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4K Review: “Young Guns” is still fun to watch The 35th Anniversary release does this classic justice

December 8, 2023 By Summer Brooks Leave a Comment

Young Guns was one of my favorite “modern” Westerns, a nearly anachronistic retelling of the life story of Billy the Kid, his outlaw escapades and his “deaths”.

Overall, the picture is rich, and appears to be a well-done 4K upgrade. Some wider shots are not as sharp as many of the static and closer in shots, but there’s an improved clarity through the entire film. The audio appears to be improved, although the audio in the commentary is out of sync with the picture (you can tell it’s just a hair off, with the movie audio from the version the guys were watching while doing the original commentary track).

The bonus features are good, but not special. The audio commentary track is the same that’s on the Special Edition DVD from 20 years ago, as is the Billy the Kid documentary. These do not appear to have been remastered, but it is nice they were included… maybe to give folks a reason to upgrade and feel they aren’t losing out of special features they’d had before.

The new “Making of” featurette is a delightful way to revisit the way this story and cast came together to create what’s become a cornerstone of the “new” Westerns of the 1980s and 1990s. What I found funny is that John Fusco and Christopher Cain were mentioning how this was the first Hollywood Western in about 25 years, but Silverado had come out just a few years prior, in 1985. Finding the details about the change in music was informative, and I’d had no idea Tom Cruise had an uncredited appearance in the climactic Lincoln gunfight.

I still hope that someday there will be a short special about how this movie inspired Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive”, and how that had led directly to Jon Bon Jovi creating the theme song for Young Guns II . Who knows, maybe they’ll include more on the 50th anniversary set that will eventually come out?

The fact that Emilio Estevez and Lou Diamond Phillips are still confident that there will eventually be a 3rd chapter in the Young Guns saga is a fun thing to hope for, and maybe we could eventually get a comprehensive set with a lot more features and multiple commentaries.

Watch these interviews: Emilio Estevez talks about making the ‘80s Western “Young Guns” YOUNG GUNS 3 – Lou Diamond Phillips Interview [Movieweb Exclusive]

Either way, this is a disc set that would be a very nice addition even if you already have one of the previous home releases of Young Guns .

SPECIAL FEATURES · Audio Commentary with actors Dermot Mulroney, Lou Diamond Phillips and Casey Siemaszko · How the West Was Wild: Making Young Guns (NEW FEATURETTE featuring new cast/crew interviews) · Billy the Kid: The True Story · Teaser Trailer · Theatrical Trailer · Exclusive character art cards as part of the Best Buy release

Available in stores on December 5, 2023: National 4K Ultra HD™ + Blu-ray™ + Digital (SRP: $34.99) BEST BUY EXCLUSIVE National 4K Ultra HD™ + Blu-ray™ + Digital (SRP: $37.99)

Thank you to Lionsgate for providing the disc for this review

The year is 1878, Lincoln County. John Tunstall, a British ranch owner, hires six rebellious boys as “regulators” to protect his ranch against the ruthless Santa Fe Ring. When Tunstall is killed in an ambush, the Regulators, led by the wild-tempered Bill the Kid (Emilio Estevez), declare war on the Ring. As their vendetta turns into a bloody rampage, they are branded outlaws, becoming the objects of the largest manhunt in Western history.

CAST: Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Charlie Sheen, Dermot Mulroney, Casey Siemaszko DIRECTED BY: Christopher Cain WRITTEN BY: John Fusco

4K Review: "Young Guns" is still fun to watch

• Feature Presentation (sound & audio)
• Bonus features

I wish they’d included more about how Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive” inspired the cast during the making (something that had been in the movie & music news during one of the Bon Jovi tours after the movie had been released), and how that had directly led to Jon Bon Jovi creating the theme song for Young Guns II .

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Young Guns Reviews

• 50   Metascore
• 1 hr 47 mins
• Drama, Action & Adventure
• Watchlist Where to Watch

A group of young cowhands, led by Billy the Kid, are deputised to hunt down the murderer of their rancher-boss. But when Billy takes their authority too far, they become the hunted.

