SHERDOG MOVIE CLUB: Week 249 - Stone Cold (1991)

[Cool Hand Luke]

I can't believe I've never seen this movie.

 

[Dirt Road Soldier]

The opening pre-credits scene was terrible and I think that just set a bad tone for the movie with critics etc. The movie had to spend the next while recovering from that scene, which it did. But they should have just left it out and opened with the bikers or filmed something else as an opening.

A lot of action movies did that though, an opening sequence to introduce the main character and show how badass he was. This movie just didnt handle it the best, and it kinda set a bad tone for the beginning of the movie.

Maybe they should have shown what earned him the suspension in the first place, a bit of backround to open it up. Not start with him ALREADY being on suspension and just randomly stopping a robbery.

 

[BisexualMMA]

A lot of action movies did that though, an opening sequence to introduce the main character and show how badass he was. This movie just didnt handle it the best, and it kinda set a bad tone for the beginning of the movie.

Maybe they should have shown what earned him the suspension in the first place, a bit of backround to open it up. Not start with him ALREADY being on suspension and just randomly stopping a robbery.

Your idea would have worked better. Yes, such opening unrelated scenes are common (Cobra, James Bond movies, etc.) but Stone Cold is the maybe worst such opening scene that I can think of.

 

[Dirt Road Soldier]

I think the best opening I've seen like that was Lethal Weapon, where you meet Riggs and almost immediately see him snorting coke and pulling a gun on dealers, which sets the tone perfectly for how close to the edge the character is.

This movie though, that kind of opening just doesnt fit. We know he's the star, we know hes going to be a badass, we dont need that explained to us unless there is something else about him that's important.

 

[DoctorDeelon]

You gotta love this movie. Brian Bosworth is such a goof, it's just incredible.

Lance Henriksen deserved an Oscar for this, not just for his acting (he's always great) but the fact that he was able to keep a straight face while Bosworth and that mullet were inches away from him, trying to act.

I feel like John Stone is one of the most "I just want to get the big bust, everyone else can go fuck themselves" cop characters in movie history. He doesn't really save anyone. The abused girl who ran away from home and got caught up with a biker gang, but still has a heart that you'd think he'd save from this gang so she could start over? Nope, executed point blank.

And at one point, to keep the bad guys from getting a trailer full of explosives, he knocks the explosives into a gas station, which blows up like Hiroshima, which had to have killed AT LEAST one poor gas station employee, and it's never mentioned, there's no repercussions. It's amazing.

It was cool to see Mac's dad from Always Sunny as the AWOL guy, and the pro wrestler Tom Magee as the guy Stone fights.

 

[europe1]

The hair speaks for itself, and it made me wonder if John Stone ended up smoking so much pots he ended up in Hudson Hawk as Butterfinger

Lamo. I had completely forgotten about that scene.

Bosworth: "Do you want me to rape him?"

Other guy: "..."

Other guy: "Read your book Butterfinger"

Hudson Hawk is such an off-kilter comedy<45>

I think the best opening I've seen like that was Lethal Weapon

"Best character introduction" is such a ginormous topic that I'm not even going to try to pick one but I'll just post this here.

This movie though, that kind of opening just doesnt fit. We know he's the star, we know hes going to be a badass, we dont need that explained to us unless there is something else about him that's important.

This whole movie is basically a star-vehicle. Badass yet casual introduction is virtually obligatory.

Lance Henriksen deserved an Oscar for this, not just for his acting (he's always great) but the fact that he was able to keep a straight face while Bosworth and that mullet were inches away from him, trying to act.

He doesn't really save anyone.

It's kind of funny how the biker-gang manages to gun-down the big-star Governor-candidate and all the Highest Judges of the state... but everyone seems fine with it. The FBI and the Police-Chief doesn't even comment on it they seem fine with having them all dead<45>