disgusting, overrated, pointless

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Walter Hill's bluesy, melancholic crime thriller Johnny Handsome is a grimy concoction of violent heists and brutal shootouts held together by a character study of facially deformed career criminal John Sedley (Mickey Rourke). Sedley, looking like a cross between the elephant man and an orc, is a withdrawn, awkward outsider whose only success has been in illegal activities. Him and his partner (Scott Wilson) hook up with evil pair of dirtbags Rafé Garett (Lance Henriksen) and Sunny Boyd (Ellen Barkin) to pull off a jewelry store job. They get double crossed by the no good shitheels, his partner winds up dead, and Johnny gets caught. As part of an experimental program, Johnny undergoes a procedure to have his face altered to look normal. It's a success, and with a new face, Johnny gets parole, a legit job and begins to start anew. However, the bloody betrayal still haunts him, and slowly he starts to want revenge. This film lives in the snappy world of garish, larger than life criminals and hard nosed, mean spirited cops, a heightened, slimy version of the action genre that Hill delivers like the pro he is. Moody blues, smoky, detritus stained alleyways and the ever present vibe of the seedy side of New Orleans permeate every alcove of this piece, giving it a distinct, off noir flavor. Rourke nails the transformation from out casted freak into alpha dog slick tough guy like a caterpillar emerging from its cocoon, making us feel for Johnny despite his sordid lifestyle. Henriksen is a preening, sickening monster as street rat Garrett, a high strung, sadistic degenerate that will shoot his mother in the face if he thought he'd get a dollar and a smoke out of it. Barkin is a snake, oozing sluttiness and petulant, psychotic damaged goods charm from every whiny drawl and coy little grimace, the ultimate bad girl. Morgan Freeman turns up in a rare tough guy turn, as A.Z. Drones, the uptight cop who sees nothing but trash in Johnny and has no hope for any change. Freeman's reaction to Johnny's new face is one of sarcastic, stunned hilarity and is a career best scene from him. Forest Whitaker makes an appearance as the sympathetic doctor in charge of the operation, and Elizabeth Mcgovernn is a welcome breath of fresh air from the greasy rogues gallery, as a nice girl he meets at his legit job. This gritty yarn waltzes in straight from a dime store novella, and Hill knows how to guide it just this side of silly, with just the right amount of cheeky pulp, grounded writing, rambunctious, blood soaked shootouts, and well, bold drawn characterizations.

A lot of films that I've seen over the years have gotten good or great box office gross or didn't get enough attention when it was first released. Johnny Handsome is one movie that I think should be look over again. According to the box office gross for Johnny Handsome, it didn't get a lot of attention when it was first released. I wonder why. Audiences really missed this buried treasure. And, after watching this movie for the second time around, I still questioned why it didn't get enough attention. The movie tells the story about a man named John Sedley (Mickey Rourke), who was born with a badly deformed face. At the beginning of the movie, we learned that Sedely is being used as part of a robbery. He is being clued in on what is about to go down. Two other partners-in-crime, Sunny (Ellen Barkin) and Rafe (Lance Henriksen) are also involved with the robbery. The plan doesn't go smoothly as one of the partners is shot dead at the scene of the crime, leaving Johnny alone to take the blame. Johnny then is sentenced to jail at Angola, where a kind surgeon, (Forest Whitaker), decides to give Johnny a new name, a new face and a new chance in life. At first, Sedley thinks about this, and later on, the surgeon performed plastic surgery on Johnny's face. When Johnny does get his new face, however, he starts to develop difficulties on his new face. One of those difficulties is learning how to speak with his new face. After the surgeon finishes the rest of Johnny's new face, he is ready to go out and find a job. He is even released on parole. But, Johnny's criminal past isn't over for him. Lieutenant Drones (Morgan Freeman), is assigned to investigated the robbery that landed Johnny behind bars. He believes that Johnny can't escape his past because he knows that Johnny is going to avenge the death of his partner and also for the people who put him away. As the movie progresses, Johnny begins to develop a relationship between an desk secretary (Elizabeth McGovern), who works at the shipyard that Johnny is working at. Later on in the film, Sedley tries to get both Sunny and Rafe to go along with his plan of knocking off the shipyard. Johnny's plan leads up to the fantastic climax, where Johnny have a showdown between Sunny and Rafe and another partner-in-crime, along with McGovern's character as well. The movie was directed by Walter Hill, who also directed 48 HRS. and The Warriors, and Hill directs this film with a lot of style. It's almost like this film is in the great tradition of films from the 1940's. Johnny Handsome has a lot of film-noir style and feeling to it, since this movie does take place in New Orleans. Also, I really do enjoyed watching film-noir movies, especially this one since the characters all live in a world that is filled up with so much anger and rage. The music score by Ry Cooder really makes this film works and feel like a film from the '40's. I admired a lot of the performances in this film, especially Rourke, Barkin and Henriksen. In my opinion, I believe that this is one of Mickey Rourke's best performances. As we watch him try to redeem himself, we forget that we are watching a great performance. We care a lot about Johnny in this movie because he's trapped in this dangerous environment. I also noticed how angry these characters were and how hostile they were toward each other. That kind of behavior really illustrates how ugly and cruel this world is. Johnny can't seem to escape his past because he can't stand living in the past. From my point-of-view, Johnny is torn from two completely different worlds. One world involving people trying to steer Johnny away from trouble like the Elizabeth McGovern's character and the Forest Whitaker's character and another world involving people who want Johnny to get into trouble or bring him back into his own criminal past, like the Ellen Barkin's character or the Lance Henriksen's character. Even the Morgan Freeman's character can be included in that particular world. Seeing this film again made me feel a little better because I didn't lose interest to it. I really enjoyed watching this tale unfold and having this buried treasure be seen by me. I hope people get a chance to see this movie because like I said before, this movie didn't get enough attention when it was first released. If you haven't seen it already, I advised you to see it for the first time. You will not be disappointed. ★★★ 1/2 3 1/2 stars.

