It’s The Boz vs a Biker Gang led by Lance Henriksen in the B-Movie Action Cult Classic Stone Cold. New to 4K UHD from Kino Lorber packed with special features.
The Film
Those not around in the early ‘90s had no clue how impactful on pop culture Brian Bosworth was. The dude’s mullet, shades and earrings were literally the fashion items for many a wee dudes and not so wee dudes around the America. His popularity as a football star and pop culture sensation culminated in the B-Movie Action Epic, Stone Cold.
Stone Cold is the type of movie that has its (anti)hero Cop Joe Huff (Bosworth) gets into a liquor store altercation on suspension only to be immediately blackmailed by the FBI to go deep cover into a biker gang called The Brotherhood. It’s also the type of movie where said hero has a “unique” pet, this time it’s a Komodo Dragon. It’s not long before Joe now dubbed the equally obvious John Stone is in the upper echelon of power within the Brotherhood making good time with Chains (Lance Henriksen) and bad times with Ice (William Forsythe). Like any other biker gang, it’s all about drugs (meth) but also about taking down the government. Unlike any other biker gang movie before or even after it this one ends in truly epic fashion at the Alabama State Capitol.
Stuntman turned Director Craig Baxley proves an adroit choice as he has that Hal Needham/Chad Stahelski eye for stunts on screen. There is a level of expertise here that makes the film look wildly dangerous in the best way possible. There’s a sustain set piece in and around a Helicopter that’s jaw dropping especially in our current era of green screen infused safety. The lunatic style stunt work that’s done for five minutes as the scene plays out must been seen to be believed. Of course, the motorcycle stunts are not to be outdone by that Helicopter, only barely. Everything is impressively mounted, shot, and edited by Baxley and his gang of daredevil stuntmen and ace below-the-line crew.
Bosworth isn’t a bad lead. The film smartly casts a who’s who of genre character actors around the star to given him the assist he needs to push things over the top. This theory is always in the hope that said star (Bosworth) will level up to the greatness of the actors around them or people won’t notice how bad they are. In the Boz’s case, it’s somewhere in the middle. Boz is aided greatly by Lance Hendriksen and Willian Forsythe as the heavies. Hendriksen’s pure seething laughing evil, pushing Boz’s buttons in the right way to get a reaction. Same with Forsythe who specializes in “hotheaded right hands”. The weak link is Boz’s work with actress Arabella Holzbog. The duo suffers with zero chemistry even beyond the story conventions.
In the end Stone Cold is a badass surprising piece of epic action cinema you probably missed if you weren’t into Football in the late 80s. The same mistake should not be missed especially for anyone that loves go-for-broke wild stunt finales.
The Transfer
The all-new HDR/Dolby Vision Master – From a 4K Scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative is a level up for the film even from Kino’s HD Master – From 2K Scan of the 35mm InterPositive back in 2023. The 4K UHD is nearly flawless. The sourcing from the OCN is what levels up everything with a noticeable difference in image quality from sharpness, color reproduction, contrast levels, and grain structure. The Dolby Vision Encoding gives the film that added boost to an already beautiful 35mm sourced image. When watched on a big screen monitor the film looks even better than it did on opening day in theaters. Bravo to Kino and their transfer work as it’s become one of the great producers of quality releases in the boutique label market.
The Extras
They include the following;
DISC 1 (4KUHD):
- NEW Scene Specific Audio Commentary by Director Craig R. Baxley
- Audio Commentary by Action Film Historians Mike Leeder and Arne Venema
DISC 2 (BLU-RAY):
- NEW Scene Specific Audio Commentary by Director Craig R. Baxley
- Audio Commentary by Action Film Historians Mike Leeder and Arne Venema
- THE BOZ Goes Hollywood: Interview with Star Brian Bosworth
- THE BROTHERHOOD: Interview with Actor Lance Henriksen
- BREAKING FREE: Interview with Actress Arabella Holzbog
- PLAYING STRAIGHT: Interview with Actor Sam McMurray
- TV Spots
- Two Theatrical Trailers (Newly Mastered in 2K)
- VHS Trailers
- Stone Cold Challenge Contest Ad
The first audio commentary is a scene specific track by director Craig R. Baxley begins about two minutes into the film and plays sporadically through the film. Baxley opens with discussion about how the opening was inspired by Cobra and various factoids; how he was hired to take over from the original director when producer Michael Douglas (yes, that Douglas) and the studio wasn’t satisfied with the dallies; how he only had five days to prep and the budget he had to make the film; the casting what-if’s for the starring role but why they settled on Brian Bosworth; working with Bosworth and their collaboration; working with William Forsythe; the rewriting process and the pressure in order to do so in five days and during production and the collaboration with Hendriksen and Forsythe; and more. The commentary track itself is not scene specific as much as it is parse. Baxley does give information when speaking but there is quite a bit of silence between the director speaking.
