Young Guns II

Morgan Creek International | Release Date: August 1, 1990

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

47	METASCORE Mixed or average reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews

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Critic Reviews

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Michael Wilmington

Young Guns II generates more sheer visual excitement than any Western since Peckinpah and Leone were in their last '70s prime. Read full review

Jay Scott

There is a dearth of novelty in Young Guns II, but screenwriter Fusco proceeds as if the material were not familiar and seems to be having a hell of a time exposing it to an audience of teen-agers who wouldn't know John Ford from Ford Fairlane. [03 Aug 1990]

Harper Barnes

A generally entertaining Western with some striking images, Young Guns II is significantly better than the original Young Guns. [02 Aug 1990, p.4E]

EmpireWilliam Thomas

An affectionate and entertaining tribute to the Western - but, Estevez aside, Young Guns II doesn't exactly add much to the old genre. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

Although it's more ambitious than most sequels, Young Guns II exhausts its most inspired moment during the opening credits and fades into a copy of its 1988 predecessor - a slick, glossy MTV-style western. Read full review

Roger Ebert

The screenplay feels unfinished, the direction is ambling, but the performances are interesting. Read full review

Janet Maslin

Young Guns II concentrates principally on the drawing power of the post-adolescent heartthrobs in its cast. This approach has its appeal in limited doses, but it makes for a western that's smaller than life. Read full review

Dave Kehr

A far more stylistically assured film than its fey predecessor, though it still carries almost no conviction. Read full review

Owen Gleiberman

Whenever a few of the Young Guns get together and have to behave like soulful cowboys, the movie stops dead in its tracks. The trouble with so many of today’s young actors is that there’s no deep-seated yearning or fury in their performances. They just seem like well-adjusted California kids putting on a show for a few hours. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

The plot is all pot-shots and posses, with a bit of Indian hocus-pocus thrown in for comic relief. In other words, more of the same. Read full review

Rita Kempley

A roundup of tired cliches and tired acting -- except for Sutherland and Petersen -- Young Guns II is dull as beans and lazy as tumbleweed. Read full review

Jay Carr

Young Guns had no vision at all. Young Guns II at least tries for poetry and irony and epic scale. And it finds humor in such things as the outlaws' keen appreciation of media exposure and image-making. But its chronicling of the gang's downfall just slogs. [01 Aug 1990, p.63p]

Bill Cosford

Young Guns II looks good, and offers -- for those in its audience who, against all odds, might care -- a mildly interesting theory on what really happened to Billy the Kid. And if this is what it takes to keep the Western alive, if not yet prospering, ride on, Guns, ride on. [01 Aug 1990, p.D1]

Mick LaSalle

Unfortunately Young Guns II is a small blaze and no glory. [01 Aug 1990, p.E1]

John Hartl

Handsomer and funnier than the original, Young Guns II is still a mediocre brat-pack western. It lacks the attention-getting novelty of the first film. [01 Aug 1990, p.E1]

TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)

Besides featuring some of the same actors in the same roles, what this six-gun sequel has in common with Young Guns is that it is wholly unmemorable. Read full review

Jay Boyar

Young Guns II shoots blanks. [02 Aug 1990, p.E1]

Peter Travers

The first Young Guns, in 1988, was an endurance test for all but those who think ogling young actors in tight britches is a fascinating way to spend two hours. Though it seems impossible, the sequel is even more excruciating. Read full review