Lance Henriksen is Stryker.
He comes to a dying mining town to watch the annual bare-knuckle
contest. A gang of bikers called the
Savages, led by Pig Iron (William Forsythe) ride into town and wreak havoc. It’s up to Stryker to protect his old buddy (George
Kennedy) and his family from the bikers.
He then takes it upon himself to rid the town of the Savages too.
Savage Dawn’s main strength is its incredible cast. In addition to reliable genre vets Henriksen,
Forsythe, and Kennedy we also have Richard Lynch (the town mayor/priest), Karen
Black (Forsythe’s biker mama), and scream queen Elizabeth Kaitan (a
victim). Their efforts keep you watching
throughout the draggier sections of the film, of which there are many.
Despite the terrific cast, the movie itself never really
kicks into gear. The scenes of mass
biker carnage are well-choreographed, but curiously lacking the piss and vinegar
to make them memorable. There are times
where it seems to want to be a biker version of Shane. The big stumbling block is that Henriksen is
never fully utilized. He’s kept off
screen throughout much of the picture and whenever he is on screen, he isn’t
given much to work with. It’s almost as
if the filmmakers forgot to have the hero do something, you know, heroic. At least Shane had plenty of opportunities to
be a badass. Henriksen, unfortunately,
gets lost in the shuffle.
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