Mean Guns (1997) User Reviews

Implausible, but great fun.

[gridoon · 6/10 · 28 January 2003]

It's not really a good movie, let's make that clear. The chaotic shootouts are not skillfully constructed, the story is both implausible and confusing (especially at the end, when it keeps trying to top itself with one stupid "twist" after another; it should have stuck to the rules it established in the beginning), and Lambert and Ice-T both give performances too awful for words. What makes the picture fun is its premise, and some of the supporting members of the cast, particularly Michael Halsey (who really shines with a strong presence deserving of a far better movie), Okumoto and Matthews (whose duo is quite amusing to watch) and Tina Cote (who's pretty hot). Overall, it's worth a couple of viewings if you're an action fan. (**1/2)

This movie in 2 colors: orange and blue!

[Dyl-4 · 6/10 · 20 October 2000]

This situation is fantastic. We have many action in genre "Comedy". Of course, we can see murders, shooting and other bad things, but ... it's funny. And Lambert in this role, he is another. Tony Riparetty did one main sound theme " Mamba" and it works. Bang, bang, bang - and this music as in the club.

Want to say one word "Funny"

Not quite as good as Cyborg but very entertaining

[Chance_Boudreaux19 · 6/10 · 25 March 2018]

The movie has a very cheap vibe, the action is shot in a very trashy way, the movie is clearly on a tight budget but all this is to be expected from an Albert Pyun movie. This isn't as good as Cyborg with JCVD which is glorious schlock but it is up there with Pyun's best. Christopher Lambert shot his scenes in two days and it shows, I am curious as to how long this whole movie took to shoot, it couldn't have taken much longer as Lambert appears in half the movie at least, of course in some scenes where action is meant to take place around his it can be seen that his scene was shot separately from the others. Despite all this it's very entertaining and the promise is pretty clever and fun, makes you think how much better the movie could have been if it had a bigger budget. The only downsides are that it could have been 10 minutes shorter as well as the ending which I won't spoil which was disappointing although well set up.

Enjoyable bad movie

[palunjm · 10 November 2004]

Christopher Lambert and Ice-T in the same B movie? How could this not be enjoyable for B movie fans? Christopher Lambert runs around doing very Christopher Lambert type stuff at Christopher Lambert level acting ability. However, this actually works for the movie as he plays a somewhat not entirely sane person. Also, when a man like Ice-T tosses you the baseball bat in his hands and says, "I want to see if I'm as bad as I say I am." Do not, I repeat, do not attempt to fight him... run!

Overall, if you're looking for a masterpiece... this is NOT it. However, if you are looking to waste away an evening with (pretty much) mindless shooting and killing, look no further.

Stupid Movie, Waste of Time

[someinfo · 2/10 · 1 March 2003]

Constant violence with gun shooting and baseball-bat bludgeonings, non-stop. Several rip-off scenes from "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" where they stand around looking at each other with loaded guns while a spanish guitar plays. Not even the whispered mumblings of the stars could save this film. I suppose it had to fall under *some* category. It gives the Action movie category a bad name. It's so bad it couldn't even be classified a Comedy. A Mystery? By the end of the movie it really didn't matter what the movie was about. My vote: a waste of time.

Better than expected.

[Hey_Sweden · 7/10 · 21 January 2012]

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.

one of the worst movies ever made

[ajeanne · 1/10 · 29 December 2001]

Not only is the point of this movie to provide what seems like many hours of gratuitous violence, it is incredibly repetitive and slow. I was surprised not to find it on the list of the 100 worst movies ever made. The plot was uninspired and tedious. A sad waste of talent and time.

Rather Unique...

[Total Eclipse · 7/10 · 4 April 2001]

At first glance one would almost dismiss this movie as being a B-grade action movie. However, while tuning in one night to the late night movie channels I came across this and found myself unable to turn away. The cast in this movie consists of only a few name people such as Ice-T and Christopher Lambert, but to be honest the entire cast puts in some fairly good performances all around. What makes this movie so entertaining is that it combines action with a touch of insight into the lives of a group of criminals who all seem to want different things aside from just money. If you have some time on your hands and happen to catch this flick some evening, give it a look. Despite the apparent low budget, the movie is really quite well done with a good script, interesting camera work, and a compelling ending. Definitely worth your time if you're looking for an action movie that differs from the norm.

Boring. Really, really boring.

[David N. · 2/10 · 26 February 1999]

I am sure that many people enjoyed "Mean Guns" on a purely shoot-em-up level. I enjoy a good violent action flick as much as the next guy, but this one was too repetitive and too corny to enjoy.

