Dead Punkz

This film came out in the early 90's as the sequel to 1983'S Bad Boys, titled Bad Boys 2 , but was then re-released in 2000 as Dead Punkz. In this one there is no Mike Obrian or Paco, the characters are different but it's based on the same subject, Americas juvenile Delinquents. The story is good and quite entertaining from start to finish although it's a bit cheesy at some points, and also it's not as good or as powerful as the original Bad Boys.

The story iv oles around a teen street punk known as Samson who ends up in a juvenile prison where he meets and teams up with other juvenile delinquents. They manage to escape and together they start a life of crime. Samson then falls in love with a prostitute, and together they try to change, but it's not easy.

Like I've already said, cheesy but good.

"In the tough inner-city where drugs and violence reign, survival on the streets is the only way of life. But when young street thug Samson escapes from prison, he becomes trapped in the world of a drug dealer who thrives on beating up rivals and eliminating anyone who stands in his way. Now, Samson will discover the very neighborhood he wants to escape is rapidly closing in on him." according to the DVD sleeve description.

The early prison scenes are fun, with nice but naughty Steve Lieberman (as Samson) trying to avoid the advances of horny Robert Restaino (as Dabdu), who wants to sample Mr. Lieberman's "Sweet Cheeks". Locked up for petty thievery and drive-by shooting, Lieberman befriends druggy David Winston (as Shebaz), wacky Barrett Grayson (as Dumonde), and hippy Luke LaFontaine (as Fleetfoot). The cast keeps the film moving.

The quartet escape from prison, where they've apparently been mistaken for juveniles, and go on a crime spree. Stupidly indiscreet, they get in more trouble. Unfortunately, the Lieberman gang hooks up with Mr. Grayson's big brother Gregory Battle (as Jorell), who is a dangerous crime lord. Also, Lieberman falls in love with amorous and beautiful blonde addict Francine LaPensee (as Terrine), but finds it difficult to change her lifestyle.

***** Dead Punkz (6/29/99) Herb Freed ~ Steve Lieberman, Francine LaPensee, David Winston, Luke LaFontaine

The movie is listed as 1999 but is clearly from the 80s or at least contains all the worst of that era. So all the bad hair, hats, Cosby sweaters, parachute pants, etc. and all the bad synth music. One review said it came out in 1992.

The writing is consistently lame and the acting has some surprisingly bad line readings. Kind of seems like a film school project, although I guess that's being a bit unfair to film schools. The music choices are bizarre at times, they should be playing something like hip hop for the scene and instead they're playing some lame country blues or whatever. The fight scenes are fairly amateurish and laughable, and like dogs in a play-fight, it's very clear that no one was hurt.

The characters are almost universally unlikable and difficult to relate to. The central character has a very slight arc of redemption that is a bit unbelievable.

Most of the actors, playing thugs, would be better cast as wholesome members of a 1950s sock hop. If it has any redeeming qualities it would be in the bad B-movie kind of sense. Tribune Media Services has it listed as 2.5 of 4 stars, I think 2.5 out of 10 is more like it.