[.ca] Last Outlaw

The last outlaw:
This is the best damn western ever! I swear the plot is one that will keep you guessing and intrigue you. The outline: A band of bank robbers pull off a heist not exactly as planned. The outlaws quickly blame their leader and shoot him believing this to be his demise. Yet he awakes in the hands of the very posse hunting him down and strikes a deal with them, help hunt his former gang down. Slowly he picks off the members one by one until what used to be a "lieutenant" kills him with a very good cliche. Over all I give this all 5 stars, it deserves it!

Not bad.....But:
This seemed like a sure-fire hit, and it could have been, except for two things: Rourke's makeup and costumes are almost laughable. The stupid mustache, the big, floppy hat, and ten layers of clothes in the hot summer plains are ridiculous! The makeup and costume guys should be selling used cars. Second, the final scene was ludicrously short, bloodless, and unbelievable, especially given the bloody action that proceeded it. Someone please explain to the man who directed this film about the velocity and deadliness of small handguns. Still, it's worth watching just for Rourke and Mulroney. Rourke is THE quintessential bad guy, and he plays it to the hilt, here. Muldoney is always good, no matter what role he plays. The supporting cast is great, too, so it's not a complete wash-out!

Good Western:
This is a damn good movie. The story's awesome and Rourke's character is a badass. It drags in some spots, but overall this is probably the coolest western since TOMBSTONE. The stylized direction by Geoff Murphy(YOUNG GUNS 2) is real effective. Check this one out.

Geoff Murphy's The Last Outlaw:
An interesting idea is put through the Western ringer and comes out soaked in blood. A band of bank robbers barely escape after a muddled attempt. They kill their psychotic leader, and continue on. The leader lives, and joins the very posse hunting down the robbers. He takes his bloody revenge on his old gang one by one, until just his former second in command is left. What a great idea. Reading the back of the video box, I thought this would really play with your mind. Then I watched the movie... Mickey Rourke, thanks to his facial hair scheme and boxer's eyes, looks like an Old West version of Fu Manchu. His southern accent is constantly dubbed in, since he mutters through this more than Marlon Brando in "The Godfather." Rourke plays the robbery gang's leader left for dead as a psychotic. It takes the rest of the posse forever to discover this fact as he gets most of them killed. There are no smart scenes where the posse does not know he is a robber, like I thought there might be. Instead, after killing the marshall and the bank president, he is made head of the posse, since the other posse members are too stupid to see his murderous ways. Dermot Mulroney, who has never been good in a film, is good here. He plays the second in command a little to sensitively, but he is a likeable hero. Ted Levine is also good as a shoot now, ask later moron who is with the gang. The robbers are nothing more than stereotypes. Mulroney is the good guy. Levine is dumb. John C. McGinley is the coward. Keith David, because he is black, practices voodoo and is convinced Rourke is a ghost. Steve Buscemi is the dreamer, who is talking about his little home on the beach in Mexico he hopes to have one day right before having his head blown off by Rourke. Loomis (the character's name) is the injured guy they will eventually sacrifice. Rourke is psychotic just because. The posse's marshall is a he-man who is killed way too early. The bank president is nerdy and bespectacled, and also killed in an outlandish way. The constant blood and shootings are exhausting. The whole film is just a bunch of guys riding around in the desert getting shot. The opening bank robbery, reminiscent of "The Wild Bunch," is handled well enough, but screenwriter Eric Red never gives us any characters, just warm bodies full of blood. Why does this robbery go wrong after 29 went right? Why does Rourke pick this robbery to go mental and get "killed" by his own men? How did the posse know the bank was going to be robbed? After the opening credits, you feel like you just walked into the middle of the film, not the beginning. These professional bank robbers and cold blooded posse members also spend most of the film fighting amongst themselves, and bickering in a way that made me think of my son's daycare class. The final mistake here is having Mulroney narrate the film. Since Eric Red is no Billy Wilder, Mulroney obviously lives through the film, meaning he probably defeats Rourke in the finale. I sat through 90 minutes of bloodshed to witness a showdown that I had already figured out in the first ten minutes. While not an utter failure, "The Last Outlaw" does not have enough going for it to be recommended. This was rated (R) for physical violence, strong gun violence, strong gore, strong profanity, and sexual references.

Best dam western ever:
Mickey Rourke is the best I've ever seen him in this film. He is cruel and ruthless to the core. He makes Clint Eastwoods noname caracter seem rather friendly. If you are a fan of violent westerns with a heartless main character this is the one for you.