The Last Riders

Moviecut—The Last Riders

This is a great example of how to get the pacing and story of a movie completely wrong. It takes an hour to set up a very simple premise and then we get about 25 minutes of pay off. The bulk of which is done via a montage during a pointless live music scene, from a band who have nothing to do with anything in the movie, and they're used twice to pad out the running time. It actually feels like three movies mashed together. We start with a biker gang doing a drug deal gone wrong, then it morphs into a romance, with the gang member now shopping for groceries. Before finally, we get a rushed revenge of sorts at the end. The story we get is rushed and clumsy, lacking focus and direction. There is so much that needs to be fixed here, you'd end up with a completely different movie if you tried.

THE LAST RIDERS is a biker-themed thriller from PM Entertainment, the production company responsible for releasing hordes of low rent action flicks to the masses in the late '80s and throughout the 1990s. This one stars former C.H.I.P.S. star Erik Estrada as the hero of the piece, a former biker now trying to make a living by working in a garage. Biker favourite William Smith plays his buddy, but Estrada's life is about to take an unexpected turn when he's betrayed by corrupt cops and his old biker friends come calling. Sadly, this is a thriller distinctly lacking in thrills, focusing instead on boring personal relationships and the like. Estrada and Smith are okay, but the rest of the cast are unexceptional - with the exception of female wrestler Mimi Lesseos, who makes a real impact in her early moments. The rest is a mish mash of stock action elements and family drama, but it never gels in quite the way it should.