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The ratings at IMDb are generally pretty accurate; if a film is rated 8, it's good, if it's rated 6 it's not so good, and if it's rated 4, you shouldn't waste your time. This is the first time I can remember being really baffled by a rating - this film really deserves to be rated much higher.
The plot is simple enough. Johnny Handsome has been given an ironic name because of his hideous disfigurement which makes him repulsive to everyone he meets. In the circumstances, he doesn't have much choice but to turn to crime, and when he's betrayed by his accomplices, he ends up in jail. There he meets a brilliant surgeon, who fixes his face and makes him look like - well, like Mickey Rourke. Released on parole he finds a job and a girlfriend, but he can't escape his grim past and his need for vengeance.
Now I'm not saying the film is perfect by any means. There are plot holes a-go-go, and the whole thing falls apart a bit in the last twenty minutes or so - the ending is especially disappointing. But come on, it's better than 5.6, with good performances from Rourke, Forest Whitaker and a turn of twinkly eyed cynicism from Morgan Freeman, who effortlessly steals every scene he appears in. And let's not forget a deliciously over the top effort from Ellen Barkin as the baddest girl ever to walk the earth.
It isn't Shakespeare, but it's directed in typically robust style by Walter Hill, and to my surprise I found myself caring about Johnny and hoping it all worked out for him. I won't say whether it does or not, because it's worth seeing this one to find out for yourself. Just get a big bucket of popcorn and don't think too much, and you'll have a great time.
score 8/10
mattbaxter72 27 August 2006
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1459777/ |
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18-3-2021 00:07:19