You could hardly tell that Young Guns is a western. It has everything that a western should have: outlaws, indians, gunfights and shootouts, horse riding, old, dusty towns, you name it. Unfortunately, Young Guns feels too much as an 80s movie. What it wants to be is a historical western, similar in style to Tombstone, which I can assure you is a better film than this in nearly every aspect.
Here is a western that's senseless, almost plotless, and headed by a star studded cast who are also miscast. None of the actors feel fit into their respective roles. Emilio Estevez, Charlie Sheen, Lou Diamond Philips and Kiefer Sutherland must have thought that they were in an 80s action movie. Maybe that's why the film is poorly acted (although we can find an exception in that fine actor, Jack Palance, who plays Murphy, the principal antagonist. Palance fits well into his role).
Basically, Young Guns is a retelling of the Lincoln Country War in New Mexico, seen through the viewpoints of Billy the Kid (Estevez) and his gang. What follows are numerous shootouts, knife fights, fist fights, killings, shootings, murders, gunfights, chases and escapes. How many times do we have to watch Billy the Kid randomly shoot a guy and then laugh about it?
The dialogue spoken in the film is quite historically innaccurate. Young Guns could go down as one of the most poorly scripted westerns I've seen, at least in a long while. Basically, the script is hackneyed, with phrases like "what's up man?" and worse occuring constantly.
Director Christopher Cain turns what could have been a decent western flick into a cartoonish action film with lots of slo mo shootouts and even 80s music.
I wasn't that entertained with Young Guns. It simply doesn't seem to fit into being a western. You would at least expect to have some fun. Well, if you do expect to have fun in watching Young Guns, I'm afraid your gravely mistaken.
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