Haphazardly scripted by CROSSROADS (1986) writer John Fusco, YOUNG GUNS purports to be a study of the early days of William H. Bonney, a punk gunslinger soon to be known as Billy the Kid (played well by Emilio Estevez). The film opens in White Oaks, New Mexico. Billy is rescued from a crowd of angry citizens by a British rancher, John Henry Tunstall (Terence Stamp), and joins a group of scruffy young western ne'er-do-wells that Tunstall has given a chance to work as "Regulators" (hired guns) on his ranch in nearby Lincoln. Billy gradually becomes devoted to the kindly rancher. When land baron Lawrence G. Murphy (Jack Palance) has Tunstall killed because of a dispute, and the Regulators are deputized to bring the killers in, Billy begins gunning down the guilty parties. Soon there are several ruthless bounty hunters and the US Cavalry out after the Regulators. YOUNG GUNS is simply not a very good movie--western or otherwise. Fusco's script provides little character development and muddies the narrative with some unlikely supporting characters. Still, it proved to be popular enough to lead to a television spinoff and a sequel in 1990.

Young Guns 4K UHD Review: Billy the 4Kid

• Movie Reviews!

35 years later the Young Guns aren’t so young anymore, but the new 4K UHD release captures their youth. It is still grainy like a classic western, also sweaty, sandy and grimy.

You can see how barren all the trees are when they filmed. There are good deep shadows in the barns and saloons, but especially around the campfire at night. You’ll see the gang’s silhouettes in the sun too. Bloody bullet wounds spray and gush bright red.

A surround sound mix brings shootouts right into your living room with gunshots and a lot of breaking glass. Crows also squack behind you, the wind whips and the score fills.

A new bonus feature features director Christopher Cain, writer John Fusco and cast members Lou Diamond Phillips, Dermot Mulroney, Casey Siemaszko and Geoffrey Blake. It shows a snippet of James Horner’s score before they synthed it up. It also points out Tom Cruise’s cameo, but has nothing on the sequel.

Phillips, Mulroney and Siemaszko are on a commentary track from a previous release, but it’s more of a conversation that builds off each other. They talk about youthful acne problems, farts ruining takes and stories of Charlie Sheen debauchery.

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Directed by Christopher Cain

Six reasons why the west was wild.

A group of young gunmen, led by Billy the Kid, become deputies to avenge the murder of the rancher who became their benefactor. But when Billy takes their authority too far, they become the hunted.

Emilio Estevez Kiefer Sutherland Lou Diamond Phillips Charlie Sheen Dermot Mulroney Casey Siemaszko Terence Stamp Jack Palance Terry O'Quinn Sharon Thomas Cain Geoffrey Blake Alice Carter Brian Keith Thomas Callaway Patrick Wayne Lisa Banes Sam Gauny Cody Palance Gadeek Victor Izay Allen Keller Craig Erickson Jeremy Lepard Danny Kamin Richela Renkun Pat Finn-Lee Gary Kanin Forrest Broadley Alan Tobin Show All… Joey Hamlin Loyd Lee Brown Elena Parres Tom Cruise Randy Travis Tomas Moore John Pattison W. Thomas Snyder Lee Sollenberger

Director Director

Christopher Cain

Producers Producers

Christopher Cain Joe Roth Paul Schiff Irby Smith

Writer Writer

Casting casting.

Penny Perry M.L. Tanner

Editor Editor

Jack Hofstra

Cinematography Cinematography

Dean Semler

Assistant Directors Asst. Directors

Charles Myers W. Thomas Snyder

Executive Producers Exec. Producers

John Fusco James G. Robinson

Lighting Lighting

John Joleaud Tim McGinnis

Additional Photography Add. Photography

Booth Gallett

Production Design Production Design

Art direction art direction.

Harold Thrasher Dennis Bradford

Set Decoration Set Decoration

Robert Kracik

Special Effects Special Effects

Johnny Hale Greg Hull Dale L. Martin William Purcell Joe Quinlivan

Title Design Title Design

Wayne Fitzgerald

Stunts Stunts

Mickey Alzola Wallace Brooks Jim Burk Thomas Byrd Roger Cain Al Cantu Phil Cowling Everett Creach Vince Deadrick Jr. Dale Gibson Bill Hart John Hudkins Walt La Rue William T. Lane Gary Littlejohn Bill McIntosh Lee McLaughlin Eddie Mulder Michael Raden Randy Slaughter Lee Sollenberger Neil Summers Lynn Troupe John Underwood Bill Yarbrough

