Bullet Points: Renegades (2022)

I couldn’t have been the only one that was a tad bit disappointed that we didn’t get a Lee Majors cameo in the recently released Violent Night… especially since that film felt at least partially inspired by the fake Lee Majors movie from Scrooged, “The Night the Reindeer Died“.

Well thanks to another recently released movie, 2022’s Renegades, I did get my Lee Majors fix and some geriatric vigilante action to boot. Renegades is currently available on VOD will all the major outlets…

• A Not So Heroic Introduction: Burton (Nick Moran, Nemesis) is a war veteran who is haunted by a failed mission and now finds himself sleeping on a park bench and taking a whore’s baths in public restrooms. That is until Major Carver (Lee Majors, Musketeers Forever) “bumps into him” and offers him a place to stay and more importantly a place to help the healing process… a weekly meeting of old vets that share what they are feeling in order to deal with the atrocities they experienced during their time in the military. The group consists of Peck (Ian Ogilvy, Fugitive Mind) who hosts the meetings at his pub, the eye-patch wearing Woody (Billy Murray) and the too cheap to pay for drinks Harris (Paul Barber, The Long Good Friday). After Burton’s first meeting, Carver tells Burton to go back and make himself at home and that he’ll be back in a few days after he takes care of something for his daughter.

• There Goes the Neighborhood: Carver’s daughter, Judy (Patsy Kensit, Lethal Weapon 2) was recently elected as the district councillor and since she has taken office, she filed numerous complaints with the police about the increase in gang activity in the district. This ruffled the feathers of those profiting from said gang activity (which includes drug and human trafficking) and as a result Judy Carver has received numerous threats and dear ol’ dad decides to make some threats of his own. So he marches over to a bar that is owned and operated by the head of the gang, Goram (Louis Mandylor, Martial Law), and takes out the doorman, makes his way inside delivers his message and leaves… but he doesn’t leave alone, three of Goram’s associates follow Carver and beat him to death.
• This Means War: When Detective Moore (Jeanine Nerissa Sothcott) and Detective Collins (Paul Kennedy) show up at Carver’s place to ask Burton if he had any idea if Carver had any dealings with the local gangs, Burton could not believe what he was hearing. Carver never mentioned anything about gangs, he only talked about helping his daughter. When Burton hears from Judy what she has been going through since Goram’s crew took control of the criminal activity in London… he puts two and two together and decides he is going to avenge Carver’s death… even if he has to do it alone.

• Renegades: Fortunately for Burton he has three more than willing volunteers to go with war with him in order to bring Carver’s killers to justice… so Peck, Woody, Harris and Burton pool their limited arsenal together (which includes a fishing reel and a pair of hedge clippers) and begin strategizing. Now what these Renegades lack in firepower, they more than make up for in experience and these old dogs prove to still have some fight in them as they systematically target Goram’s key points of operation… this sends both Goram and the police scrambling and trying to figure out who is responsible.

The older I get, the more I appreciate an elder action hero (or in this case elder action heroes). Age is just a number after all and I am always willing to suspend my disbelief if it means getting to see some old dogs go out to hunt one more time… with that said, that disbelief was challenged at times due to the effects budget… but for me I needed to see the “Six Million Dollar Man” killers get what they had coming to them, so like Burton, Peck, Woody and Harris I soldiered on.

Louis Mandylor and his wardrobe was the highlight for me (that and the “Renegades” song). After all these years, Louis Mandylor continues to prove he is equally effective at playing the villain or the hero. The other villains weren’t all the memorable to me, however they really didn’t need to be for the story that was being told.

I am about to tell you a story using Bonus Bullet Points…

• Familiar Faces: Plenty of fun cameos helped keep my interest going in Renegades… first there was Peck’s informant/old school gangster Sanchez played by Danny Trejo of Champions and Machete fame… And they don’t get much more old school than Apollo Jackson played by Tommy “Tiny” Lister of No Holds Barred and Universal Soldier fame. Apollo is the guy who tips off Gorman about the Renegades… Last but not least is Michael Pare of Streets of Fire fame, who plays an old CIA boyfriend of Detective Moore, who gives her the 411 on Burton and the Renegades and his expert opinion on IF they are capable of knocking off gangsters.
• Directed By: Daniel Zirilli was the director for Renegades, he also had a small role as the Syndicate Boss.
• Sequel Tease: There may be at least one more mission left for the Renegades.