Product Description

Mickey Rourke stars as the main character John Sedley in this high-energy action movie, directed by Walter Hill ("Red Heat," "48HRS."). Johnny was born severely deformed and makes his living as a small time criminal. During a robbery, he and his best friend Mikey are double-crossed by their partners. Mikey is shot and killed, and John takes the rap for the robbery and goes to prison. There, thanks to a sympathetic surgeon, he receives a new face. Finally John is released on parole. Seeking revenge, he makes a daring and desperate gamble to get even in this electrifying tale of intrigue and betrayal.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25136 in DVD
• Brand: LION'S GATE ENTERTAINMENT
• Released on: 2002-10-22
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 96 minutes

Customer Reviews

No honor among some thieves
I have this movie on VHS so I can't comment on the quality of the DVD as others have. As far as the movie goes, it is somewhat gut wrenching. Mickey Rourke plays the part of John Sedley (Johnny Handsome), a horribly disfigured man due to a birth defect. He isn't stupid, although a life of crime is about all he's known, but he isn't difficult to identify. He has a good friend named Mikey (Scott Wilson) who is hurting for money and persuades Johnny to do a jewelry store holdup. Johnny plans it well but two of their accomplises (Lance Henriksen and Ellen Barkin) want it all for themselves. They kill the driver and Mikey and almost get Johnny too. Johnny ends up behind bars while Raff (Henriksen) and Sunny (Barkin) buy Mikey's old establishment and are living fairly well with the proceeds from the robbery. They try to get Johnny murdered while in prison but the attempt fails. Johnny wakes up in a hospital and sees Forrest Whitaker, a plastic surgeon who wants to give Johnny a new face and a new life and does. He gets Johnny a decent job and Johnny meets and falls in love with a woman (Elizabeth McGovern) he meets there. Johnny's parole officer (Morgan Freeman) is constantly keeping tabs on him because he knows what Johnny is going to try to do: exact revenge on the two people responsible for Mikey's death. They won't recognize him now, his looks and speech don't give him away. Donna (McGovern) is in love with Johnny, he tells her about his past. She tries to persuade him to leave the past behind but Johnny can't. He could never live with knowing that the two people who killed his best friend got away with it.

Great motion picture, but a very poor dvd release.
I really liked this movie, so i bought it the moment it came out on DVD. But i have to say what a poor job did they do at Artisan. Full Screen transfer and blurry picture. I should say that they used a VHS tape as master for the dvd, what a mistake to make. So i give two stars because of the movie not because of the dvd release.
If you want to buy this picture on DVD, buy the region 2 version of Momentum. This edition is Widescreen Anamorphic and has really good picture quality.

Good film, bad DVD
This moody drama piece is for the most part very good. Mickey Rourke is excellent in the title role; a disfigured criminal who gets a shot at redemption but ultimately chooses revenge.

Well directed by Walter Hill with a good music score by Ry Cooder. All the cast do a good job, the story is tight and fast paced and some good action sequences to boot.

Pity about the DVD, it's fullscreen and this deserves to be in glorious widescreen.