The Rage (1997 film)

The Rage is a 1997 Canadian–American action-thriller film directed by Sidney J. Furie, starring Lorenzo Lamas, Gary Busey, Kristen Cloke and Roy Scheider. In it, an FBI special agent (Lamas) teams up with a new partner (Locke) to track down a serial killer, who turns out to be an entire squad of disgruntled Vietnam veterans, whose leader's (Busey) murderous rage is rooted in sexual trauma sustained during the conflict.

Development
The Rage was announced and filmed under the preliminary title Word of Honor. The film, which contains references to the Waco and Ruby Ridge incidents, was promoted as taking inspiration from real-life FBI profilers. It was a joint venture between Canada's Norstar Entertainment and U.S. company Itasca Pictures, who had previously collaborated on The Nature of the Beast. A local press article mentioned that veteran stunt coordinator Hal Needham was involved with the film, however Spiro Razatos was the man in charge of the action when cameras rolled.

Casting
Lorenzo Lamas, whose career had been confined to the lower rungs of genre filmmaking, viewed the project as a major step towards more legitimate roles. He voiced this belief in the press, saying: "People are going to be made aware of Lorenzo Lamas in 1997 [...] It's a real movie with a real director and a terrific script that wasn't action-driven." Trade magazine Variety reported that the actor had turned down two direct-to-video films paid US$500,000 each so that he could work on this one instead during the Renegade offseason. Lamas also cut his hair for the role, which forced him to wear a hairpiece for the series' final season. Tiani Warden, who played the girlfriend of Busey's character, was his real-life girlfriend and soon-to-be wife. She appeared in several of his projects during the 1996–97 period.

Filming
Principal photography began on May 1, 1996, and lasted five weeks. The shoot immediately followed the actor's wedding to Shauna Sand. It took place in the state of Utah, visiting the cities of Park City, Heber City and Salt Lake City, as well as Rockport State Park, where the final boat setpiece was shot on the local reservoir. The film gave Razatos the opportunity to finally pull off the stunt he had been dreaming of for a long time, which comes during the film's second major setpiece, when one side of a car is crushed by the wheels of a semi-trailer truck.

Theatrical
The film saw a theatrical release in select international markets, most notably Japan, where it opened on March 21, 1998, through Nippon Herald Films. According to Lamas, he was told the film had a good chance of going theatrical in the U.S. as well, but that did not happen.

Home video
In the U.S., The Rage premiered on VHS on June 16, 1998 through Miramax's genre label Dimension Home Video. Dimension also released the film in the short-lived DivX disc format. The film was released earlier in several international markets, such as the UK where it launched in the first week of June 1997 through BMG Video, and potentially Australia, where its classification certificate was issued in June 1997, although the date of its actual release by CEL Entertainment could not be determined. In Canada, the film was released at an undetermined date by Norstar Home Video, the sister label of production company Norstar Entertainment, through an output deal with Behaviour Distribution. The Rage was re-issued on DVD in the U.S. on February 3, 2004, also by Dimension.

Reception
The Rage has received mixed-to-negative reviews, with praise for the action sequences, and criticism towards Busey's character and performance. Robert Firsching of AllMovie opined that "[t]his silly, over-the-top action film has a great hammy performance by Gary Busey" but "[t]here are way too many plot threads dangling everywhere [...] Still, those in search of mindless shootouts and hissable villains will find enough to enjoy". The British Film Institute's magazine Sight and Sound wrote that "Busey goes into grinning overdrive in an utterly shameless performance in which his anger springs from losing his manhood during sex with a Viet Cong woman." Fellow British publication Film Review stated that "if you can stomach the film's grisly details, this contains some of the most exciting action sequences seen." VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever deemed that "good action sequences substitute for the lack of plot sense." In his syndicated column, British reviewer Peter Dean called the film "a powerful thriller".

Alan Levine of The Arizona Republic was less forgiving, and noted: "Too much emphasis on rivalries, interdepartmental politics and personal conflicts. Add to this an over-the-top performance by Gary Busey, and you got a real loser on your hands." TV Guide commented that "logic is not this film's imperative" and adding that "contributing to the movie's moronic approach is the central figure of Gary Busey, a star so over-the-top he can never be taken seriously. Even if the film had better acting, The Rage would still suffer from [several] plot incredulities". In his book The American Martial Arts Film, author M. Ray Lott noted that "Lamas completely disregards his martial arts persona" and that "The Rage had all the earmarks of a big-budget film, with a superb supporting cast including Gary Busey and David Carradine in a cameo". However, he mentioned that "the story was confusing at times" and that Busey's character ark "was preposterous at best."