Short Attention Span Review - Stone Cold (1991)
Stone Cold is one of those action movies they used to make in the 80s and 90s that somehow straddled the line between sick thrillers and cringeworthy farces. You know the type--movies like Cobra, Commando, and pretty much everything worthwhile Jean Claude Van Damme or Steven Seagal starred in during that time frame. Stone Cold is a basic bitch, to be sure, with a cookie-cutter plot that never swerves when it can run down a familiar trope or throw a "twist" at the screen that we've seen no more than a thousand times in similar pictures. At the forefront of all this predictable carnage is the Boz, making his motion picture debut. You know what? Dude wasn't half bad. While he would go on to star in several far cheaper productions over the years, I always thought this one should have established him as a bigger star. Alas. However, he wasn't on par with the action movie heavyweights of the era, and he's not really the star attraction. No, the reason this movie still works for me has nothing to do with the good side of the equation where the heroes and villains are concerned. You see, Stone Cold features Lance Henriksen as "Chains," the sadistic leader of a violent biker gang looking to unleash hell with one of the most batshit crazy plans any villains real or imagined have ever concocted. Like, totally batshit crazy. So out there that I can't fathom what the endgame was--if this nonsense had worked, there would have been no escape for anyone involved. It would have been outright war. But it all makes for a lively third act, and Lance absolutely destroys it. The picture comes alive in mystical ways every time he graces the screen, and the filmmakers wisely put him front and center often. Bonus points: his right-hand man is played by William Forsythe, who damn near steals the show himself. They say that a film is only as strong as its villain, and I'm here to say that this Henriksen/Forsythe pairing ranks among the best one-two punches we'ver ever been blessed with. It doesn't hurt that the roles are audacious enough in their own right, giving both of these wicked cool thespians a lot to chew on. And the action choreography is also a selling point--there are brawls, chases, shootouts, and explosions to spare, and Craig R. Baxley could light things up with the best of them. Sue me, but I couldn't give two shits about a lot of big 90s films like Titanic or Forrest Gump, but I treasure Stone Cold. That's how I'm wired, and if you like this blog, you probably enjoy this overlooked biker flick just as much as I do.
Final Grade: B+
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| Lance always puts on a good show, and he has played iconic parts in other bigger and better movies--but it is entirely possible that this was his strongest performance. |