Composers Composers

Brian Banks Anthony Marinelli

Sound Sound

Terry Lynn Allen Lon Bender Anna Boorstin William Dotson Lou Kleinman Michael Minkler Dan M. Rich Cathie Speakman Wylie Stateman Michael D. Wilhoit Chris Hogan Randy Kelley Mark R. La Pointe Carey Lindley Greg Orloff John Roesch Greg Steele Carolyn Tapp Hugo Weng

Costume Design Costume Design

Richard Hornung

Makeup Makeup

Karoly Balazs Jeanne Van Phue

Hairstyling Hairstyling

Jeanne Van Phue

Morgan Creek Entertainment 20th Century Fox Vestron Pictures

Releases by Date

10 aug 1988, 17 feb 1988, 12 aug 1988, 26 oct 1988, 12 nov 1988, 10 dec 1988, 06 jan 1989, 20 jan 1989, 02 feb 1989, 10 mar 1989, 05 jul 1989, 31 may 1990, 19 jan 1998, releases by country.

• Theatrical M
• Theatrical 14
• Theatrical 15
• Theatrical K-16
• Theatrical 16
• Theatrical 18
• Theatrical R18+

Netherlands

• Theatrical 12
• Premiere R Westwood, California
• Theatrical R

107 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Patrick Willems ★★★ 2

Shoutout to Dermot Mulroney for playing the world’s filthiest man, who spits chewing tobacco in every shot he’s in and takes a bath yet his face is still covered in dirt

Review by Oliver Swift ★★½ 2

Young, dumb and full of guns

Review by Rafael "Parker!!" Jovine ★★½ 12

Have you ever went into a movie with the intention of teasing/trolling a friend who dislikes the film and then watched it with them and you kind of agreed with them? Someone in this Letterboxd community certainly got a win in that regard.

There's no arguing about the cast and the concept is there. We are talking about a cast of who’s who in the 80s, from icons such as Emilio Estevez and his bro Charlie, Oscar nominated performers such as Lou Diamond Phillips and low-key greats Dermot Mulroney, soon-to-be President/Agent Jack Bauer then hot vampire Keifer Sutherland and Hawaiian go-to show TV actor Terry O’Quinn – they all try to do their best by injecting some of their own…

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Cowboy daddy and his posse of 80s twinks

Review by Jesse Snoddon ★★★½ 10

"Get ready for hell"

A young Billy the Kid (Emilio Estevez) finds himself taken in and offered work by rancher John Tunstall (Terence Stamp) where he meets and bonds with a group of other misfits and outcasts (including Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Casey Siemaszko and Dermot Mulroney). When Tunstall is brutally gunned down by his political rival Lawrence Murphy's (Jack Palance) gang, the group (newly christened the Regulators) finds themselves deputized and sets out for revenge. 

Much like the sequel, this is another one I won't pretend to be objective about. I watched it a lot when young and have a soft spot for it. One of the reasons it works so well for me now that…

Review by Todd Gaines ★★★½ 5

Regulators! 

Young Guns is about as ‘80s as westerns get. The cast. The musical score. The way the action is shot. I am not sure if the film has aged well or not, but it really doesn’t matter. 

My biggest takeaway is how much Casey Siemaszko and Dermot Mulroney steal the damn movie. Casey is so likable, and Dermot is dirtier than Daryl “Walking Dead” Dixon ever dreamed of. The cast is loaded with Brat Pack / A Listers, and it is two not-so-household names who kill it. Also, it is hilarious how Charlie Sheen plays the fella with the most morals. Tiger blood for life! 

Time to go crank up the Warren G and Nate Dogg!

Review by Slig001 ★★★ 1

An eighties take on the western. I cant help but think that Young Guns is the kind of film that would have made for better viewing at the time it was released, rather than seeing it for the first time now. The simple plot focuses on a group of ranch hands that find themselves on a revenge mission when their benefactor is murdered by a rival businessmen. The characters include a host of well known old west figures including Billy the Kid and Doc Scurlock, and they're played by a cast of eighties youngsters. The simple plot is decent enough to hold the narrative together, while much relies on various set pieces and the interplay between the characters. Emilio Estevez…

Review by Helen_S ★★★★ 11

Thought I'd seen this but nothing felt familiar. The tone was very hard to pin down on this one. Didn't know whether I was supposed to take it seriously or a comedy or bit of both. Strange feel. I really enjoyed it though and was surprised at the death 45 mins in. Stellar cast.

