Plot: Almost the whole staff of a tax consultant office is slayed by a team of professional killers, only Paul Damone can escape. He didn’t know that his partner used to wash gangster Luis Sarazin’s money and had to testify as chief witness against him. Paul’s brother Johnny, best bounty tracker of Boston, visits Paul to protect him, but can’t prevent that he and his pregnant wife are targeted by the same team. Now Johnny’s out for revenge…
I haven’t watched Bounty Tracker for a few years, but after finishing Matthias Hues’ latest book Hit Hard – Die Last it got me in the mood to revisit some of these 90’s classics with fresh eyes.
Bounty Tracker is one of my favourite Matthias Hues movies as he gets to relish playing the main villain, Erik Gauss. He’s a mean piece of work hired to take out Paul Damone (Paul Regina) as he is going to testify against gangster Luis Sarazin. Paul’s brother Johnny (Lorenzo Lamas) is a bounty tracker and comes into town to protect Paul, but fails really quite spectacularly. As the plot above says he is now out for revenge and won’t stop until Gauss is brought in dead or alive.
What is it about these 90’s straight to video action movies that makes them so easy to watch? They are usually around 90 minutes long, no greenscreen or CG, have a straightforward but engaging story and plenty of fights and shoot-outs. Bounty Tracker is one of those movies that really entertains on nearly every level. It won’t win any awards for performances, but Matthias Hues steals this movie mostly due to his huge build, but quiet delivery.
I like a villain who doesn’t need to shout and Gauss is one of the meanest; at one point even murdering someone he already put in a wheelchair. He is just there to be hated and his final showdown with Johnny delivers exactly what we want.
It’s a well paced 90 minutes and doesn’t go more than a few minutes without a fight or shoot-out. It’s always nice to see Leo Lee and he gets a great fight with Lamas. Any movie that has a fight in a dojo where one guy fights multiple opponents is always a good time.
On a sidenote who has the most beautiful hair – Hues, Lamas or Lee? I think Lee’s is pretty fabulous in this one.
Overall, Bounty Tracker is pure 90’s action movie gold; it’s well paced, has plenty of action and a scene stealing villain turn from Matthias Hues. It never goes more than a few minutes without a fight scene and the dojo fight is arguably the highlight for me.