Ghost Rock

During the Civil War, John Slaughter witnesses a massacre committed by Jack Pickett and others. Among the dead is 12-year-old Savanah. Twenty years later, John helps defeat a gang that is terrorizing a town which most people have abandoned. Afterward, he is told that his father has died and Pickett has taken over the town of Ghost Rock. John returns to the town where his father was respected and finds a Chinese family is being mistreated. He was good friends with these people at one time and tries to help them and the other people living under Pickett's rule, but his efforts make Jack Pickett mad. A tough but beautiful mystery girl who looks like Bo Derek as Calamity Jane shows up to help make peace in the town. Her name is Savanah; does that really mean the little girl actually survived the massacre? Or is she a ghost? There is evidence for both views.

Eventually those troublemakers John dealt with earlier come to Ghost Rock and make more trouble.

The best thing about this movie was Cherokee Bill, the movie's comic relief. Craig Wasson does a very good job with Pickett's moronic lackey.

And Jenya Lano is much more than a pretty face. She does a good job and her character can really take care of herself.

The movie also has occasional comic moments. And there is a romance which is sort of pleasant. Actually, I suppose John and Savanah come close to being a couple, but John likes one of the ... working girls.

Other than that, I suppose the fighting was good. With Chinese involved, this is kind of a martial arts western, but nowhere near the quality of "Shanghai Noon".

There were two songs with the closing credits. "Follow the Light" by Melanie Monroe was not at all appropriate because it emphasized technology over substance. The other was a good country song that fit perfectly, even though the style might not have existed in 1882.

But be sure to watch the closing credits because numerous cast and crew photos show these people had a good time making this movie.

It wasn't a complete waste of time.

It wasn't an original idea, the thought of combining the martial arts and western film genres into a single project. It's been done before: Kung Fu with Davind Carradine, The Fighter aka Savate (a straight to video film by Oliver Gruner). However, none before were this horrible.

For starters, the acting was wooden throughout the entire film. The only recognizable actor was Gary Busey, and I truly pity him for having to resort to this kind of crap to pay his rent. It is such a fall to a truly talented actor.

Then there's the so-called martial arts in this. Holy crap, can none of these "martial artists" really do martial arts? It's almost as bad as most of Bloodfist! I've seen children who are more impressive martial artists than these people! The only possible upside to this entire thing is that the two lead actresses were very attractive, and this certainly isn't enough to carry a movie, especially if the viewer has any appreciation for acting talent.

At all costs, DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE!! You will waste valuable brain matter if you do! For the sake of your intelligence, do not watch this!!

A "western" with people running around doing Shaolin kung fu. There's a "Chinese" character who looks as Chinese as my Aunt Sally, who has never seen a Chinese person in her life. All the bad guys are dummies, and even though they always have their guns aimed at the good guys at point blank range and could kill them at any time, never bothers to pull the trigger. This, despite the fact that the bad guy's head honcho (Gary Busey) has killed people randomly throughout the film, but for some reason always lets the hero go so he can come back for one of those final shoot-outs. The script by the star is nonsensical, even as camp. The martial arts is actually quite good, but in the background of a western, it's just...wrong. Also, did the female lead steal Sharon Stone's clothes from THE QUICK AND THE DEAD? Someone call the police.

4 out of 10

First, let me say that I am a fan of westerns, including many of the more recent in the genre. Still, I found this movie to be an utter waste of time.

The action scenes in this movie are easily the worst that I have seen in a movie which was not a total spoof. This is made clear in the second scene of the movie as a man is "thrown out" of a building, which involves hopping a few times out a door into a small somersault. Action scenes throughout the movie have some of the least convincing fake punches, gun wounds, and deaths in cinematic history. Some of the kung fu scenes are a small step up, but the editing into and out of these scenes is awful.

The tone of the story is mostly serious, with random bits of comic relief thrown in, but it becomes difficult to sort these from the extremely shallow story and pathetic acting.

During the first few minutes, I was on the floor, rolling in laughter. With tears still in my eye, I'm writing this down.

Probably made with a cheap digital camera, the scenes are shot without any thought. The live action compares to a well rehearsed school play. The editing in most porn movies are of higher quality. Actually, most porn movies have better acting in it. This is definitely a movie to be seen with a group of friends and lots of beer. You'll be having so much fun. Don't see this movie because you're expecting a movie. Only watch if you've made sure the floor is clear of pointy things, you need at least 3 by 3 meters to roll around.