Review by Blake Bergman "Various Spaghetti" ★★★★½ 2

"Young Guns" is a 1988 action western directed by Christopher Cain. A late 80's slice of life action film poured into the setting of a western, "Young Guns" is a nostalgic favorite for many. Understandably, there might be plenty of other, better played westerns in brands of authenticity, but you just can't help but have a blast taking in this film's completely unashamed style with everything. It's the western for the newly received "MTV Generation" and damn this thing is fun.

Now just because the film takes on that mid to late 80's distinctive flair, surely doesn't mean that goes without its research in application. Obviously, the centralized character of "Billy the Kid" or William H. Bonney is a name…

Review by Pube ★★★★

There is no better combination than mullets and the old west.

Review by misha🛸 ★★★★

*me seeing emilio estevez and kiefer sutherland as cowboys*: actually, can I have five more of these little blonde bitches?

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MOVIE REVIEW : ‘Young Guns’ Breathes Life Into Old Genre

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In the movies, Billy (the Kid) Bonney, whose bloody exploits during the 1878-80 Lincoln County wars made him a legend before his death at 21, has been variously portrayed as young Lochinvar, confused boy, or reckless killer. That’s one reason “Young Guns” (citywide) is a surprise. Though it pales beside such antecedents as Arthur Penn’s “The Left-Handed Gun” or Sam Peckinpah’s “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid,” it has a slick, smoky vigor.

Writer John Fusco (“Crossroads”) and actor Emilio Estevez draw Bonney as a total psychopath, an embittered kid who takes pure joy from killing. And Fusco also suggests that Billy frequently received credit for a group effort by the “regulators,” hired by British immigrant John Tunstall. They rode out on a vendetta after Tunstall’s murder by a rival rancher.

In “The Left-Handed Gun,” Paul Newman played Billy as a high-spirited youngster headed for doom. Estevez goes further. His Billy is sullen and snappish during peacetime, but he blossoms in war. A notably dirty fighter, he giggles delightedly after gunning someone down, whoops with near-carnal delight when he finds himself and his gang besieged by several posses and the U.S. Cavalry. He’s a baby-faced Nietszchean warrior.

It’s a remarkable performance and Estevez doesn’t soften many edges. This Kid is purely and simply nuts. He’s a born killer, and the saner types around him, brother Charlie Sheen as regulator leader Dick Brewer and Kiefer Sutherland as the studious romantic, Doc (both excellent acting jobs), can’t match his battle instincts because they’re bound by scruples. They don’t have Billy’s tigerish impulse for instant slaughter.

The movie is more of an ensemble piece, perhaps partially inspired by Kurosawa’s “Seven Samurai.” But here, the fablelike structure is both its strength and major flaw.

We see Bonney as a madman, yet “Young Guns” is also a paean to teen-age camaraderie and loyalty, with an unlikely bow to sappy young love. Since the corruption is so all-pervasive, the chief villain--Jack Palance as rancher Murphy--so odious, it becomes easy to rationalize, amorally, that a psycho is just what you need when your back is against the wall. “Young Guns” could have used more of the near-tragic intensity of the Penn or Peckinpah versions.

The casting here initially seems a teen-movie stunt. Lou Diamond Phillips plays taciturn half-breed, Chavez Y Chavez--a character who recalls “Seven Samurai’s” virtuoso swordsman; Casey Siemaszko, the clownish pugilist Charlie Bowdre;and Dermot Mulroney, Dirty Steve. Yet they blend together almost flawlessly. And so do the more mature actors: Palance, Terence Stamp as Tunstall, Terry O’Quinn as lawyer McSwain and, in brief, resonant cameos, Brian Keith as a bounty hunter and Pat Wayne (son of John) as Pat Garrett.

Director Christopher Cain has, at various times, shown a flair for landscape and action (“Where the River Runs Black”) and for subtler character (“The Stone Boy”). Here, he gets both. He’s working in bold, heavy swatches of humor, violence and lyricism, and his cameraman Dean Semler, (“The Road Warrior”) keeps the landscapes looking stripped down, austerely handsome.

To say “Young Guns” (MPAA-rated R for language and violence) is one of the best big Westerns of the ‘80s doesn’t mean much: Westerns have been almost moribund since 1976. But it does hint at this movie’s surprising vitality, bloody ebullience and violent impetuosity--qualities it shares with crazy little Billy.

