Young Guns II
EMILIO ESTEVEZ RETURNS AS BILLY THE KID, WHO WITH HIS OUTLAW GANG TRIES TO OUTRUN PAT GARRETT. SPECIAL FEATURES: THEATRICAL TRAILER, ALL-NEW DOLBY DIGITAL 5.1 REMIX, AND BEHIND-THE-SCENES DOCUMENTARY. SUBTITLES IN ENGLISH.This time around, the Brat Packers (Emilio Estevez, Christian Slater, Lou Diamond Phillips, Kiefer Sutherland) are on the run from the law and making a break for the border. Sutherland is yanked from his school-teaching job back East and extradited for trial, until he’s liberated by the other members of the gang. There’s a memorable scrap between Phillips and Slater, and a couple of pretty decent firefights, but all in all this is rather forgettable fare. It taps into the futility and camaraderie of classics like The Wild Bunch and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, but Sam Peckinpah or George Roy Hill it ain’t. Jon Bon Jovi adds to the Rock-Stars-in-the-Old-West feel of this one, rife as it is with non-period dialogue and long, blowy hair. Still, fans of the original movie may find plenty to like in this sequel, even if it comes across as being a bit tired and turgid (notice there never was a Young Guns III). –Jerry Renshaw
Rating:  List Price: $ 9.98 Price: $ 3.91 Related Dvd Products |
(out of 57 reviews)
Review by James N Simpson for Young Guns II
Rating:
Not many sequels surpass their original sibling but this DVD does. Billy’s back, so is Pat Garrrett (although he is played by a different actor) and this is the showdown. This movie is the story of an old man claiming to be Billy who is after the pardon he was promised almost a lifetime ago. This movie picks up pretty much a year after Young Guns left off with the surviving regulators being round up and set for a hanging. Meanwhile Billy is being promised a pardon by the governor in return for testimony against his old enemies who killed John Tunstall. Of course there is no pardon and Billy must escape and rescue his pals. Pat Garrett is of course paid a lot of money to turn on Billy, track him down and bring him to justice.
Out of the two Young Guns movies this is the more well known story of the life of Billy the Kid. You don’t actually need to have seen the original to enjoy this movie but the original is pretty good too so you might as well.
The trailer for the movie is also included which is pretty interesting to see how it was marketed in the USA. There’s also a featurette which is a sort of behind the scenes, interview with the actors type thing. It’s pretty interesting. You can also just watch the credits if you want to listen to Jon Bon Jovi’s Blaze of Glory and Billy get Your Guns songs.
Like Young Guns this movie has an excellent cast with Keifer Sutherland, Emilio Estevez, Christian Slater and Lou Diamond Phillips being the most famous ones. My only criticism is that they used William Petersen a different actor to play Pat Garrett than Patrick Wayne who played him in Young Guns. Once you get used to this it doesn’t matter. This is a sensational DVD you should buy it as well as Young Guns. If you love the movie consider buying Blaze of Glory the solo album inspired by the film by Jon Bon Jovi as it’ll take you back memory wise to the film each time you play it.
Review by for Young Guns II
Rating:
Western films have slowly deterierated in quality since the passing and changing of certain actors souch as John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. It is good to see a western that captures the same hearts as did earlier westerns. We need more movies like this one.
Review by for Young Guns II
Rating:
I saw this movie for the first time the other day. I really like it. I have to have this movie now. I was expecting it to be cold and bloody but some of it was actually touching. Everyone should see this movie!
Review by Thor for Young Guns II
Rating:
How many times have we seen a sequel that was better than original? Let’s face it: something like that is rare.
Young Guns, the film from 1988 was a succes at the box office, so a sequel came in 1990. Well folks, I’ll tell you: Young Guns II entertains and is even better than the original.
The story of Young Guns II basically takes of where Part I stopped.
Cast members Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland and Lou Diamond Phillips are united once more for some more fun in the wild wild west.
The story may be historically inaccurate, the story is nice and gives a lot of entertainment and surprises.
Emilio Estevez is back as Billy the Kid and gives an even more satisfying performance than in the first one. He gives his crazy, triggerhappy character an extra touch and even shows a more emotional side of the character.
