Inclubabu Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Catherina If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

stokton-71665 I'm so glad I've finally seen this film. This is well worth the waste of your time, Walter Hills, gem of a picture. Everyone in this film does a great job esp Mickey Rourke.

Predrag This is a latter-day noir masterpiece, far too low-key, grimy, and pessimistic to get the respect it deserved the first time around, but thanks to Amazon, maybe it is now getting the reappraisal it richly deserves. If memory serves correctly, Roger Ebert was one of the few critics to understand how good this thing was during its initial run. A moody, somber revenge films that recalls the film noir of the 40's. Great cast led by Rourke as the disfigured ironically named "cheap crook" of the title. A crook who is wronged and uses a controversial facial surgery to seek revenge against the scumbags that killed Johnny's friend, framed him and tried to kill him twice.Director Walter Hill was on a tear in the late 70's until the mid 80's (with a certain revival period in the 90's, when he dipped his toe into the Western Genre). This movie features several actors at the peak of their powers, including Morgan Freeman (before he was typecast as a good-natured, paternalistic friend (i.e. in "The Bucket List" or "Shawshank Redemption"). Ellen Barkin and Lance Henriksen are suitably over the top, and Forrest Whitaker inhabits his character with compassion and sensitivity. The only possible weak link is a miscast Elizabeth McGovern doing a painfully bad Cajun/Creole accent. The city of New Orleans (previously featured in Hill's "Hard Times" with Charles Bronson) is also a strong presence throughout. Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

lost-in-limbo Well renowned action director Walter Hill tackles a more moody, character driven crime drama in the shape of "Johnny Handsome" and it would have to be one of his under-the-radar productions. The story follows that of a deformed criminal John who stages a heist, however there's a double-cross which sees his best friend killed and him going to prison. There he is asked to take part in a rehabilitation program, where they clear him of his deformity while also getting him parole. Hoping now that he can start a new life, however John is still burning inside for vengeance. Presenting an ideal cast, Hill really does cast a spell over his audience with solid (even if it does feel a bit underdone) story-telling backed up by credibly good performances from leading man Mickey Rourke (within the peak of his career) and equally so support by Morgan Freeman, Ellen Barkin Lance Henrikson, Elizabeth McGovern and Forest Whitaker. Everybody chips in, adding their own stamp to proceedings and establishing gripping character rapports or confrontations (e.g. between Freeman's detective and Whitaker's doctor).Hill's cruise-like direction is crisp and tidy, engineering some intense passages and some well-oiled, edgy action set-pieces, although they are low-key (still violent) but this really does belong to its cast and the interestingly, smart story (that was adapted off John Godey's novel "The Three Worlds of Johnny Handsome"). The ambitious plot does have a lot going on and it might not all come together, but how it does play out stays constantly interesting and rather unpleasant in its details. Rourke's character Johnny is given a chance to start over and go straight, from this physical change brings much needed confidence but the hunger inside for revenge can't simply be cured or forgotten. Someone he cared for, who saw beyond his deformity deserved payback. Johnny would deliver it. So he carefully plans out the revenge, wanting to tease before actually ending it and things get even more suspenseful when the situation starts to go off the rails. Lance Henrikson and Ellen Barkin really do nail down their explosively sly parts of the two crooks who betrayed Johnny. The ever-reliable, Hill regular Ry Cooder adds a smoking touch to the music score.One of those films I didn't know all that much of, but came away pleasantly surprised.

Michael Neumann One of the last of the red-blooded action directors shoots himself in the foot with this loud, lame-brained fable about a horribly disfigured criminal transformed by reconstructive surgery into Mickey Roarke (the younger, pre-pugilistic leading man Roarke). All the psychological implications of his metamorphosis from beast to beauty are abandoned in the recovery room, leaving several excellent actors stranded in a common, smash-and-grab shoot-'em-up riddled with stock characters and routine doses of sadism. Rehabilitation isn't even an option; Hill doesn't waste any time introducing the action, and likewise can't be bothered with such things as logic or coherence. The performances by Roarke and 'good' girlfriend Elizabeth McGovern are the only two redeeming virtues in an otherwise unpleasant movie, slapped together from a hodgepodge of tough guys, tough gals, tough talk, and lots of sloppy, predictable violence.