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Actors often are advised to meditate on the characters they play, to get inside their skins and understand what makes them the way they are. "Young Guns II" presents the strange spectacle of actors who have apparently done more of that than the filmmakers have - so that we sense there's more to these people than meets the eye. The screenplay feels unfinished, the direction is ambling, but the performances are interesting.

The movie opens, circa 1950, with a lawyer making a rendezvous with a bearded old man by the side of a Southwestern highway. The geezer says that he's Billy the Kid, and that he wants to arrange a meeting with the governor of the state; he wants to be pardoned on charges that he killed 21 men. (When the lawyer demurs, the old-timer threatens to shoot him and "make it 22," which would seem to hint that a pardon is not exactly deserved.) Is this old man really the Kid? The lawyer demands proof - he wants to see scars. The old man has scars, all right, many of them psychic ones, and we see them for the next 90 minutes in a flashback.

"Young Guns II" is yet another revisionist version of the Billy the Kid legend, which has taken on mythic qualities in such films as "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral," "The Left-Handed Gun" and " Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid ," not to mention an opera by Aaron Copland.

The angle this time seems to be that Billy was an unformed and unthinking young man, a good shot who stumbled into fame and was not equal to the responsibilities of leading a gang.

There are moments when he hardly looks old enough to vote. As played by Emilio Estevez , Billy is a fresh-faced innocent who looks youthful even in the company of his fellow gang members, who include Kiefer Sutherland , Lou Diamond Phillips and Christian Slater . Pat Garrett is played by William L. Petersen , who looks somewhat older and more weatherworn, but if they'd put a real cowboy into the picture - a younger Robert Mitchum or Kirk Douglas or Burt Lancaster - the movie would have been revealed as what it really is, a bunch of kids playing with guns.

Not many Westerns are made these days, and the success of the original "Young Guns" - no doubt because of, not despite, the young matinee idols in its cast - made a sequel necessary. You have the feeling here, though, that the screenplay by John Fusco was put together out of various standard Western elements - the night in the whorehouse, the ambush in the hills - without any clear idea of where the movie was headed, or why. Certainly the final shootout, when Garrett and his men surround the gang, is a disappointment. An event immortalized in other films is trivialized in this one.

Why do we go to Westerns, anyway - those few of us who still do, or would if they still made them? Years ago, when Westerns were racist and unthinking, we went to see the cowboys shoot the Indians.

Then we began to discover too much about the genocide of Indians to take anything but pain from such a scene. So the Western turned inward, to examine the personality problems of its heroes. Where once there was the glorious spectacle of a man bursting with self-confidence - a John Wayne , a Gary Cooper - we now got twisted portraits of men whose guns were compensating for something.

In "Young Guns II," I didn't even feel those Freudian scars; the bad guys in this movie are simply misunderstood, or took a wrong turn, or might benefit from counseling. There is no sense that they are desperate for a reason, that they like committing crimes, that they reject society for any better reason than that it rejects them. There's a lot of bold string music in the film, wide-open-spaces compositions, and a lot of horses and dust and gunfire, and even the obligatory shot where the hero gets a bath from the prostitute who understands him, but there isn't really a Western here. There are moments when the actors themselves seem to be on to something, but the screenplay doesn't give them the material to let us know what it is. The old-timer narrates the film from time to time, in a wheezy, ancient voice, recalling dim events from far ago. The events themselves have about as much energy.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

Young Guns II (1990)

Rated PG-13

104 minutes

Lou Diamond Phillips as Chavez Y Chavez

William L. Petersen as Pat Garrett

Alan Ruck as Hendry French

R.D. Call as D.A. Ryerson

James Coburn as John Chisum

Christian Slater as Arkansas Dave Rudabaugh

Kiefer Sutherland as Doc Scurlock

Produced by

• Paul Schiff
• Bruce Green
• Alan Silvestri

Photography by

• Dean Semler

Directed by

• Geoff Murphy

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Thoughts on Young Guns movies?

I remember seeing them when they first came out, and as a kid , thinking they were bad ass. I know that they weren't traditional westerns and were dumbed down and simplified, but they were enough to start an interest in the genre.

How do they sit with you? Do they hold up? Were you ever a fan? If you were a late viewer and saw them recently, what did you think? Could they be successful if done similarly today?

