Director: Geoff Murphy
Starring: Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips
Year: 1990
Young Guns II is a big step up from the first, with a focus on what matters (Billy the Kid) and a flippant attitude for what doesn’t. Plus, it’s got original music from Jon Bon frickin Jovi, which, I mean, how cool is that?! All jokes aside, Part 2 is an improvement, because the filmmakers finally understood what audiences wanted to see and what we didn’t, and they orchestrated the events for our entertainment, which is exactly what most movie geniuses should do. Art? Sometimes, sure. But what we really want is fun & interest, which is somehow, surprising, what this film is.
An old man meets a reporter with a wild claim; that he is William Bonnie, Billy the Kid, the outlaw legend, and someone who was supposedly killed many, many years before. But he has a story that he claims shows that he’s the real Billy, and so our tale begins. On the run for their lives from every outfit in New Mexico, Billy, Doc, Chavez & Co. stick together by the skin of their teeth, all while smiling in the face of the law. When treachery comes their way, most won’t make it out alive, but before they go they will set the territory ablaze, and turn themselves into famous men.
This cast is a little step up from the first, with some nice additions that help out: Estevez, Sutherland, Phillips, William Petersen, Christian Slater, Alan Ruck, James Coburn, Leon Rippy, Viggo Mortensen, Bradley Whitford. Plus there’s a touch of skin, a little blood, some fear, a lot of deaths, all narrated by Billy as an old man, which lends the whole thing an air of believabilty somehow. It’s an improvement on the wildness of the first, while still sticking to what worked; rock Western ridiculousness. 1990 was a good year, this is a good movie, and they deserve each other.
My rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