It’s official, “Disturbing the Peace,” the new Guy Pearce-starring small-town justice thriller, may just be the single worst action movie I’ve ever seen.
No, seriously.
If this was a Sylvester Stallone movie, it would be “Worst Blood.”
If this was an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, it would be “Eraser (From My Memory).”
If this was a Kevin Costner movie, it would be “The Unwatchables.”
The film, directed by York Alec Shackleton and written by retired federal agent Chuck Hustmyre (who previously scripted films by Dave Bautista and Steven Seagal), is so bad it literally ends with Pearce’s character, Marshal Jim Dillon, straight-up murdering a bad guy who he has disarmed and should, you know, arrest and take into custody.
Disturbing the Peace
0 out of 5 stars
Rated: R
Run Time: 91 minutes
Directed by York Alec Shackleton
Starring Guy Pearce, Devon Sawa, Barbie Blank, Michael Sirow
Now playing
But it’s the getting to that point that really distinguishes just how bad “Disturbing the Peace” really is.
As the movie opens, Dillon is a Texas Ranger who is chasing a suspect down when the perp gets behind Dillon’s partner and takes him hostage. The partner tells Dillon to take the shot, and Dillon does, but he accidentally shoots his partner and paralyzes him.
We then jump forward 10 years and learn that Dillon has not picked up a gun since that fateful night, despite the fact that he is now the town marshal in a small, idyllic community.
Within minutes of Dillon confiding in his deputy, Matt (Michael Sirow), that the partner he inadvertently shot has just died after 10 years in a coma, two motorcycle gang members come roaring into town. They stop at the local café owned by Amanda (Barbie Blank, who is best known as WWE professional wrestler “Kelly Kelly”), who promptly gets into a wild karate fight with one of the hooligans.
Dillon arrests that biker and tells the other to high tail it out of town, which is action movie speak for "go get reinforcements," which is exactly what happens.
Dillon dispatches Matt to drive the one biker prisoner to the local county lockup, while he waits back at the station to see whether a bunch more bikers are going to come seeking retribution. They do, and they immediately take Dillon hostage, along with about 12 residents of the town who were all either at the bank or Amanda’s café.
Don’t bother asking where all the other townsfolk are, given that it’s mid-morning on a weekday, and the streets are basically deserted. It’s that kind of movie.
The biker gang is led by Diablo (Devon Sawa, “Final Destination”), who looks like Anthony Michael Hall on steroids, and his gang is populated by guys named Diesel, Pyro, Jarhead and Shovelhead.
Diablo is quite the loquacious bad guy, and he inexplicably knows all about Dillon’s past, and he can’t help but explain his entire plan to Dillon in advance, and it basically involves carjacking an armored truck that brings cash from a nearby casino to the local bank.
Of course, Dillon gets loose and as soon as he grabs a handgun from a biker, he throws it down, because he’s that guy and you know damn well that later on in the movie Dillon is going to have a huge moment when he finally decides enough is enough and he picks his gun back up again for good.
Seconds after ditching the gun, however, Dillon is "MacGyver"-ing the shit out of a homemade bomb, which I guess doesn’t apply to his “no guns” rule of policing.
Meanwhile, Diablo stands in the middle of the street and assassinates a bunch of townsfolk because Dillon is hiding and won’t come out to play.
There’s a lot more talking, so much talking, until FINALLY Dillon walks back to his house (very few people drive in “Disturbing the Peace”), goes into his room and pulls out…wait for it …his Texas Ranger badge and his old handgun.
Now, in most action movies that are built around a single premise, such as a lone marshal fighting an entire gang of bikers who are armed to the teeth, this would be a hugely symbolic moment.
Not so in “Disturbing the Peace,” but then again, Dillon doesn’t seem to be feeling any urgency, about anything. He just ambles around town, placing homemade bombs, talking to Matt on his walkie-talkie (so much talkie talkie), while Diablo and his brood keep killing off residents and armored car drivers and pretty much anyone they see.
If that sounds exciting, it’s really not. For an action movie, there’s literally zero action in “Disturbing the Peace.”
In fact, almost all of the gunfights end with a character getting shot off-camera, which makes zero sense.
Once “Disturbing the Peace” finally, finally, reaches its climactic showdown, it seems only fitting that Dillon rides into the fray on horseback like the fucking cavalry.
I honestly threw up my hands and threw down my pen at that point, and that was before Dillon committed capital murder to save the day.
If you see just one action movie in 2020, make sure it’s not this one, unless you’re actually trying to discover the “Cats” equivalent of an action movie, and if so, then you should definitely check out “Disturbing the Peace.”
John W. Allman has spent more than 25 years as a professional journalist and writer, but he’s loved movies his entire life. Good movies, awful movies, movies that are so gloriously bad you can’t help but champion them. Since 2009, he has cultivated a review column and now a website dedicated to the genre films that often get overlooked and interviews with cult cinema favorites like George A. Romero, Bruce Campbell and Dee Wallace. Contact him at Blood Violence and Babes.com, on Facebook @BloodViolenceBabes or on Twitter @BVB_reviews.
This article appears in Jan 16-23, 2020.