Johnny Handsome” is a stylish action drama with philosophical overtones. It features Mickey Rourke (“Angel Heart” and “Diner”) as a felon with a horribly disfigured face. Johnny‘s led a life of torment. He was born deformed as a result of his mother’s drug addiction and he was orphaned at an early age.

Johnny’s only true friend is a criminal named Mikey. One day Mikey resurfaces and asks Johnny to help with a robbery. Considering his prospects in life, it is not surprising that he agrees to do it.

Mikey makes the mistake of hiring a pair of completely unscrupulous hoodlums to help with the meticulously planned crime. Johnny warns Mikey not to work with them, but Mikey unwisely ignores his partner’s advice. The robbery goes well up until the end. The two partners kill Johnny’s friend and they abandon Johnny at the scene of the crime.

Johnny eludes the full extent of the law because of his deformity. He is sentenced to five years on the condition that if he commits another crime, he will get life in prison. Johnny does not find life in jail to be any easier than life on the outside. He is brutally beaten and stabbed by his fellow inmates.

Johnny meets a kindly doctor who offers to give Johnny a new lease on life. Johnny’s face is reconstructed and he gets a new identity. He even gets a job and meets a ravishing female employee played by Elizabeth McGovern. Her character tries to get him to stay on the path of righteousness. Johnny is torn between his love for her and his desire to avenge his partner’s death.

The two black characters represent two diametrically opposed strands of thought. Dr. Rescher believes that Johnny’s criminal activities were caused by his appearance and that his new face will cause him to rehabilitate himself. The police lieutenant believes that Johnny’s evil is more than skin deep and that any effort to rehabilitate him is doomed.

Unfortunately, the issue is never satisfactorily resolved. It is never clear whether Johnny gravitates toward crime because of his innate evil or a misguided sense of loyalty. The film succeeds as a simple action thriller, but it left me feeling slightly disappointed. It never resolves any of the perplexing questions it raises.