It was fun in a trashy kind of way, but fails to reach any level of discernible quality. All the characters are shallow caricatures; they are given a certain attribute and forced to play it up for the whole movie. We have no investment in the characters because they don't ring true; they're cartoon characters.

The plot is intriguing, but the movie is content to let a bunch of scumbags kill each other rather than mixing psychological motivation amid the violence. I didn't know or care about any of the characters that got shot, stabbed, beaten or blown up.

The only pleasure I got from "Mean Guns" was trying to decide which performance was worse: Ice-T's or Lambert's. I still haven't made up my mind. Oh yeah, watch for the scene with the girl whose head is set on fire. Laughable. And the ending is ridiculous. Pass this one over, folks. It was straight-to-tape for a reason.

Surprisingly Good

[bh_tafe3 · 7/10 · 10 March 2015]

I remember watching this on VHS with a friend who was obsessed with Christopher Lambert and thinking it was quite interesting and I would like to see it again. And walking through a Collector's shop there it was, the dumb title grinning at you on a now oversized looking VHS cover. I made the purchase. Let's whack it in the player and see if this was actually worth the $3 Australian I paid for it.

So we start with Ice T (he's in this) a major player in a crime syndicate who's invited 100 hardened criminals (and one seemingly innocent girl), who have all wronged his syndicate, to fight to the death inside a prison facility that is to be opened the following day. Only the last three (at least they resisted the temptation to say "There can be only one") will walk away with $10 million. "What if we don't want to play?" one of the criminals asks. "THEN DON'T." Ice T answers shooting him in the chest.

This is a pretty intelligent film given the subject matter. There are a lot of alliances made and the fighting, while artsy, does try to trend towards realism. Though there are a few scenes where director Albert Pyun (B-movie go to guy) can't help himself. The ending is surprisingly well thought out and satisfying. The main issue here is the lighting, it's usually far too bright and the walls are all white and grey. Darkness would have worked better. It would be interesting to see what David Fincher or Quentin Tarantino (for very different reasons) would have done with this.

This is a good little movie. Decent story and passable performances. Smarter than I thought it would be. Hard to get hold of, but worth a watch.

This is a movie that had potential based on the plot and cast, but the execution falls short

[kevin_robbins · 5/10 · 25 March 2023]

Mean Guns (1997) is a movie that I recently watched for the first time in a long time on Tubi. The storyline follows a crime boss who invites one hundred individuals that are either his enemy or alliance to an abandoned building. Once there he locks them in, gives them weapons and has them fight to the death with the grand prize being a large sum of money. Will the crime boss survive himself or will one of the cast of character emerge victorious?

This movie is directed by Albert Pyun (Cyborg) and stars Christopher Lambert (Highlander), Ice-T (New Jack City), Hoke Howell (Far and Away), Deborah Van Valkenburgh (The Warriors), Michael Halsey (The Last Witch Hunter) and Thom Mathews (The Return of the Living Dead).

This cast was a lot of fun; unfortunately, the acting is kind of bad, mainly due to poor writing. The dialogue is a bit cheesy and the action scenes and one-liners are just okay. There were a couple good shootouts; but for the most part, they're average. I will say the hair on fire scene was hilarious. The storyline wasn't as good as it sounds. The concept was good but the execution has a made for television feel to it.

Overall, this is a movie that had potential based on the plot and cast, but the execution falls short. I would score this a 5/10 but recommend seeing it once.

A quality b-movie

[whitegold76 · 9/10 · 6 January 2004]

Everything about this movie screams B-grade. From the dodgy name to the questionable cast to the dubious premise. The only thing that stops this from being a B-movie, is that it's actually really, really good.

When "The Syndicate", represented by Ice-T, gathers together it's less reliable members in an empty prison for a little game, the probability of violence was always going to be a definite.

What makes this movie different is in large part due to the choice of music. The utterly inappropriate Mambo soundtrack clashes with the violence, giving the movie a sort of trite, macabre humour. This humour gives a consistent feel throughout the movie, backed up by violence that while brutal is strangely un-graphic.

Mean Guns is an action movie with a quirky sense of humour and a brain. It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but it's an entertaining trip.

Impressive for a grade B film.

[Captain_Couth · 7/10 · 2 February 2005]

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.

Terrible late night action-packed insanity at your service!

[emm · 3/10 · 11 March 1999]

Does MEAN GUNS sound like any fun to you? There's nothing worthwhile to do but watch killers in an operation run by a certain "Mr. Big" (Ice-T) mutilate each other, which isn't creative at all. The action appears to be set inside the basement of an office building that needed far better lighting equipment. That might have helped the atmosphere of this piece of lurid trash. I hate seeing movies entirely wasted on plot, just for showing off the violent clubbing and gunplay, and a famous cliche' is stolen from John Woo's patented directing skills. If you like to see females do some gunning at their very best, this is the movie, and so what? Take some Excedrin and you'll feel much better!

