The movie has a very cheap vibe, the action is shot in a very trashy way, the movie is clearly on a tight budget but all this is to be expected from an Albert Pyun movie. This isn't as good as Cyborg with JCVD which is glorious schlock but it is up there with Pyun's best. Christopher Lambert shot his scenes in two days and it shows, I am curious as to how long this whole movie took to shoot, it couldn't have taken much longer as Lambert appears in half the movie at least, of course in some scenes where action is meant to take place around his it can be seen that his scene was shot separately from the others. Despite all this it's very entertaining and the promise is pretty clever and fun, makes you think how much better the movie could have been if it had a bigger budget. The only downsides are that it could have been 10 minutes shorter as well as the ending which I won't spoil which was disappointing although well set up.

I can agree with other sentiments here: "Mean Guns" is more than just the standard B movie. I was lured to this thing by the names involved, but what we get here is not relentlessly predictable stuff. A crime boss named Vincent Moon (Ice-T) gathers a large group of lowlifes together, people who've "betrayed" their organization basically by being screw-ups. Moon's idea is to put all of them into a "kill or be killed" situation, providing them with various weapons, and the last three standing will supposedly walk away with the sum of $10 million. In addition to The T, we get other B movie perennials doing their thing; Christopher Lambert brings his own brand of acting to a more jovial - and unhinged - character than usual. Also appearing are Deborah Van Valkenburgh ("The Warriors"), Thom Mathews ("The Return of the Living Dead"), Yuji Okumoto ("The Karate Kid, Part II"), Tina Cote ("Omega Doom"), Kimberly Warren ("Blast"), and Michael Halsey ("Dollman"). Hoke Howell of such classics as "Kingdom of the Spiders" and "Humanoids from the Deep" has a cameo at the outset. As one will notice, the cast is largely made up of regulars in the films of the prolific Albert Pyun, and it don't matter if the acting ain't ever gonna win any awards; it still gets the job done. The T is amusing in the lead, and Lambert is actually a hoot, although it's veteran Halsey that really stands out, playing one of the most interesting characters in the whole thing. Van Valkenburgh is likable enough as the most sympathetic of them all. Mathews and Okumoto have their moments as a consistently bantering pair of buddies. It's hard to knock a movie that immediately goes for the approach of underscoring the fast and furious action with mambo music, which adds to the humour. Of course, when one sees the ridiculous fate of one of the characters, they'll see this is never meant to be taken too seriously. At an hour and 50 minutes it IS awfully long for this sort of thing, but that kooky charm still pervades the proceedings. And, despite all the violence, there's really no gore at all. Fans of low budget escapist fare should find this reasonably interesting and diverting, all the way to its unexpected ending. Seven out of 10.

Mean Guns (1997) was a nice surprise. I saw this movie on video a few years back and I enjoyed it. The plot is a re-working of the old "man hunting man" theme. Like I have said in the past, it's one of my favorite plot devices. The director Albert Pyun is one of those hit or miss directors. But this time the material succeeds despite the mundane direction and writing.The film for the most part takes place within a warehouse that is maintained by Ice-T. He's rounded up a hundred people and has filled several rooms with duffel bags filled with firearms. The participants have to play a game. Whoever survives wins the cash prize. An eclectic bunch of criminals, junkies and low-lives round out the cast of b-movie actors. A few old favorites also appear as well. The action is heavy and it seems to be heavily edited. I have to recommended this movie. The action is fast paced and the actors seem to be having fun and enjoying themselves. The only problem I had with this movie was the video transfer. It's a shame that they couldn't have produced a nice widescreen transfer (the movie was shot in Scope). A nice updated version of The Most Dangerous Game.

Filmed almost exclusively inside a 20 story building, this movie focuses exclusively on the end result of 100 gangster screw jobs done to the wrong man played wonderfully by Ice-T. If you are a fan of wrestling's battle royal or Royal Rumble, or are a fan of end-of-the-world genre's this movie will whet your appetite, as it a microcosm of end of the world movies, with the last man standing being Victorious and able to do as he pleases (that is, leave the gang world, or become head honcho) This movie is excellent if you view it without a critic's mind and watch it to free your suppressed anger and impulsive violence towards the world. -Al