Young Guns II Review

05 Jul 1989

104 minutes

Young Guns II

Taking up where the original Young Guns left off, this sequel recalls the last two years in the life of William Bonney - that's Billy the Kid, shot dead at 21 in 1881 by his former friend and fellow cattle rustler Pat Garrett, and subject of 47 previous movies. What is purportedly new and different with this particular version is the historical accuracy on show and, paradoxically, the possibility of a happy ending - perhaps Billy didn't die after all - but what Young Guns II really has going for it is the central performance of Emilio Estevez, so cunning, witty, childish, irresponsible and credible a left-handed gun that he manages to transcend the movie's several shortcomings.

Principal of these is a plot which unfolds unevenly and - to anyone not steeped in posses, pioneer power struggles and life on the trail - in a most perplexing fashion. For all its funny lines and exciting set-pieces, this serves only to diminish the predicament in which our hero finds himself. It lessens too our interest in the adversity of his reformed Regulators, of whom Sutherland and Phillips ride again, the former's character Doc completely thrown away, the latter's wooden Indian never very interesting in the first place.

Newboy Christian Slater is given little room to shine, and, as Garrett, Petersen has no opportunity to build the turncoat character of Billy's nemesis - though the contrast between the dramatic beauty of the New Mexico landscape and the grubbiness of those who ride it is well-caught throughout. An affectionate and entertaining tribute to the Western - but, Estevez aside, Young Guns II doesn't exactly add much to the old genre.

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Young Guns II

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Rent Young Guns II on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video.

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Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Geoff Murphy

Emilio Estevez

William H. "Billy the Kid" Bonney

Kiefer Sutherland

Josiah Gordon "Doc" Scurlock

Lou Diamond Phillips

"Jose" Chavez y Chavez

Christian Slater

Arkansas Dave Rudabaugh

William Petersen

Patrick Floyd "Pat" Garrett

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Young Guns (1988)

• Parents Guide

Certification

• Sex & Nudity (3)
• Violence & Gore (10)
• Profanity (4)
• Alcohol, Drugs & Smoking (4)
• Frightening & Intense Scenes (1)

Sex & Nudity

• Mild 25 of 48 found this mild Severity? None 12 Mild 25 Moderate 8 Severe 3 We were unable to submit your evaluation. Please try again later.
• One of the regulators ran into a cactus and his pants were slightly down while Chavez removed thorns Edit
• Billy the Kid's buttocks are seen once Edit
• Charley goes to a prostitute and pays her so he can 'hold' her. Her left breast is shown Edit

Violence & Gore

• Moderate 14 of 30 found this moderate Severity? None 1 Mild 7 Moderate 14 Severe 8 We were unable to submit your evaluation. Please try again later.
• The film opens with the main group (in a high colourised filter) firing. Edit
• Frequent fistfights and shootouts Edit
• A man is shot in the arm, and he grimaces in pain. A man is shot three times, twice in the chest and once in the neck. We see bullet wounds. Edit
• A man shoots another man in the head and the gut, and a little bit of blood splatters onto the face of another man. A brief non-graphic wound is seen in the back of the man's head, however the camera angle makes it hard to see. Edit
• A man has bruises and cuts on him throughout. Edit
• Two men shoot each other multiple times, with lots of bullet wounds. Edit
• A man shoots another man at point blank range. Edit
• A man frequently threatens other men with his throwing knives. Edit
• A man is shot twice in the arm, another man is shot in the arm, and another man is shot all over his body (we see bullet wounds). One of the wounded men then shoots another man right between the eyes, and we see a bloody bullet wound with blood gradually dripping out. Edit
• Several men shoot another man down, no blood (it's seen from a distance). Edit
• Moderate 18 of 36 found this moderate Severity? None 1 Mild 10 Moderate 18 Severe 7 We were unable to submit your evaluation. Please try again later.
• 1 use of "fucking", 17 uses of "shit", 16 uses of "hell", 13 uses of "ass", 10 uses of "damn", 6-7 uses of "goddamn", 11 uses of "son of a bitch", 8 uses of "bastard", 1 use of "Jesus Christ", 4 uses of "Jesus", 4 uses of "Christ". Edit
• Frequent use of 'shit' and 'damn' (and its variants 'goddamn' etc). Edit
• Many uses of son of a bitch. Edit
• Some uses of hell and bastard. Edit

Alcohol, Drugs & Smoking

• Moderate 14 of 24 found this moderate Severity? None 1 Mild 9 Moderate 14 Severe 0 We were unable to submit your evaluation. Please try again later.
• Some characters are seen with chewing tabacco throughout the film. Edit
• Smoking Edit
• Alcohol Use Edit
• A very long scene is shown where the 'Young Gungs' have all taken peyote that Jose gave to them, they are then seen hallucinating Edit

Frightening & Intense Scenes

• Mild 10 of 25 found this mild Severity? None 6 Mild 10 Moderate 8 Severe 1 We were unable to submit your evaluation. Please try again later.
• Intense. Edit

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‘young hearts’ review: belgian teen coming-out romance is a disarmingly sweet account of first love.

