nonchalant attitude. Not to mention gay. One of those guys you just love to hate. Of course he gets what he deserves in the end.Michael Wright as one of the ex-military baddies who realizes he's finished. He's "sorry" for catching his wife in adultery, and stabbing the guy who screwed her 14 times and cutting his throat. An obsessive psycho, but I did feel sorry for him. Of course he goes out with guns blazing 'T2'-style. A harmony of closure and violence. Perfect.Werner Schreyer as the young kid who caught some bad luck and got his death sentence. I felt a bit sorry for him too, although not as sorry as I felt for Michael Wright's character. I'm not sure the party's over for this pretty boy or not. Although Danny Trejo said so. He's the perfect main bad guy. On drugs, lousy aim and immune to physical pain. Of course it takes Rourke on steroids to deal with him. The showdowns between, them mixed with the guitar solos have a special vibe to them. Music sets the mood more than you'd think, and could transcend otherwise average fight scenes (which really is the case here) into something you'll remember.Forget about the story, the plot and such. There is no such thing. You would not watch this movie for these things. Yes, it is a rip-off of certain movies which are a lot better. 'Leon' (1994), also mentioned by other users, being one example. Technically as a movie, it belongs in the low budget category, and I can very well understand why it was released direct-to-video.I still give it a 10 out of 10. Call it sentimental value.

All I can say for this one is man did it suck! If the encyclopedia ever did an entry on how not to make a movie it could incorporate a load of information on this one alone. Well at least this established that even with Mickey Rourke's former ability to act well back in the 80's he can not be an action movie star. He does have a great build now but it's so obvious he took steroids...I mean the guy was rail thin back in the day and now he's gigantic. Plus his face looked horrible as if it were going to melt right off. I don't know if it was plastic surgery that went haywire or just occurred from a lifetime of neglect. I'm glad someone else also saw the copying of the scene from "Leon: the Professional" (towards the end and done much worse) because that drove me nuts. It's just like it compiled all these scenes from other successes and converted them so they'd be entirely unbelievable. The supporting cast was just so awful that I'm not going to even start on them because I'd literally be going on for much too long a time. Even with the low expectations I went in with prior to viewing this film I still came out shortchanged. It blew!Final Acquittance:Movies: NOOOOOO!DVD Purchase: I'd buy it just to have the pleasure of smashing it across my knee.Rental: I was sorry I did.

This is the worst movie Rourke ever made. I am a huge 80z Rourke fan but this is just pathetic. Not because it is a rip off of other movies. Not because it is a stupid B-movie. Not even because Rourke has destroyed his looks. It is awful because Mickey actually thought he was giving a good performance. This is the standard he now sets for himself. That's just sad. Is this really the same guy who was in Diner?