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Broken Arrow – 1996 Woo
- It isn’t Woo’s greatest, far from it, but it is certainly is a
very John Woo John Woo film and that’s a good thing
- The rare raving 4-stars from Travers
- Strong use of on-location shooting in Montana, Utah, Arizona
- Woo’s films are usually two-handers, cop vs. criminal, good vs.
evil, Face/Off (after this), The Killer– marked with his signature
standoff shot (here a riff on it (normally with guns and normally the two lead
actors) with knives)
- Hans Zimmer’s score is something special- so strong—closest cousin
is his work on the score for Thelma and
Louisa. Wes Craven would steal it for Scream
2 if you’re wondering where you’ve heard it before- very recognizable if
you’re a child of the 1990’s with these two big popular films. The Zimmmer connection
and genre, editing comparisons make me think of Tony Scott and John Woo as
pairs a little as well
- Travolta’s character with the rope a dope opening in the boxing
ring showing his hand with some heavy foreshadowing
- Premise is sort of Strangelove
and Fail Safe
- Like most of Woo’s work the stunt work is impressive, some of
the dialogue very bad (ditto for a few character motivations)— Travolta was a
weakness I wasn’t counting on though. He’s not very good here. This is Travolta’s
renaissance after Pulp Fiction in
1994. For the second time (1977-1978 with Saturday
Night Fever and Grease) he’s one
of the biggest 5 movie stars on the planet
- Overshadowed in the action genre in 1996 by De Palma’s Mission Impossible and rightly so
- One explosion after another- I could’ve done with 5 less
- Its best as a no-frills B-movie western from the 1950’s from
Budd Boetticher starring Randolph Scott—wish it was 85 minutes long
- Recommend but not near the top films of 1996
Drake2020-05-04T14:54:13+00:00
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