Plot: FBI Special Agent Travis is trying to catch a deranged serial killer and is doing his best despite having a new and inexperienced partner. It turns out that the serial killer is an entire army of disgruntled CIA mercenaries from Vietnam.
For some reason this movie is sitting at 27% on Rotten Tomatoes which is one of the reasons I have no interest in ever applying to join them.
I think The Rage is one of my favourite Lorenzo Lamas movies as it is just utterly insane right from the start; this is mostly due to Gary Busey who is at his batshit crazy best here. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him more deranged on screen… and that’s saying something.
When the end credits came up and it mentioned what happened to the characters after the events of the movie, it had me wondering if this was based on a true story. I believe it was inspired by the Waco and Ruby Ridge incidents, but the movie is mostly fictitious.
The action is wild in this movie with car chases, shoot-outs and regular huge explosions. This may be one of Lamas’ biggest budget movies as there are some amazing stunts especially that opening car chase. There aren’t any fight scenes until the final showdown with Busey on a speedboat, but there are many different kinds of action and this is packed with it.
This is quite a sleazy tale with Busey playing a rapey villain and one scene has him attacking Travis’s (Lamas) partner Kelly (Kristen Cloke) in the back of a van; he’s utterly maniacal here and just a total cartoon villain.
Lorenzo Lamas usually has a bit of a twinkle in his eye, but Travis is one of his more serious role and he’s quite a jaded and cynical character. Kelly is quite flirty with him throughout, but he brushes it off to focus on the case of bringing in Art Dacy (Busey) and has band of nutjobs.
Not only do Travis and Kelly have to contend with Art Dacy, but Travis has an old nemesis in the FBI in the shape of Roy Scheider’s John Taggart. He blames Travis for an op that went wrong years ago and Scheider makes for an effective and hateful asshole of a character.
The music score is awesome although it occasionally sounds like it belongs in another film.
Overall, The Rage is one of the craziest movies of Lorenzo Lamas’ career and I have to admit I love every second of it; the action is insane and so is Gary Busey making this an absolute riot. So, Sue Me, I love The Rage and if you don’t then I’ll see your ass in court!