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
Leave A Comment