"Band of the Hand" has no trouble standing on its own; it's jammed with plot, the cast is colorful, and the very notion of using society's rejects to clean up the streets somehow fits right in with the time. That sort of DIY community- outreach angle mixed with coming-of-age urban drama . . . and "Lord of the Flies"? How the hell do you pull that off? I enjoyed this because it does pull it off, and you'd be surprised at how well that's done. Also, that's one hell of a soundtrack.

But the best way I can describe this movie is "Miami Vice-adjacent", which suits me perfectly. This has the feeling of an episode from the show's first couple of seasons. Most of the cast are carry-overs from the series (as well as the filmmakers),and it captures the gritty style, whether you're sweating to death in the 'glades or staying alive on the neon streets. All of it's seedy, and none of it's especially light - even though we're talking about a teen movie. In its own way, this is a treasure.

7/10

It's easy to feel sorry for the cast of this poorly made teen action film about five delinquents who are taken out to the Everglades by Vietnam War veteran Stephen Lang in an effort to teach them some discipline and camaraderie and teamwork and get away from their gangster lead and violent lifestyles. All it takes is a snakebite and one of the young men to nearly die for them to they didn't even show any caring towards each other, with Michael Carmine's Ruben standing up and showing that he's got some heart underneath his gang leader toughness by cheering him on. John Cameron Mitchell (later of "Hedwig and the Angry Inch"),Danny Quinn, Leon Robinson and Al Shannon are the other four, and they do continue to fight even after Lang abandons them, with racial slurs and tough talk abound even though, Divine would sing her camp hit "You since you're a man, but you're only a boy" to describe each of them.

Following their return to civilization, they now decide to take on all of the illegal associations in Miami that they were utilizing before, including their own gangs, drug dealers and prostitution rings, having successfully handled rattlesnakes, bears and warthogs. Not only is the premise of the Everglades subplot ridiculous, but it's probably also illegal. The fact that they hear rock music in the background as they try to get out of the Everglades is also a silly twist, especially when it takes them to a camp that could inevitably have been a Jim Jones type cult, with Lang as the big kahuna. It's hysterical to watch the opening scene where the five guys are tossed into a jail cell, obviously having just come from a nightclub, and go into the Everglades dress the very same way, literally tossed into the swamp.

This was an early role for Lauren Holly as Quinn's troubled girlfriend and Laurence Fishburne as the head of a drug ring, whom the five go up against Wen Liang takes them back Miami to be their den father in a halfway house in the neighborhood where all this crime is going down. Of course first they have to get rid of the squatters, and then it's the drug dealers and the hookers and the other elements of "bad society". I'm pretty sure that they break some laws along the way. There are so many ridiculous elements in the script that you don't know where to point the blame whether it be the screenwriter or the direction or the person who green-lighted does ill-fated film. If there were good intentions there to show early 20-somethings that they didn't have to turn to a life of crime to make it, this film didn't really show a good way to do it. Outside of the performances, this is good for a laugh or two, but it's really all forgettable.

The Miami Vice influence is heavy in this silly cheesy film. Michael Mann is the producer. Director Paul Michael Glaser also directed several episodes of Miami Vice and you will spot several Mann regulars in this movie such as Martin Ferrero and Stephen Lang.

Lang plays a military survival expert and former Vietnam veteran in the Florida everglades, an improbable native Indian. He has created a program to rehabilitate a small bunch of juvenile delinquents in this hostile environment, one of them even gets bitten by a snake. However the group of youths after some complaining soon bond in the Everglades.

After that the youths move to a house in Miami, however they fall foul of the local drug lords who rule the area. The group led by Lang wage war against the violent gangs.

There is a lot of mid 1980s music here as well as the title track sung by Bob Dylan. The film is uneven in pace, I could never buy these bunch being somehow rehabilitated and united in the Everglades, never mind becoming a fighting force in the streets of Miami.