Customer Reviews

Plato's Run

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

1997 was a great year in life for both Sid and Gary Busey. Sid was smack dab in the middle of those golden years we wished would never end and Gary Busey was still somewhat coherent and only a quarter of the way into insanity. Obviously at this point in life a lot of things have changed including the deep end that Gary has thrown himself so far over...and this is something we love. Despite the mans' constant criticism we find him to be somewhat of a genius who has the intensity of a starving mountain lion. This intensity translates to pure acting gold which he continues to provide time and time again. Plato's Run falls into our favorite decade for B and even showed us Busey has a bit more slow motion brawling power then we ever could have expected. This factor alone was the reason behind the four star rating.

Gary plays ex-marine Plato Smith who is now a failing fisherman trying to keep his daughter from thinking he's any more of a loser then he really is. When he's approached by an old lady friend named Marta to rescue a couple of prison escaped Cubans for 100k he jumps on the opportunity. Despite the risks the thought of 100k is too much to turn down. That buys you a lot of Jack Daniels and anti-crazy pills. Naturally thinks go wrong leaving Platos framed for murder. However Busey and his Hawaiian shirt aren't going down without a fight. He teams up with his old marine buddy Sam Macris to crack some skulls, and being that Sam was Al Pacino's buddy in Scarface you know the jobs gonna get done.

Plato's Run gave us some hilarious moments starting off with a Death Ring style bar fight that was almost identical to the real thing. In fact it was so close we're fully convinced Busey watched it on the movie channel at 2 am that same Saturday night in 1994. Since it's Busey we'll let it slide and actually feel his fighting style was greatly influenced by Mike Norris. Despite Busey's gut the man moves like a gazelle when he's taking someone down with his fists of fury. The slow motion featured fighting was easily enough to get this one up to a four star rating. As the years go on we can only hope Gary will continue his quest for B supremacy and keep us captivated for the whole ride.

I bought this movie for I wanted to watch Jeff Speakman. Before buying this product I however, read the reviews and already knew that there's not much Jeff Speakman Kenpo action.

Still I placed an order - I just wanted to collect all movies that has even a minor presence of Mr. Speakman.


The movie is being sold by Zoverstocks who send this product from the UK. The arrival took about 20 days from the date of despatch. However, the wait was ok, considering the price of the product is incredibly low at 1 cent ($0.01). with shipping it cost me $2.99.

the storyline of the movie is a definite B grade. No good, but if you are a Speakman fan, and you want to have all movies in which he even had a smallest part, buy it.


PS: The Picture and sound quality of the movie is good, but no subtitles available if I am not mistaken.

I'll say one thing about this film: there are no lulls. You can't get bored watching this. The problem is that it is TOO intense. There is too much action and it NEEDS lulls! That is the risk you take in modern action films. You want it interesting but not overdone. This is way overdone.

Even though the acting is fine and features a couple of "names" in Gary Busey and Roy Scheider, it still has the feel of a "B" film. The best part of it is Scheider's dialog: the only "A" part of this "B" film.

The rest of the story is strictly Rambo mentality but did have a few standout scenes. One in particular was a very innovative scene featuring land mines. That was memorable.

If you are a Gary Busey or Roy Schnider fan you might sit thru this one. Basically, the plot is too predictable and the stunts are rather poor. I watched it because I like Steve Bauer and Gary Busey, but they could have made the movie more exciting with their acting abilities that they have. Gary was alright but Steve Bauer was rather disappointing. It looked like he was just walking threw his role--no joking no fun stuff-- not like he is in other roles. The movie was slow in a few places. I say rent it but do not buy this one.

Well... um... yeah. Not the best DVD I've ever purchased. BTW, Jeff Speakman fans - don't bother with this one if you're interested in seeing more of Mr. Speakman's expertise in Kenpo - it's not there. The movie itself - it's adequate. It killed some time.

Jeff is only in two scenes in this movie. The begining and the end. Kind of discouraging. No disrespect Gary.