Stone Cold (1991)

1991

Action / Crime / Drama / Thriller

IMDb Rating 6/10

Plot summary

Joe Huff (Brian Bosworth), a cop in Mobile, Alabama, is honest, committed, and angry at a system that handles criminals with kid gloves. Joe is currently on suspension for insubordination.In Mississippi, there is a gang of bikers known as the Brotherhood, led by violent psychopath Chains Cooper (Lance Henriksen). In the Brotherhood, each member is required to legally change his name to his Brotherhood nickname.One of Chains's men, Trouble Owens (Billy Million), kills a Baptist minister (John Terrence), and is later found guilty. Judge Warfield (Boyce Holleman) sentences him to 45 years without parole.On the next day, as Chains's right-hand man Ice Hensley (William Forsythe) is watching, Warfield is getting in his motorboat to go fishing. As soon as Warfield tries to start up the boat, a bomb explodes, killing Warfield. The bomb was made by A.W.O.L. (Gregory Scott Cummins), Chains's pilot and explosives expert.On the next morning, Joe reads in the newspaper that Warfield has been murdered. District Attorney Brent "The Whip" Whipperton (David Tress), who is running for governor of Mississippi, thinks that the 45 year sentence was too lenient for the minister's murder, so he plans to appeal to the Mississippi supreme court, and ask for the death penalty.FBI agent Lance Dockery (Sam McMurray) shows up at Joe's door, and takes him to a vacant parking garage to meet with Special Agent In Charge Frank Cunningham (Richard Gant). Cunningham tells Joe about Chains, and how the Brotherhood has been on a killing spree.Three religious figures in Mississippi have been killed over the past month. Trouble Owens was convicted of it, and sentenced to 45 years, and Judge Warfield was killed by a bomb on the next day. Cunningham tells Joe that they know that the Brotherhood killed Judge Warfield, but they can't prove it.Cunningham explains that they also suspect the Brotherhood of working with a mafia outfit, trying to branch out nationwide into drugs, contract hits, prostitution, you name it. The people occupying the FBI's upper ranks want the Brotherhood brought down.Joe has logged more biker-related arrests than any other cop in Alabama, and Cunningham proceeds to blackmail Joe into going undercover, by threatening to turn his three week suspension into six months without pay.Cunningham wants Joe to go undercover in Mississippi and infiltrate the Brotherhood. Joe -- rechristened "John Stone" -- reluctantly goes undercover in the Brotherhood, and he's not happy about it.Lance is phobic about germs, and he doesn't really look at home in biker bars. And the members of the Brotherhood, especially Chains, aren't dumb; they have their doubts about Joe. Joe has to kill a man as his initiation. With the FBI's help, Joe carefully fakes a murder, and is accepted by everyone except Ice, who is suspicious of Joe.Joe befriends Chains's girlfriend Nancy (Arabella Holzbog). When Joe learns that Nancy is not happy being with Chains, Joe tells Nancy that he can help her escape.After a confrontation with some mafia goons who shoot at them and steal some money from Nancy, Nancy tells Joe that Chains is in the drug business with a mafia boss named Domicci (Benjamin Rosenberg).Later, Ice finds Joe meeting with Lance. Ice leaves to warn Chains, but Ice is killed in a fiery motorcycle crash before he can get to Chains, and the Brotherhood holds a Viking-style funeral for Ice.As it turns out, Chains's drug deals with Domicci are fund-raising efforts by the Brotherhood to finance a plan to storm the Mississippi Supreme Court in Jackson in order to kill Whipperton and free Trouble Owens.On the recommendation of Whipperton, who has promised to crack down on crime within the state, Trouble Owens's sentence is expected to be changed to the death penalty. The Brotherhood plans to use a cache of stolen military weapons to storm the Mississippi Supreme Court.When Nancy accidentally learns about Huff's identity, he confides in her, explaining that he can grant her immunity if she cooperates with the FBI. Though resistant at first, Nancy accepts his offer, but the operation fails when the man that Huff had supposedly killed to gain admission to the Brotherhood suddenly shows up alive, blowing Joe's cover. In retaliation, Chains enrages Joe by fatally shooting Nancy in the head.Chains plans to do away with Joe in a more spectacular fashion, by strapping a bomb to his chest and throwing him from a helicopter en route to the Supreme Court building as a diversion, while the rest of the bikers storm the building.On the day of the hearing, as the helicopter, piloted by A.W.O.L., is nearing the building, the National Guard is providing security for the building for that day. Joe manages to fight his way free and commandeer the chopper, killing the biker who was with A.W.O.L. in the chopper by kicking him out of the chopper with the bomb stuffed down his shirt, and the bomb explodes in mid-air.Joe forces A.W.O.L. to get the chopper close to a skylight so Joe can jump down through it. A melee erupts between the Brotherhood and the National Guard and local police. Chains kills Whipperton, and frees Trouble Owens.After Joe battles his way through the ranks of the gang, with Trouble Owens, A.W.O.L., and the rest of Chains's men getting killed, Joe comes face-to-face with Chains. Joe brutally beats Chains up, and leaves him in police custody.An angry Cunningham walks up to Joe, and demands his gun. Joe hands him the gun, and at that moment, Chains breaks free and steals an officer's gun, intending to shoot Joe. Before that can happen, two shots ring out, and Chains falls over a railing to a floor far below, having been fatally shot by Lance. Joe smiles, and victoriously walks out of the building.