Decent, highly watchable pulp crime fiction from Walter Hill, based upon the novel "The Three Worlds of Johnny Handsome" by John Godey, and scripted by Ken Friedman. It's much too predictable in terms of the story developments, so it misses its chance for greatness, but thanks to an excellent cast, typically efficient direction from Hill, and a seedy ambiance, it still works pretty well. Mickey Rourke does nicely as the title character, a small time criminal with a deformed face who's had a pretty hard knock life. He participates in a heist to assist father figure Mikey Chalmette (Scott Wilson), but their partners in crime, Rafe Garrett (Lance Henriksen) and Sunny Boyd (Ellen Barkin) double cross them, leading to Mikey's death and Johnny's arrest. While in prison, Johnny is approached by a well intentioned young doctor, Steven Resher (Forest Whitaker), who proposes performing plastic surgery on Johnny's features to assist him in attempting a new life. Of course, what the cynical police detective A.Z. Drones (Morgan Freeman) believes is what we all know to expect: once a lowlife, ALWAYS a lowlife, and even while working a legitimate job, Johnny plans vengeance. The violence is, as is standard for Hill's work, quite stylish and brutal. The makeup on Rourke, courtesy of Michael Westmore and Zoltan Elek, is impressive. Ry Cooder's flavourful music is as always a treat to listen to. Rourke is capably supported by Henriksen and Barkin, who are a colourful pair of utterly trashy, despicable villains; her pronunciation of the word "geek" is indeed priceless. Freeman is a hoot as the cop, and the too briefly seen Wilson is wonderful. Elizabeth McGovern is appealing enough as the obligatory love interest. Also appearing are David Schramm ('Wings') as crooked lawyer Vic Dumask, Hill repertory player Peter Jason as shipyard boss Mr. Bonet, J.W. Smith as criminal accomplice Larry, Jeffrey Meek as thieving shipyard employee Earl, and prominent comedian / character actor Blake Clark in a bit part as a sheriff. The story may be mostly standard fare, but it's still well told and the movie is solidly entertaining right up to its inevitable conclusion. Seven out of 10.

The ratings at IMDb are generally pretty accurate; if a film is rated 8, it's good, if it's rated 6 it's not so good, and if it's rated 4, you shouldn't waste your time. This is the first time I can remember being really baffled by a rating - this film really deserves to be rated much higher.The plot is simple enough. Johnny Handsome has been given an ironic name because of his hideous disfigurement which makes him repulsive to everyone he meets. In the circumstances, he doesn't have much choice but to turn to crime, and when he's betrayed by his accomplices, he ends up in jail. There he meets a brilliant surgeon, who fixes his face and makes him look like - well, like Mickey Rourke. Released on parole he finds a job and a girlfriend, but he can't escape his grim past and his need for vengeance.Now I'm not saying the film is perfect by any means. There are plot holes a-go-go, and the whole thing falls apart a bit in the last twenty minutes or so - the ending is especially disappointing. But come on, it's better than 5.6, with good performances from Rourke, Forest Whitaker and a turn of twinkly eyed cynicism from Morgan Freeman, who effortlessly steals every scene he appears in. And let's not forget a deliciously over the top effort from Ellen Barkin as the baddest girl ever to walk the earth.It isn't Shakespeare, but it's directed in typically robust style by Walter Hill, and to my surprise I found myself caring about Johnny and hoping it all worked out for him. I won't say whether it does or not, because it's worth seeing this one to find out for yourself. Just get a big bucket of popcorn and don't think too much, and you'll have a great time.