Mean Guns Blu Ray Review (MVD Rewind Collection)

Mean Guns is a 1997 action film directed by Albert Pyun (The Sword and the Sorcerer, Cyborg, Captain America, Nemesis franchise, Kickboxer franchise, Blast, Crazy Six, Alien from LA, Dollman, Arcade, Dangerously Close, Radioactive Dreams, and Brain Smasher). It was written and produced by Andrew Witham (Gentlemen of the Hunt). Christopher Lambert apparently only worked on the production for 4 days and he was paid around $2 million for his work. The most dangerous criminals in the underworld which includes Lou (played by: Christopher Lambert from Highlander franchise, Mortal Kombat, Fortress, The Hunted, The Sicilian, The Blacklist, Southland Tales, and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance), Marcus (played by: Michael Halsey from Dollman, Nemesis 2, Postmortem, Ticker, and The Last Witch Hunter), Barbie (played by: Tina Cote from Blast, Omega Doom, Nemesis 2, Barb Wire, and Heatseeker), Crow (played by: Thom Mathews from The Return of the Living Dead 1/2, Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives, Dangerously Close, Alien from LA, Nemesis, Blast, Kickboxer 4, and Crazy Six), Hoss (played by: Yuji Okumoto from The Karate Kid Part II, Cobra Kai, Inception, The Crow: Wicked Prayer, Blast, Robot Wars, Real Genius, Better off Dead, and Nemesis), and D (played by: Kimberly Warren from Blast, Battle for the Lost Planet, and Sorcerers) are forced to meet at new prison that’s about to open the next day so time is running out for this extreme experiment. Plus the unloyal Cam (played by: Deborah Van Valkenburgh from The Warriors, Streets of Fire, Too Close for Comfort, Firestarter 2, The Devil’s Rejects, and Brain Smasher) is thrown in the mix with these lunatics. Moon (played by: Ice-T from Law & Order: SVU, New Jack City, Surviving the Game, 3000 Miles to Graceland, Leprechaun 5, Crazy Six, Trespass, Johnny Mnemonic, and Tank Girl), the cold blooded leader of the syndicate is the host. The syndicate controls every crime and no one gets in their way. Unfortunately, this large group of hitmen, gangsters, thieves, snitches, and associates with very bad luck have all wronged the brutal syndicate at one point. They are all marked for death so they put together this wild competition to take care of all their problems in one nightmarish event. Chaos takes place when a variety of weapons and ammunition are passed around to the killers. They all must fight to survive. The last three standing will split $10,000,000 in cash. Rivalries develop between close friends and the lines of loyalty are crossed as each person attempts to win their life back plus a nice cash prize. They have to outwit, outrun, and outlive everyone else in this action packed game of elimination!!!!

I’m guessing this isn’t something that’s said a lot about this 90’s action film but Mean Guns is one of my top 20 favorite movies of all time. I’ve always loved this wild low budget crime feature. It’s a very basic concept and set up but that’s why everything works so good when it’s displayed on the screen. Mean Guns is loaded with non stop action. It’s one of the most entertaining and fun entries when comes to crime cinema in the 90’s. It’s beyond over the top and it knows exactly what it’s doing here so it never take itself serious. The acting in Mean Guns will never be considered great or high quality but they were all providing some wacky and original characters. Christopher Lambert is the lead here and he was very popular when they made the movie so it helped the promotion for the feature. I love his crazy performance as Lou. He shows remorse for his violent past and he wants to just take care of his kid at this point so goes on last hurray as a killing machine. Ice-T was in his earlier acting days during this one so I will say that he was hilarious in Mean Guns. He has improved so much over the years when it comes to his craft but he’s a blast here. It’s my personal favorite visual experience from cult director Albert Pyun. He put together the production with lots of his longtime collaborators from other projects. The supporting cast is wild which includes Michael Halsey, Kimberly Warren, Yuji Okumoto, Thom Mathews, Deborah Van Valkenburgh, Tina Cote, Jerry Rector (Army of Darkness), Hoke Howell (Vice Girls), James Mathers (Dr. Jekyll’s Dungeon of Death), Jahi J.J. Zuri (Bloodsport III), Robert Lennon (Blast), John Machado (Under Siege 2), Jill Pierce (Kickboxer 4), and Earl White (Bloodsport 2). Lots of stunt people and extras besides the obvious cast were given a bigger role in this. I will point out a hilarious thing about the plot for this which claims there’s supposed to be 100 assassins for this bullet fest yet there’s around only 20+ actors used in the actual production (look at the wide shot when the game starts). Albert Pyun got creative and he killed the same stunt men over and over here to make it look like there’s more people involved. You would figure with this plot that it would be gory, gruesome, and a crazy mess for the deaths but it’s really not for the most part. The soundtrack and score is so random but it actually fits the more that you revisit it. I will say that I’ve never enjoyed the ending and how they played it out. Mean Guns is highly underrated, I really hope this brand new home video release gives it more attention because it should be a cult classic. The replay value is very strong and it’s the perfect flick to enjoy with a group of friends. HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!

