Search - Brothers in Arms on DVD

Even worse than "Gang of Roses"

Jeffery Mingo | Homewood, IL USA | 08/28/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This is a low-budget flick with a weak plot, bad acting, boring gun fights, and lots of phony dying.

What annoyed me the most is all of the anachronisms. They have a man with dreadlocks in one scene. Has anybody ever seen a dreadlocked cowboy in authentic Old West photos!? The female member of the posse is wearing Destiny's Child-esque midriff shirts. During the 1800s surely she would have been seen as being half-naked and in violation of public decency laws. One guy is wearing a leather jacket that you could imagine on a motorcyclist, but not a 19th-century cowboy.

The most irritating anachronism was the sheriff and her deputy. Look, decades before the U.S. Amendment that gave women the right to vote and a century before Margaret Thatcher was PM of the UK, I highly doubt that two women led law enforcement in any town. Further, I highly doubt that during the Jim Crow era a black person, of either gender, was the mayor of a multiracial town. These two women looked more like cheerleaders than keepers of the peace. Worse, they were passive and static characters that barely spoke a word. Yes, the Old West may not have had the rigid gender and racial hierarchies that would have been scene in contemporary Boston. Still, this is just fantasy to have such diversity in leadership during a stringently oppressive time period.

Plus this movie robs from soooooo many other films. Like "New Jack City," a person kills a relative like Wesley Snipes' character killed Allen Payne's. Like "Set It Off," some of the main characters proverbially "go out in a blaze of smoke." Like "Posse," there is a river washing scene, but it lacked all the hot nudity.

There are only a few good things about this film. I loved seeing Raymond Cruz, who played DiStefano in "Alien Resurrection," and Gabriel Casseus, who played Midget/Kyle in "New Jersey Drive," again. I am glad that good male actors of color are still finding roles. The casting director did a great job hiring the son of David Carridine's character. They looked so much like each other, I had to check the credits to see if they were related.

It turns out that the director of "Gang of Roses" is also the director of this flick. Who is giving this man so much money to make bad Westerns with black characters? This film went straight to DVD for a reason. Oh yeah, one more positive: this film had French subtitles. Soooo many low-budget films don't have foreign language subtitles. I am glad this work did. I encourage more film companies to follow suit."

"Everybody's Gotta Pay"

Brian E. Erland | Brea, CA - USA | 10/09/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"A band of disinfranchised blacks who have lost their land, possessions and loved ones to the evil 'powers that be' decide to take the law into their own hands and seek revenge against those responsible. Soon branded as outlaws with 'dead or alive' bounties on their heads they gallantly ride into Driscollville in search of redemption.

The town is owned by the despotic and powerful Driscoll (David Carradine) and his son, both responsible for murdering the family of two of the outlaws Linc (Gabriel Casseus) and Zane (Antwon Tanner), who also happen to be brothers. If they can successfully rob the bank and kill Driscoll and his son their revenge will finally be realized.

A wonderfully dark off-the-wall western reminiscent of both Jim Jarmusch's 'Dead Man' and Quentin Tarantino's 'Kill Bill.' And in the same vein as Jarmusch and Tarantino, director Jean-Claude La Marre understood that the real strength of his film was to be found in choosing the right cast to portray the quirky, unique characters for 'Brothers In Arms.' He certainly delivered a stellar cast! Every role, no matter how small, seems to have the perfect person in place.

As for the main characters, joining Linc and Zane on the gang is a wonderfully ecclectric group of personalities; Reverend (Raymond Cruz), Mara (Kenya Moore) and my personal favorite Kansas (Kurupt). Great performances are also delivered by David Gianopoulos as the merciless bounty hunter Wolverton and David Carradine (Driscoll) is as always, magnificent."

Only one scene of this movie is good. The music is exciting.

Cestmoi | 06/10/2007

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Only one scene of this movie is good. That is the scene where the bank robbers discussed if they should use the hostages to escape from the siege. Then one of the guys shot the girl who wanted to use a hostage as a shield. The music caught my interest. Bsisides these, the whole move was filled with bad directing. For example, in the last scene the gang leader was shot to pieces by tens of people but he still managed to kill the bad guy who bought the town!

This movie is worth watching only once. "Quigley down under" and "The good, the bad and the ugly" are still the best Western movies of all time."