Fiercely Intense...

[WritnGuy-2 · 28 December 1999]

Last night, I had just finished watching some BAD horror movie, and turned on the television afterward. This was on, and it looked really twisted. It was already into the first fifteen minutes, so I missed that, but then I decided to check the guide to see what it was, and the plot seemed pretty cool. So, what the heck, I'd waste two hours and watch it.

All I can say is--those two hours were no waste! This movie was so good! I don't really like action movies, and I never really got into shoot-em-ups, but I loved this. The plot, as I figured out, was that all these people were locked in an old prison, given weapons and tons of ammo, and left to kill each other off until, supposedly, the last three were left, who would then get the prize of ten million dollars.

Thus begins the nonstop action, as the various characters split up, form groups, and kill each other. The main characters really were Christopher Lambert's character (forgot his name), Marcus, D, and Con (though, I think her name was Cam, but IMDb said it was Con). Anyhoo, there's also Hoss and Crow, who eventually team up with Barby, and there are various other people who just get killed. I didn't understand why some of the people were there, but that's what I get for missing the first fifteen minutes.

In any event, the movie became severely tense, and no one's safe from anyone...not even someone in their own group. And as the many characters dwindle down, you start to wonder: who will survive?

The suspense in this movie is amazing, and you never know what will happen next. At first, the story seemed a little thin to carry itself along throughout the whole film, but it did, perfectly, all the way up to the quite twisted ending, which just keeps surprising you. I, personally, was quite thrilled with how the movie ended, but you'll never suspect how it does end. My favorite character: Con. She was easy to relate to (yes, I know, I'm delving too much into this B-rated action flic, but oh well) and you could feel bad for her. She truly didn't belong there, as she said many times. And then, in the four-sided face-off in the end between the three left and Ice-T's character, who held this event, you will feel so bad when she tells the others how they won, and they shouldn't have to go through with this next step.

All in all, an action movie that's fun, intense, creepy at times, and with a few morals. Recommended.

Awful

[All_Things_Ex · 1/10 · 22 July 2004]

This was perhaps the worst film I have had to endure since my

viewing of Killjoy. This film uses up its plot within 10 minutes and

from there continues only as an exercise in mindless and

pointless violence. It seems as though dialogue and a storyline is

too much effort for the writing staff in this 110 minute travesty. It is

too bad that this abomination is now available on DVD as that

means that it will live on rather than being forgotten... as it

deserves. How it is not on the Bottom 100 films is beyond me. The

only fact more astounding is that 109 people gave this a 10. And

that is a true testament to the sad shape that humanity is in, where

a horrid film of such unparalleled dreadfulness recieved such high

praise.

Michael Halsey's show

[winner55 · 7/10 · 2 January 2008]

The real reason to see this film is the stunningly stone-cold performance by Michael Halsey as a gunman who has finally had enough of the dark side of life, but who needs to ply that close to the chest in order to survive an impossible situation.

The situation is actually rather allegorical, a fact driven home by the absurdist intervention of a seven year old girl who plays a pivotal role at the end. This allegorical touch actually lifts the film from being just another Albert Pyun bloodbath and yet somehow avoids becoming just another Albert Pyun urban fantasy. The camera work and editing is also superior to what we've come to expect from Pyun.

But it is Michael Halsey's show, really, and needs to be watched as that, as a tour de force from a largely unnoted actor of considerable talent.

* *1/2 Out Of Five

[bronsonskull72 · 5/10 · 18 March 2006]

Christopher Lambert stars as Lou seemingly invincible serial killer (He has just killed his daughter's step-father for molesting her) who along with a group play a battle royale, in which the prisoners are all forced to fight out to the death, until 3 are last standing which then get a million dollar prize. Among the prisoners include genre faces such as Return Of The Living Dead's Thom Mathews, Karate Kid II's Yuji Okumoto, Streets Of Fire's Deborah Van Valkenburgh and Pyun regular Tina Cote. Ice-T is the prison warden who is also probably going to die as well, what transpires is a downbeat yet at times very enjoyable Battle Royale scenario that is consistently watchable enough to be considered one of Pyun's better efforts. Also it helps that the cast has somewhat of a coolness factor. However let it be said that the bleached hair look is not to Lambert's advantage.