Let’s discuss this high definition presentation from MVD Rewind! This 1080p (2.35:1) transfer is better than the previous DVD that was released in the states from Lionsgate forever ago. The restoration looks very similar to the one that Krekel did in 2015 but MVD used the correct aspect ratio unlike that older 101 Films release so this is definitely an upgrade when you consider that. The independent production of Mean Guns will never be reference quality but this might be the best that it’s ever going to look considering it’s limitations. This English: LPCM 2.0 track is very solid. Non stop bullets and violence pounds through the speakers for Mean Guns. The unique Mambo score is probably the best thing about the audio here. It has English SDH subtitles. It has an archival almost 40 second “Intro” from director Albert Pyun. It has an “Audio Commentary” with director Albert Pyun. This track is loaded all with kinds of information and stories. You learn so much about the Mean Guns production here. It’s a nice inside look into this independent feature. It has the original “Trailer” plus a variety of other Albert Pyun “Trailers”. These might be older extras but they weren’t originally on the other U.S. releases so they are still something different to look forward to. The MVD Rewind Collection went out their way and added some brand new exclusive interviews on this blu ray. That’s one of the main reasons why you should consider picking this up because it’s definitely a quality upgrade when it comes to Mean Guns on home video. There’s an almost 29 minute “Interview” with producer Gary Schmoeller. He chats about he got into the business and he jokes about being way too old for doing production assistant jobs. He talks about working with producer and director Brian Yuzna when his career started on Society. He brings up moving up in the industry with a variety of jobs. He discusses when he got involved with collaborating director Albert Pun. Pyun set up a 3 picture deal with Trimark Pictures. They set up their own company together Filmwerks. They did a total of 15 movies in 5 years. He tells some interesting stories about Mean Guns. They shot 3 different films in that prison location. He says when they first worked with Lambert he easily got $2 million for his work originally when he was very popular but after his career declined they only paid him $200,000 for their later collaboration. He chats about the weapons were one of the biggest challenges during the production. He talks about how popular Mean Guns was. He chats about Ice-T struggling with remembering his lines because it was one of earlier lead roles. He brings up some issues that he had with the production. He shares that they put together a Urban trilogy which included Urban Menace, Corrupt, and The Wrecking Crew. It featured Ice-T, Snoop Dogg, Big Pun, Fat Joe, and Silkk the Shocker. Unfortunately, a plane lost half the footage coming back so they had to rush the reshoot for the trilogy to make up for the lost scenes. It ended up bankrupting their company. This interview has a little mini interview with director Albert Pyun towards the end. It has an almost 24 minute “Interview” with executive producer Paul Rosenblum. He chats about working with Roger Corman for Last Resort and getting set up with Cannon films where he first met director Albert Pyun for Dangerously Close. He brings up starting Filmwerks with Pyun and a few other producers. He shares his main jobs and responsibilities during this run. He talks about developing Mean Guns. He said the writer actually worked for Quentin Tarantino. He shares that most of the budget went to Lambert and Ice-T so Pyun wasn’t left with much after that but he still pulled it off with his talents. He mentions that Mean Guns was their most successful project during their Filmwerks productions.  He chats how Pyun was influenced by MTV when it came to his visual style. He brings up the cast and crew that they worked with here and later one. He brings up them losing footage for their urban trilogy and that’s how everything ended with their company. He shows his appreciation for the cult director but he says that Pyun always wanted to do everything himself and he should have let more people help which would have increased their quality. Last but not least, it has a little over 18 minute “Interview” with composer Anthony Riparetti. He chats about how he first met and started working with filmmaker Albert Pyun. He goes over some of the projects that he collaborated with him. He says that Pyun worked hard to accomplish all of this with no budget during those movies. He says Albert Pyun was always music heavy with his productions. He goes into the Mambo style that was used for Mean Guns and Pyun shared music with him to inspire the score for this. He chats about how Pyun played the sub-genre while they were filming everything. He brings up it was too expensive to use the original Mambo music that influenced the soundtrack here. He goes over Pyun dealing with so many limitations to put this together but he was creative so it all happened at the end. He tells stories about his other jobs when it came to this which came with the mixing and the overall audio. He tells a story how Pyun made the small feature Deceit for 3 days while making Captain America at the same time using their film from the other production. He chats about their relationship over the years. I love MVD’s artwork and designs for their limited edition slipcovers. That retro look brings you back to those VHS days. This blu ray also comes with reversible artwork and a mini poster. It’s available everywhere in a few weeks, CHECK IT OUT!!!!