The second audio commentary is a full-length archival track by Action Film Historians Mike Leeder and Arne Venema. The dynamic duo is back with another stellar commentary track! Leeder and Veenema produce a commentary track worthy of the Boz’s auspicious debut. Some of the details include one of the baddies in the opening was the head writer of Growing Pains; a discussion of the legendary mullet Bosworth sports; the cliché of the Super Market Shootout; the production company The Stone Group – including a great detail about how this production affected the budget of Double Impact; how the film started production with an entirely different crew and director; a discussion of the NFL career of Bosworth – the injuries that he sustained that forced him to retire after only two seasons and a few anecdotes about his time in the league; the cliché of the strip clubs in B-Movie action films; a great discussion of clothing and the wonder and magic of cinema – including a great admission about Trench Coat post-A Better Tomorrow (this reviewer did the same thing but after Hudson Hawk); the career and work of actor Sam McMurray; the career and work of legendary actor William Forsythe – including a great side conversation about his elite work in Out for Justice; a larger discussion about the work of Director Craig Baxley; a larger discussion about Lance Hendriksen – including how he helped with the production and the script; the tone of the film and how it could have been different in the hands of the other director; the work of cinematographer Alexander Gruszynski; a side conversation of Bosworth’s other work post-Stone Cold including Blue Mountain State, One Tough Bastard – directed by Kurt Wimmer; a wild casting bit that never happened for Bosworth in a early 2000s huge comedy trilogy; a larger discussion between the HK stunt safety vs the US and European safety; a larger discussion of the various action set pieces in the finale; discussion throughout the commentary track about the various actors, behind the scenes crew, and their work here and throughout their career; and much more. Leeder and Venema delivery another smash hit; a highly entertaining and informative track about the film and its production that’s as good as the film itself. Highest possible recommendations for the track.
THE BOZ Goes Hollywood: Interview with Star Brian Bosworth (19:00) – this all-new interview begins with the star discussion where he was when he got hired for Stone Cold. Some of the other details include how depressed he was after the short lifespan of his career; his love of motorcycles since childhood; what drew him in the original script that was completely rewritten to his disappointment; the difficulty of acting – getting an acting coach; working with director Craig Baxley after the other director was fired; the advice Lance Henriksen gave him about acting; working with William Forsythe; and much more.
THE BROTHERHOOD: Interview with Actor Lance Henriksen (11:04) – this all-new interview begins with the fact that he was amazed that the film was completed. Some of the details include working with Bosworth – and the level of improvision they did; the work he did with casting the biker crew and having let go of most of the gang they initially cast not looking the part; a great discussion about getting the crew of bikers more money and an actual living wage; getting in shape for the role; a great story about being knocked out by Bosworth; a great the Viking funeral scene; and much more.
BREAKING FREE: Interview with Actress Arabella Holzbog (13:17) – this all-new interview begins with how Holzbog she was eventually cast in the film. Some of the details include the original role as originally written – and the major differences; working with Craig Baxley and how much the role had changed; a scary moment with the bikers that she dealt with grace and poise; working with Bosworth; and much more.
PLAYING STRAIGHT: Interview with Actor Sam McMurray (8:58) –this all-new interview with the actor begins with how he was cast – very quickly – and where they shot on location. Some of the details include the rewriting of the original script and what changed him; the seriousness of Bosworth taking of the acting; the rewriting both he and Bosworth did to their parts; his admission that he wrote the ending moment in the movie; and much more.
TV Spots (3:46) – One 1-minute spot and 6 30-second spots
VHS Trailers (2:04) – One 30-second VHS ad and One 90-second VHS ad
Stone Cold Challenge Contest AD (1:03) – “You could win a trip to Hollywood to meet Brian Bosworth”
Rounding out the special features are Stone Cold Trailer 1 (1:35), Stone Cold Trailer 2 (1:28), Hard Target (2:05), Stick (1:21); The Perfect Weapon (1:57); Ronin (2:29); Death Wish 3 (1:40); Rolling Vengeance (1:52);
The Final Thought
Kino Lorber’s continues its excellent 4K UHD upgrades. Highest Possible Recommendations!!