Writer-director Anthony Schatteman’s assured debut boasts a standout lead performance from Lou Goossens as a 14-year-old boy struggling with self-discovery.

By David Rooney

David Rooney

Chief Film Critic

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Since premiering in Berlin’s Generation sidebar earlier this year, it has been playing the summer festivals and will open in the U.S. through Strand Releasing at an unscheduled date in the fall.

Elias (Goossens) is a happy kid living with his father Luk (Geert Van Rampling), his mother Nathalie (Emilie De Roo) and older brother Maxime (Jul Goossens) in a small country town. While the location is never named, the film was shot in the East Flanders municipality of Wetteren, with its farmlands and green fields and riverside beauty providing a vibrant backdrop. Elias is content enough to take his girlfriend Valerie (Sara Rogiers) along to the cheesy pop performances of his dad, who’s something of a local celebrity. But his relationship with Valerie seems more like that of siblings than youthful sweethearts.

Stopping by the river while biking home from school, the two boys have a conversation about love. Elias confesses that while he and Valerie are supposedly together, he’s unclear about what love should feel like, while Alexander casually reveals he was in love with a boy last year. The change that spreads across Goossens’ expressive face as he contemplates his new friend with a mixture of curiosity and surprise is the quiet prelude to a whole wave of unfamiliar feelings as their bond deepens.

While Elias has been bullied at school, Alexander tells him he took up judo because of similar experiences. A group of seniors toss a homophobic taunt their way, but Alexander shows them he’s not intimidated.

As the pair start hanging out more frequently — swimming together in the river, exploring an abandoned old house, literally (if chastely) having a roll in the hay at the farm of Elias’ grandpa Fred (Dirk Van Dijck) — Schatteman deftly plants the anticipation of mutual attraction. It seems right out of the rom-com playbook that their first kiss happens when they dash for shelter from a sudden downpour, but it’s tender and affecting all the same.

An extended shot in which DP Pieter Van Campe’s camera slowly closes in on Elias’ enraptured face as a drag performer rehearsing at the club (Lady Lana) sings a number about embracing life is just lovely.

But it takes more than a romantic ballad to get Elias over his fears, causing him to back away nervously when Alexander gives him a hug in public. He tries forcing himself to commit to being with Valerie. In an amusing nod to Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet , Elias and Valerie dress for her “famous duos” costume party as the young Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in those roles — even if Elias later admits to Alexander that he’s never seen the film. Schatteman pushes the reference even further by not once but twice mimicking the shot in which Romeo gazes with lovelorn eyes through a fish tank.

Things clearly are destined not to go Valerie’s way, but to the script’s credit, it never compromises the character’s dignity, communicating her gradual acceptance of her boyfriend’s true nature with fond glances rather than words.

In the sugary but captivating conclusion, Elias finally builds up the resolve to follow his heart through the sage advice of his widowed grandfather, whose late wife was instrumental in nurturing Elias’ talent for drawing.

Young Hearts looks terrific; the interludes with the boys biking along country roads serve as delicate punctuation. And the few quick scenes in Brussels use the historic capital’s architectural splendors to subtly suggest why same-age Alexander is so much more emotionally evolved than Elias.

Performances from the entire cast are appealing, notably Van Rampelberg as the loving if somewhat self-absorbed father, surprised to discover how little he knows about his youngest son; De Roo as Elias’ far more emotionally intuitive mother (a scene in which he finally opens up to her is a genuine tearjerker); Van Dijck as a man of the land whose affection for his grandson is unconditional; and De Saeger as dreamboat Alexander, whose self-assurance and comparative sophistication never exclude depth or vulnerability.

The glue binding the whole story together is the remarkable Goossens’ Elias, whose silences as much as his raw intensity reveal the turmoil gripping him inside. The boy’s path to understanding himself and his desires will strike chords with anyone who ever struggled with self-acceptance.

