“Beyond the Law” is one of the silliest movies you will ever encounter. 1993 flick was a staple of my childhood – I recall watching it over and over as a click-n-stick Saturday afternoon rerun and thinking it was really cool. Ah the simplicity of youth.
It stars Charlie Sheen as a lawman who goes undercover to infiltrate a ruthless biker gang led by the always awesome Michael Madsen. The premise alone sounds great but the clunky story, which includes a romantic entanglement with a journalist covering the gang (Linda Fiorentino) does nothing but fill space and take the viewer away from what they want to see – the biker gang.
When we think of organized crime, we think Italian Mafia, but biker gangs can be just as if not more brutal. Cool names like the Hell’s Angels, The Mongols, or Pagans top the FBI’s watchful eye, and in “Beyond the Law” it’s the Jackals and their ruthless leader Blood (Madsen) that have drawn the ire of the feds (Courtney B Vance).
What does work is the biker element itself. Vast desert landscapes and open Arizona roads littered with choppers and leather clad thugs is a great thing to watch. They fight, they party, they defend each other to the death. Blood is surrounded by a motley crew that include his hot biker girlfriend (Hollie Chamberlain) and the great character actor Dennis Burkley. The biker lifestyle is always intriguing and even in a limited number of scenes, I may end up joining the Jackals.
The film derails with its insistence on including a ridiculous backstory to the Sid character (Sheen) including an opening sequence showing how much of a renegade cop he is. Sid suffers from traumatic nightmares, has had a rough past, is still good looking enough to land a beautiful reporter and take his shirt off etc. The problem is Sid gains the trust of the Jackals without really investing the time to earn it. And the film runs nearly two hours. By the end when Sid begins to question which side his loyalty is on, we don’t really care.
The Sheen character is supposedly based off a real life undercover agent Dan Saxon. I’d like to have watched a more serious version of what would have been a harrowing and deadly experience. Instead we get scenes of Charlie Sheen acting cool, and we never once fear for his safety despite the company he is with.
“Beyond the Law” is a dull movie that has a few decent elements to it but fails in offering a sold reason to ever watch.
