When your mind wanders to the the wonky realm of high-quality direct-to-video releases, one usually doesn't spend too much time pondering the work of Cyborg director Albert Pyun. His films are somewhat lifeless and often quite boring, the latter being the greatest offense any filmmaker can commit. Even as a kid I knew his version of Captain America was utter garbage when compared to Tim Burton's comic book masterpiece. Being an avid Captain America reader, I was disappointed with the film, leaving Pyun's name forever etched in the Mortal Enemies division of my highly-chaotic brainscape. Alas, some relationships are just never meant to be. Weep hard, my pretty little children.

All of that changed, however, upon discovery of his 1997 action opus Mean Guns, starring none other than genre veteran Christopher Lambert, or as I like to call him, the Thomas Jane of the 90's. Mean Guns is so enjoyable, so impossibly fun that I actually found myself forgiving Pyun for such cinematic crimes as Arcade, Omega Doom, and Alien from L.A. He did score a few points with 2001's Ticker, but that's mostly due to the inclusion of a certain rotund aikido master and a self-destructive Hollywood burnout with male pattern baldness. Of course, Pyun needs all the points he can get at this stage in the game.

In case you've never heard of this snazzy straight-to-video title, allow me to regurgitate a generically entertaining synopsis for your viewing pleasure. It seems that a certain underworld conglomerate called The Syndicate is dissatisfied with the performance of a few of its key players. Instead of disciplining these dodgy employees one-on-one, this shady organization has devised a sinister alternative: round up the offenders inside an empty maximum security prison, supply them with an array of weaponry, and let God sort 'em out. To sweeten the pot, Syndicate representative Vincent Moon (Ice-T) has hidden ten million dollars somewhere on the premises, a prize that will be split amongst the three remaining employees.

Included in this free-for-all bullet ballet is troubled hitman Lou (Lambert), a silent but deadly shooter named Marcus (Michael Halsey), a sassy blonde assassin called D (Kimberly Warren), and a mousy little snitch named Cam (Deborah Van Valkenburgh). Their strategy is to team up, eliminate the others, then pick off the weakest member of their respective outfit. Before all is said and done, alliances will dissolve, truths will be revealed, and some silly bimbo's head will become engulfed in flames. The latter, of course, is easily the most entertaining of the bunch, but you'll want to pay close attention to the other details, as well. Seriously.

Blazing through the material like a B-grade John Woo, Pyun pumps up this very simplistic premise with tons of crazy gunplay and plenty of mean-spirited action. Though the film retains the goofy director's penchant for bizarre camera angles and lightning-fast editing, these gimmicks seem to enhance Mean Guns' entertainment quotient by leaps and bounds. All of those weird close-ups and what-not give the film a slightly surreal atmosphere, allowing even the stupidest of events to seem completely natural in the grand scheme of things.