SYNOPSIS: HELL RIDE is a raucous throwback to the days of the Sergio Leone spaghetti western, with a heaping helping of testosterone-fueled chopper action thrown into the mix. Writer/director Larry Bishop takes on a third role as Pistolero, head honcho of the Victors, a group of badass bikers who are out to avenge the murder of one of their members at the hands of the 666ers, a rival gang whose actions live up to their hellish moniker. Along with his cohorts, the Gent (deviously portrayed by Michael Madsen) and the mysterious Comanche (Eric Balfour), Pistolero aims to take down the Deuce and Billy Wings, menacing leaders of the 666ers, but a mutiny looms on the horizon when his commitment to profit is questioned by a few of his fellow Victors. An even larger story unravels when previously unknown information about Comanche resurrects ghosts from Pistolero’s past.

REVIEW: In order to enjoy this movie you must satisfy one of the following prerequisites: you must be a Quentin Tarantino fan, or a Robert Rodriguez fan, or a fan of 70s style biker movies, or at least a fan of the three B’s . . . beer, bikes, and booty. Remember the Man Show on cable TV? For some reason I kept thinking about it during the movie. I guess this movie is like the Man Movie. It really is all about the beer, bikes, and booty. Throw on top of that a hefty cast, cool characters with cool outfits, a retro look and filming style, in your face action, and a palpable revenge story and you’ve got a Hell Ride. Larry Bishop obviously went to the Tarantino School of Filmmaking and although this project does not quite reach Tarantino caliber, it is a good second run as Director for Larry. He is also the writer and star of this film giving him triple threat status. Even though most would say that Tarantino was, as he usually is, very involved with the making of this picture, we can still see Larry’s potential. His direction was good and he played his role well considering he is not a big name on the big screen, but the writing was marginal at best. The script did fit the movie and the movie fit the script but at moments it was a little adolescent. It was more interesting to see how the performers were delivering their lines than what they were actually saying. The fact that the movie was choppy too doesn’t help.

The big names like Dennis Hopper, David Carradine, Michael Madsen, and Vinnie Jones all delivered. Just seeing them in action really helps make the movie worth while. Both Larry Bishop and Eric Balfour kept up nicely with these big guns. All these guys’ characters were larger than life, as bikers tend to be. So were the babes, oops, sorry, the women. Va va voom! I was especially impressed by Leonor Varela. I last saw her in Blade II. Remember the vampire princess that got to Blade’s soft spot, well talk about a different role for her. In the words of the best College Football announcer ever, Keith Jackson, “Whoa Nelly!” Unfortunately, however, the movie starts out slow and never really picks up much speed. You can see how it establishes the importance of biker honor and loyalty, and how the plot for revenge begins to develop but I caught myself thinking a couple of times, what’s the point? Even the climax was a bit uneventful but at least the story has some twists and is wrapped up nicely in the end. This random movie could easily fit in the Grindhouse series, although not as good as the first two. Be warned, it is not a movie for everybody.
 

Review By Cine Marcos 
cinemarcos@smartcine.com

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