Kiefer Sutherland plays a good role as Doc and even if his role may feel a bit smaller than in the first one, he shows that he’s there in every scene where he is necessary.
Lou Diamond Phillips is cooler than ever as his Mexican Indian character, ‘Jose’ Chavez y Chavez. He steals the show with his serious, relaxed and knifethrowing protrayel of the character. Great job.
As for the rest of the cast: there are a lot of newcomers in the film including Christian Slater, Alan Ruck, Balthazar Getty and William L. Petersen who all do a fine job and keep the film, considering acting, in the safety zone.
The rest of the film: camerawork, locations, sets, costumes and music are all perfectly and professionally done. The locations are stunning, beautiful and show the West in it’s full pride.
Now the Music by Alan Silvestri is what powers the film up. Sivestri once again shows he has the talent to bring the film to a higher entertainment value thanks to his music. It is great adventerous western music with a nice Silvestri twist to it. Some moments can give you a positive chill along your backspine because of a great wide location shot while a wonderfull theme is powering it up enormously.
Another element which makes Young Guns II better than the original is that in the first part some things felt a bit unexplored, too much left alone. It gave you the feeling that it could have been worked out a bit more. Now with Young Guns II, those little errors are gone. Some things still feel like they could have been shown a bit better, but it doesn’t bother that much as in the first.
Also, another thing which makes Young Guns II fantastic is the dramatic touch. The emotional level from the first film is raised a few bars in this one. Expect a bit more drama and emotion, two elements which make this film a-ok.
The action in the film is absolutely great and well done. Shootouts, pursuits, one on one fights, horse stunts: it’s all part of the action. Western fans who love great westernvoilence and action won’t be dissapointed: it has just enough action and suspence to keep you watching.
All in all, Young Guns II has become a highly entertaining modern western which leaves you satisfied in your seat. It rocks, it rolls and it beats the orginal Young Guns.
Review by Puzzle box for Young Guns II
Rating:
Great sequel to the original Young Guns (Special Edition), if you have seen the original film then your going to love this. Young Guns 2 came blazing on to the screen to deal with the parts of the William H. Bonnie a.k.a. Billy the Kid legend that Young Guns didn’t tackle. This film is even further from the true story than Young Guns but just as much fun. The film is told through the eyes of an old cowboy claiming to be Billy the Kid speaking to a reporter and uses the old myth that The Kid’s death at the hands of Pat Garrett never took place. This was a great sequel but it doesn’t beat the original, however we still get the same level of excitement that the first film had. The cast is at the top of its game, especially Esteves as the Kid, Sutherland as Doc and Diamond Phillips as Chavez. Christian Slater and Alan Ruck also lend their support as Arkansas Dave Rudabaugh and Buckshot George (You might recognise Ruck from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Bueller…Bueller… Edition (Special Collector’s Edition), another awesome 80′s film gotta love it!). The addition of Christian Slater to the cast was just brilliant, 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 as he has more responsibilities as a teacher and a father to a young son he left behind in New York. Billy’s speech about finishing the game is my favorite part in the film especially when Doc says “lets finish the game Billy”.
This motley group make up the “Young Guns” and their quest to get to the Mexican border and escape from former gang member Pat Garret played by William Petersen. The film follows the standard Billy the Kid story with only slight moderations, but this is the only film in which the spirit of Billy the Kid is alive and you truly feel like this character is what he thinks he is which is some kind of god. This was exactly what the story needed and it works for the same reason films like Braveheart (Special Collector’s Edition) worked. They don’t try to do an accurate historical retelling but they pay tribute to the legends centered around the character and like I said before in my Young Guns 1 review it isn’t exactly Unforgiven but it’s still a fun and entertaining western/action flick. I must admit even though I despise Bon Jovi I have to say that he did a great job with the soundtrack and Blaze of Glory is probably the only song that I like of his, it really captures the spirit of the film. 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 truly funny especially when the real lynch mob turn up. It was probably one of the best and memorable scenes in the film. I highly recommend this even though some points in the film were slightly off it was still a brilliant sequel and was very entertaining.