Reviewed by Johnny McNair

Weinstein Company – 83 minutes – 2008 – Rated R – 1080p Widescreen 2.35:1 – Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Audio

There was a time when a biker flick was considered a cash machine. These were films that were B level indie productions with a miscellaneous cast of familiar faces, that cost little to make but made a fortune back. Beyond the early 70’s, this genre never picked up again, because after Star Wars, spaceships became the new Harleys. The movie Hell Ride, produced by the Weinstein brothers and Quentin Tarantino hopes to recapture that point in time when Easy Rider was cool. Now available on Blu-ray from Hell Ride is a smorgasbord of bikes, babes, and badasses.

THE MOVIE

Even though the film is set in present day, Hell Ride attempts to legitimize itself by beginning it’s story in the 70’s, which was ironically the end of the biker culture in cinema. A biker named Pistolero (Larry Bishop), makes a promise to a woman named Cherokee Chisum (Julia Jones), that if anything happens to her, he would take care of her only son and makes sure he gets the hidden inheritance that was left for him. Cherokee is killed by a rival gang, and Pistolero watches over her son from afar for over thirty years, but now that a rival biker gang has learned about the boy and targeted him, Pistolero gathers a gang of the biggest lowlife bikers for an all out war.

Written and Directed by the star of the film, Larry Bishop, Hell Ride does all it can to capture the genre, with extreme violence, hot naked girls, and of course bikes galore. The film also has a noteworthy cast of movie bad boys from the past, as well as some familiar to us now. Michael Madsen, Vinnie Jones, Eric Balfour, Francesco Quinn, and of course the original Easy Rider himself, Dennis Hopper. Every character introduced appears to be crazier and tougher than the last, and you wouldn’t want to be locked in a room with any of them.

In the tradition of biker films, women play a huge roll in the intertwining of the story, and how they use the guys like chess pieces, playing them of each other. Julia Jones as Cherokee is the angelic figure of the story, seen only in flashbacks that motivate the leads. Cassandra Hepburn, Leonor Varela, Laura Cayouette, and Tracy Phillips are all hot and fit the molding perfectly as seductive biker babes. In many ways the women of the movie are more complex and interesting than the male leads.

Hell Ride has problems, the main being a confusing storyline and so many characters popping up all over the place that you have no idea which gang they belong to. But it does follow the blueprint of biker films with extreme violence, making the war between the two gangs more like a wild-west shootout. Bishop does an acceptable job with the film, but it would have been very interesting to see how Quentin Tarantino would have handled the material, because he was inspired by films of this molding from the 60’s and 70’s, and maybe he would have been able to chip away the rough edges that would have made this a better movie. Hell Ride is definitely worth a look if you’re a fan of the biker genre, but the second coming of Easy Rider it is not.

VIDEO

Hell Ride looks great with a full 1080p image in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. The desert scenes are nice photographed allowing you to see every crack in the dry terrain. Most of the male casts of the film are guys in there 40’s and up, and here you can see every line on their faces. Some scenes are over saturated, such as flashbacks, but it works because this film is one big gritty fantasy. Visually, the film is strong and stands out on Blu-ray.

AUDIO

With a TrueHD 5.1 sound mix Hell Ride sounds acceptable, but it’s not anything more than you would get from a standard DVD. There is a lot of dialogue in this film and because these guys are all trying to be tough, most of them are mumbling their lines making it difficult to know what they are saying. The sound is nothing fancy, it just gets the job done.

EXTRAS

Hell ride offers a pretty good list of bonus features, but there all a port from the DVD because they’re all in standard definition.

Writer/Director Larry Bishop and Director of Photography Scott Kevan provide an audio commentary track that is actually quite entertaining, telling stories about the production and trying to get this film done on a micro budget.

‘The Making of Hell Ride’ is too short running barely 10 minutes, and even though it cuts to the chase, you may wish there was more.

‘The Guys of Hell Ride’ looks at the testosterone filled casts of the movie that reads like a who’s who list of tough guys.

‘The Babes of Hell Ride’ is the opposite side of the corn, focusing on the ladies of the flick, who are all hot and seductive.

‘The Choppers of Hell Ride’ shows of the great bikes of the film, highlighting how each machine is just as much a character in the film as the actors.

‘Michael Madsen’s Video Diary’ is a ten-minute compilation of Madsen’s own footage taken during the making of the film.

BOTTOM LINE

If you can recite every line from Easy Rider and are a fan of biker movies, or you just like to look at hot girls, then Hell Ride is definitely worth a look. It would have been great if Quentin Tarantino offered more to the film, even if it was just something in the bonus features, but his absence takes points off. Hell Ride does what it can to pay homage to the genre, but with more crafting it could have been something more. Rent it first.

SCORES (out of 5):

The Movie: 2.5

Video: 4.0

Sound: 3.0

Extras: 3.0

Bottom Line: 3.0