2.5/5 Matt Bronson

The only way to put more shooting in this is making it longer

[Sandcooler · 7/10 · 19 March 2006]

This is a really strange movie. While most brainless shooters have like build-up and background story and all stuff like that, this one just gets straight to the point. A planeload of guys are standing in a room, suddenly guns and bats come falling out of the air and everybody starts killing each other, and it never really stops. When you don't hear gun shots, you hear mambo music or something like that, but it soon gets interrupted with even more shooting. So, after a while, groups start forming and they start shooting some more, and then the last survivors get together in a room and in a clever twist they shoot at each other some more. Long story short, there's shooting. When it comes to movies revolving around guns, pseudo-tough guys and hot babes, this one outranks all others. Never was a movie so uncomplicated, so plain dumb and so suitable for the people who just want to see people get shot without that annoying thing called a plot. It isn't very good of course, but at least it's honest and it can't really be taken seriously.

Utter Rubbish!

[Jonathan Horner · 5/10 · 23 April 2000]

I'm a big fan of Christopher lambert but I have to say this is the worst film he's starred in, in his career. The acting is poor, the storyline is meaningless and stupid plus it gets really boring and drags on for too long. This movie mainly just shows people getting their brains blown out and the ending to the film is pathetic. There are some cheesy stunts and rubbish sound effects in this movie, plus there is a really annoying "mambo" style music soundtrack going on in the background for most of the movie. This is an insult to Lambert career.

If you have any comments or questions about Lambert's films don't hesitate to e-mail me!

Ice-T is the father rap

[icet2004 · 6/10 · 11 February 2005]

Yeah this movie is funny and Ice-T was a big gun in this movie. good end.Ice-T's rap skills are very good.he is not good actor,but not bad too.average.this movie is strange.i have seen Johnny Mnemonic where Ice-T played J-Bone.it's was Keanu Reeves Movie.Keanu Is Good Actor.Mean Guns is different than all other movies i ever seen. Ice-T is my idol from music.i love his album original gangster and his song Cop Killer.he is the best rapper ever.i have heard that Ice-T wrote a book and it's called the ice opinion.all that makes is pure gold actually,but movies sometimes bad i don't mean 'Mean Guns' i mean 'New Jack City'.Ice-T's only real rival in rap is Krs One.

Mambo and violence, blood and rhythm, a brilliant B movie.

[evanstucker · 10/10 · 2 May 2003]

Yeah, the acting is bad. So was the acting in Evil Dead, but it's a B movie - the bad acting is what makes it so good. And I don't know who thought of using a mambo sound track in an action movie, but it's PERFECT! Mambo is a very passionate form of music normally associated with lust or love, but in this movie it compliments the brutality flawlessly. All the characters in the movie have unique, slightly exaggerated personalities (remember, it's a B movie)... Watching them interact and form shaky alliances while trying to survive the situation is interesting.

Great Shootemup movie

[mbwun5 · 6/10 · 14 February 1999]

This is a movie for everyone in need of a little violence. The big gunfights in the beginning and the end are fun to watch. Ice-T is great as Moon, the man in charge of the game. I enjoyed the movie with its big gunfights and the few pieces cheesy humor.

A surreal action movie experiment?

[BroadswordCallinDannyBoy · 4/10 · 10 May 2007]

Big city gangster Vincent Moon brings together what he deems are the 100 worst people in the city. The purpose is a game where they are all locked in a prison and have to kill each other. The last 3 survivors get to split a 10 million dollar reward. Bizarre mayhem ensues.

The plot, if you could call it that, screams cheesy b-movie and the premise is great for an action movie. It is almost like 'Hard Boiled' meets 'Cube.' Unfortunately the results are much below what one can expect.

There is lots of shooting and fighting, but way the film is shot and lit is just poor. There is so much over exposure and the camera angles on virtually every action sequence are dull and don't come even near to conveying the excitement that anyone can expect from an action movie. Just static camera shots, framed poorly, and all the violence and carnage that action fans want from a silly action movie is simply not there. There is hardly even property damaged to the prison - no glass shattering, no desks breaking, no walls getting shredded by endless streams of bullets. Then practically every shot in the film is a close up on a character - either shooting or talking - but the point is that it is all just dreadfully dull.

However, despite this the movie has a certain surreal quality to it. Ice-T is hilarious as Vincent Moon and Christopher Lambert looks funny as a supposedly deadly assassin with dyed white hair. Also several flashback and possibly flash-forward scenes instill more mystery than revelation about the hero. Then the music is also weird - definitely not what you'd expect to hear when hundreds of guns are firing. Then on top of that the final standoff seems to recall 'The Good the Bad and the Ugly.'

Between all that and a hilariously exploding suitcase it is up to you to decide: is this a joke or junk? --- 4/10

Rated R for violence and profanity