As a kid I was a huge fan of Bon Jovi and the song "Blaze of Glory" was the only reason I watched this movie. They wanted to include "Wanted Dead or Alive" on the soundtrack for this movie, but Jon thought it had inappropriate lyrics and decided to write a new song especially for "Young Guns II", a new song that became one of his greatest hits. He even has a cameo appearance in the movie, so I definitely had to see it. And I'm glad I did. This stunning Western adventure drama tells the story about Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett. It has an excellent cast, good characterization, story with depth, lots of entertaining action and awesome music, crowned with the legendary "Blaze of Glory".

8/10

This sequel, set a little while after the events of the first film, opens much later, in the 1950s, with a young lawyer meeting an old man in the New Mexico desert. He claims that he is Billy the Kid and he has a tale to tell. As his story opens Billy is now riding with Pat Garrett and "Arkansas" Dave Rudabaugh. The governor offers Billy a pardon in exchange for testimony but this deal is reneged on and other surviving members of his old gang, Jose Chavez y Chavez and Josiah Gordon "Doc" Scurlock, are arrested... Billy soon escapes then breaks his friends out of captivity. Soon Billy has his old friend Pat Garrett hunting him down. Times are changing in New Mexico and Billy has less places to hide so he suggests heading south to 'Old' Mexico.

I really enjoyed this sequel, possibly more than I enjoyed the original. The story is a lot of fun as it delivers action and a degree of humour. The action includes shootouts, a knife fights and some impressive horse riding. The characters are a good mix; as well as Billy, Chavez and Doc there are new gang members; "Arkansas" Dave, played by Christian Slater; Hendry William French, played by Alan Ruck and young Tom O'Folliard, played by Balthazar Getty. These characters are an interesting mix and nicely compliment to old characters. Outside the gang William Petersen does a solid job as Pat Garrett. While it is very much a 'male film' there is a very enjoyable turn from Jenny Wright as brothel keeper Jane Greathouse, a friend of Billy's. Much of the film is fairly amusing but it does have its moments of tragedy; some real tear-jerkers. The film is shot in a way that brilliantly captures the rugged beauty of the New Mexico desert which is accompanied by a great score from Alan Silvestri. Overall I'd say this was a really enjoyable western that is well worth watching.

Across a span of decades, the character of Billy the Kid has been portrayed in film by quite the eclectic group of well known actors - Roy Rogers, Robert Taylor, Bob Steele, Buster Crabbe and even Paul Newman in an early film role, "The Left Handed Gun". I'm repeating myself from other reviews I've written when I say that for my money, Emilio Estevez does the best job of bringing Billy the Kid to life on the big screen. He just has this ego-maniacal way of portraying The Kid's malice, but with a charisma that's kind of appealing when he's taking it to his enemies.

"Young Guns II" isn't a great picture, but it's generally a fine follow up to the original "Young Guns", seeing as how a sequel was going to be made to capitalize on the first. I liked the idea of book-ending the story with the Brushy Bill Roberts appearance to add a bit of a mystique to the legend. I'll have to read up some more about that whole piece of history, since it's not that well known. I only came to learn about it when I saw this picture the first time back in the Nineties. I guess it's an interesting controversy to get wrapped up in, but I'm not that invested in the idea to get all worked up about it.

What I liked about the story was the way it brought in some of the historical nuance to the legend of Billy. The Kid made it a point to say that the Lincoln County War was a merchant war, not a range war. It had all to do with commerce and the awarding of government contracts to supply beef to the Army. There was also the mention of the other names Billy used throughout his life. William Henry McCarty, was Billy's birth name, and he used the name of a step-father, William Antrim as well, though not often. In fact, Billy used a number of aliases throughout his outlaw career, presumably to conceal his true identity while on the run; William H. Bonney is the name that survives history the most memorably.

Returning for the sequel in notable support roles are Kiefer Sutherland as 'Doc' Spurlock, and Lou Diamond Phillips as the Mexican-Indian Chavez. I wasn't particularly fond of William Petersen's casting as Sheriff Pat Garret, he didn't seem gritty enough in the role to take on the assignment from the Governor. Lew Wallace by the way, in real life was also the author of 'Ben-Hur', an interesting bit of trivia that totally astounded me when I found out he had a history with Billy The Kid as governor of New Mexico.

As with most of these Hollywood treatments based on history, purists will take issue with the fictional elements thrown in to make the story engaging for a modern audience. If you can get beyond that, this one is entertaining enough for Western fans with some catchy dialog and skilled cinematography. As an added bonus, you have James Coburn in a neat cameo, and Jane Wright with that slinky Lady Godiva bit as she mounts up and heads out of White Oaks. I hope it wasn't too cold that day.