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Battle of the Young Guns: Five stars to watch out for at Euro 2024 knockout stage

As Euro 2024 progresses, a new generation of football talent is taking centre stage. Fans across Europe and beyond are excitedly watching young players demonstrate their abilities at one of Europe’s premier tournaments. Here, we showcase five exceptional young stars who are expected to shine in the knockout stage.

Promising Young Talents to Watch Out for in Euro 2024

Nico williams , spain.

A winger from Spain with Ghanaian roots will celebrate his 22nd birthday next month. He is one of the most promising young players in his country. His quickness, skill at dribbling, and field vision played a big part in Athletic Bilbao winning the Copa del Rey last April. That win broke a 40-year period without a trophy for the club.

Williams scored five goals and made 14 assists in 31 La Liga games for Bilbao in the previous campaign. He’s also had a strong impact at the Euros, something that Italy and Giovanni Di Lorenzo know well.

Top European clubs, including Barcelona and Chelsea , have noticed Williams. If he helps Spain win an unprecedented fourth European championship, his fame could grow even more.

Jude Bellingham , England

There hasn’t been so much excitement about a young England player since Wayne Rooney, as a teenager, made a splash at Euro 2004 twenty years ago.

Bellingham has had an incredible season. The nearly 21-year-old Real Madrid midfielder has already helped his club win the Spanish title and their 15th Champions League in his first campaign in Madrid.

With 24 goals for Real Madrid and 13 assists in 2023-24, Bellingham just won the best player award in La Liga and he’s a top contender for the Ballon d’Or. He has failed to shine at the Euros so far, but he remains one of the best players in the tournament and one of the biggest threats to any Three Lions opponent.

Xavi Simons , Netherlands

This 21-year-old midfielder, on loan at RB Leipzig from Paris Saint-Germain, can play in various attacking roles. He has played as a left-winger, right-winger, and attacking midfielder for the German club and has performed well in each position.

Simons provided 16 assists and scored 10 goals in 43 matches for Leipzig across all competitions. His team finished fourth in the league, only seven points behind Bayern Munich .

Although Simons has only scored one goal for his national team, he’s been a significant attacking force for coach Ronald Koeman.

Arda Guler , Turkey

Creative Turkish midfielder Arda Guler may have struggled for playing time in his first season at Real Madrid, but he’s having a key role at the Euros under Vincenzo Montella and bagged a goal of the tournament contenders in the opening match against Georgia.

At 19, he hasn’t played as much as he would have liked under Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti. However, he usually dazzles when he gets on the field and he scored six goals in 10 league matches for Real in 2023-24, spending just 373 minutes on the pitch. Guler has also played nine times for Turkey scoring twice.

Florian Wirtz , Germany

Bayer Leverkusen swept through the Bundesliga this past season, staying undefeated for the first time in their history and winning the league title. They also won the German Cup and finished as runners-up in the Europa League losing to Atalanta in Dublin.

Florian Wirtz was surely one of the main protagonists in the Xabi Alonso squad. The Germany international racked up 12 assists in the Bundesliga, a number only six other players topped across Europe’s top five leagues. Considering all competitions, he scored 19 goals and provided 20 assists so Germany national team coach Julian Nagelsmann hopes Wirtz will bring more of the same in the Round of 16. Wirtz has only scored one goal at the Euros so far.

When was the first UEFA EURO held?

The first UEFA EURO was held in 1960, with the Soviet Union winning the inaugural tournament.

How many teams participate in the UEFA EURO?

The tournament has expanded over the years. As of EURO 2016, 24 teams compete in the final tournament.

Who has won the most UEFA EURO titles?

Germany and Spain are currently tied for the most UEFA EURO titles, each having won three championships.

Can you bet on the Euros results live?

You can bet on the Euros results live through various online betting platforms and sportsbooks. Live betting allows you to place bets on matches as they happen, with odds that update in real time based on the action on the pitch.

Wrapping up

As Euro 2024 unfolds and we witness dazzling displays by young talent on the pitch, it’s evident that Europe’s football future is safe in these young superstars’ hands. These young rising stars embody the passion, skill, and determination that define European football while captivating fans of all ages with their skill and tenacity.

Young talent are just embarking on their journeys, with endless potential ahead. Given guidance, support, and opportunities to thrive professionally in footballing history. With guidance, support, and opportunities from professionals in the game like FA Youth Academy coaches, they may reach new heights of success in their careers and cement themselves among legends of the game.