Customer Reviews

Young Guns 2 - Blaze of Glory [DVD] [1990]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Great film, great soundtrack. It asks the question did Pat Garret really kill Billy the Kid? which I like. The song blood money by Jon Bon Jovi really sums up the emotion of Pat and Billy's relationship. As with the first film its funny in parts, serious in others and always has plenty of action. I can't get bored watching these films. When Billy makes a fake lynch mob to get Chavez and Doc out of prison is truely funny especially when the real lynch mob turn up. When the "Cincinati Kid" dies, Emilio does some great acting saying to Pat " you killed the boy Pat". The addition of Christian Slater to the cast was masterful, his rivalry with Chavez and their fight really adds to an already good film. Doc as usual is torn about what to do and really doesn't want to follow Billy. Billy's speech about finishing the game is my favourite part in the film especially when Doc says "lets finish the game Billy".
If you haven't seen it you won't be disappointed and if you have seen it you don't need to read reviews to know you need to buy it.

I am 100% satisfied with this product. In Belgium I could'nt find this movie anymore, so I bought it on Amazon, WITH dutch subtitels!!!

Young Guns II really surprised me. ALL the actors were GREAT in this movie. I especially loved Lou Diamond Phillips and Kiefer Sutherland (of course). Emilio Estevez was wonderful and for once I didn't hate Christian Slater.

I saw the first movie, and it was okay, but I seem to get into and feel for the characters much more in the sequel--they have more depth and there's not as many, so you can focus more on the important relationships. Not to mention a core musical identity of my era named Jon Bon Jovi, who did the theme song (which had some awesome lyrics).

Young Guns I and II in my opinion are a pretty good visualisation of a piece of American history. The actors did a good job and all went their separate ways since these movies came out at the beginning of the nineties. So in that sense: interesting movie-history.

I loved this film when it came out and still love it now! A film that really does put all the modern rubbish to shame!!

Billy "The Kid" and his gang is wanted by the law, and when "Doc" Scurlock and Chavez are captured, Billy has to save them - very quick delivery - very good condition

Loved the first Young Guns, it was absolute class! this one is pretty good too, not as good but it still gets 5 stars from me.

i love this film for me its better than the first. its action packed great actors good story all round good film and you dont have to be a western fan to enjoy it

Young Guns II is directed by Geoff Murphy and written by John Fusco. It stars Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Christian Slater, William Petersen, Alan Ruck and Balthazar Getty. Music is scored by Alan Silvestri, with contributions from Jon Bon Jovi, and cinematography is by Dean Semler

Brushy Bill Roberts, old and crusty, claims to be Billy The Kid. Which is quite a claim considering the Kid was long thought to have been killed by Patrick Floyd Garrett in 1881. Roberts tells a listening historian that after the break up of the Tunstall Regulators, the remaining members hooked up with Garrett and Arkansas Dave Rudabaugh and still lived the outlaw life.....

Young Guns was released in 1988 and became a big enough hit to warrant this sequel two years later. Reuniting gunslingers Billy the Kid (Estevez), Doc Scurlock (Sutherland) and Chavez (Phillips) from the first film, Young Guns II follows the same formula that worked two years previously. Billy is still a borderline nut case and his gang, for better or worse, follow him into a number of escapades. This time around, though, we have some added interest in the form of Christian Slater's cocky Rudabaugh, who, as an egotist, wants to run the gang himself. Things are further given a lift when Garrett (a darn fine William Petersen resplendent with major face fuzz) leaves the gang and is persuaded to become a law man. His first job being of course to catch Billy!

Both Young Guns movies are frowned upon by many old school Western purists, which to a degree I understand. They lack any sort of psychological aspects outside of a brat packer like cast shooting and quipping with care free abandon. Character depth is lacking so there is nothing on which to hang your hat on. Here, much like the first film, creative license is used with historical facts but the core basis of story is solid, with many of the events leading up to the documented death of Billy the Kid holding true. Major problem here, though, is that the makers are spinning off from the iffy claim of Brushy Bill Roberts that he was Billy the Kid and did not die at the hands of Pat Garrett. Knowing Billy survives the pursuit and show-down with Garrett at the start of the film kind of dilutes the wonder and impending drama! Film also at times feels like a composite of Little Big Man, Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid and of course Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid.

However, both films, and more so with this sequel, have such a sense of fun like homage to them it's not hard to forgive the obvious flaws. Action is plentiful, with much blood shed during the course of the story, while the story always remains intriguing by way of the character dynamics. Semler's photography is more in tune with the Wild West this time around, as is Silvestri's score, the latter of which lifts parts of his Predator arrangement to blend with more traditional cowboy harmonies. Great song from Bon Jovi to close the film down as well. There's also a nice link to Peckinpah's movie with an important cameo for James Coburn as John Chisum (Coburn played Pat Garrett). But most of all it's just great fun to be in the company of Estevez's Billy, true enough to say it comes at the expense of the other characters around him, it's a film owning show, which also dubiously swerves us into cheering for the baby faced "outlaw hero", but it plays out as a rollicking good ride in spite of grey area thematics and roll call of cliches. And boys, oh boys, Jenny Wright pops in to raise the temperatures considerably with a Lady Godiva moment.

If for nothing else, the Young Guns movies got people talking about the Western in the MTV age, that has to be a bonus to the discerning Western fan. Acknowledge the faults by all means, but viewing them as gunslinging fun wrapped around real Western folklore might just help you enjoy the experience. 7/10

While Emilio Estevez chuckles his way through most of the film to such a degree that you feel like his character turn is verging on hammy, he makes for an exciting lead, just the right side of insane. Christian Slater is along this time as Arkansas Dave, challenging Estevez' Billy the Kid for leadership of his gang, and William Peterson is great as outlaw turned lawman Pat Garrett.
Back for more are Lou Diamond Phillips and Keiffer Sutherland. Phillips brings pride and physical toughness to his role, while Sutherland brings an unexpected sensitivity and determination to his frustrated schoolteacher dragged (literally) back into a life of violence.
There are daring escapes, soirees with senoritas, and double-croses aplenty, and the gunfights and confrontations are excellently handled. The film approaches the Billy The Kid legend from an interesting standpoint, and this helps frame the story very well. In all westerns it's the character interplay and the gunfights that bring the film to life, and this one nails them right on the money.
Fast, violent and flashy.
A highly recommended western treat.