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No Way Back
When FBI Agent Zack Grant's partner is killed during a blown-up operation, he attempts to find the person responsible. Mafioso Frank Serlano believes Zack is responsible for his only son's death in the same operation and kidnaps Zack's son to hold as bait. The action gets wild when airline stewardess Mary is taken hostage to add what seems an another insurmountable problem for Zack. There appears to be no way out.
Release : | 1995 |
Rating : | 5.1 |
Studio : | Overseas FilmGroup, Ozla Productions, First Look International, |
Crew : | Production Design, Set Decoration, |
Cast : | Russell Crowe Helen Slater Etsushi Toyokawa Michael Lerner Kelly Hu |
Genre : | Action Thriller Crime |
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Don't listen to the negative reviews
A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.
Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
Why You Might Like It: It is a fairly straightforward action-drama if that is what you are looking for. There is plenty of action, explosions, shootouts throughout and they are on par for the time the movie was made. It does feature Russell Crowe as the lead and a few other recognizable actors that do a solid job as well. Overall, it isn't going to go down as one of the best action movies out there, but it does manage to be entertaining.Why You Might Not Like It: This movie has quite a few holes in it and lacks realism on many levels. If those things bother you, then I would find another more realistic movie in this genre. The acting is bad in spots and the movie doesn't offer much outside of some over the top action. Again, the story and plot are fairly weak and there are many better movies in this genre.Acting/Casting: 5.5* Directing/Cinematography/Technical: 6*Plot/Characters: 5.5* Entertainment Value: 6* Total - 5.5+6+5+6 = 22.5/4 = 5.625 - Very Mediocre
Different music : (I Am Onto You) is so sensitive piece of music. You don't run into anything like it in the usual action flicks. Its sad sense moved me memorably. And it deepened a romantic feel, not about the events but about the movie itself.Different lead : well, sure Crowe isn't familiar with Hollywood fares. He's not Willis, Sly or Denzel. But the 31 year old actor at the moment had to do one to prove that he can be a star. He added much seriousness and toughness to the stereotype he was handed. It was his thriller, and it was good. Generally it is not rare to see Crowe playing a role in a thriller; but it is rare to see a usual role, as that, played by Crowe.Different case : the Asian characters were always the same in the American movies, the bad same to be precise ! Certain shameful marks had been adhered to them for years and years. You'd feel another treating since the early 1990s. I think that the entrance of Asian funds in the Hollywood production game got a lot to do with the reason of this transmutation. Here, it's more than clear from the death of the Asian girl at the start like a martyr to the Asian evil guy who turns out to be an honest friend after all, and a criminal yet with a heart of gold (suits perfectly a 1995 movie !).Aside from strange homage to Kubrick's (Clockwork Orange) at the movie's intro, the writing and the directing of Frank A. Cappello was fine. Although he just recycled the same old crap again but in entertaining and remarkable way. Everything runs so fast and thrilling but it lacked the big budget that could put some logic to the illogical matters (I didn't buy the fallen plane's sequence for instance, with dazzling special effects it would've been more effective). I loved the most the conversations of the lead and his little son; that was a bit different and amusing.It is suitable for 90 minutes of fun, and it doesn't allege anything but that. It could've been another forgettable, averagely produced, B-movie. But its simple differences gave it a distinct character that worked.
The one thing positive to take away from watching this movie is that Russell Crowe has always been a good actor, even before he was known widely. This movie came out the same year as "The Quick and the Dead" where he played a reformed gunslinger forced into a gunfight tournament.Russell Crowe is FBI Agent Zack Grant and the movie begins with the botched assignment to have an new agent drop a listening device into a suspect's apartment, but things go terribly wrong. So Zack needs to redeem himself by finding the person responsible.Zack finds that the agent had made several calls to Etsushi Toyokawa as Yuji Kobayashi and assumes he was the bad guy responsible, so he sets out to arrest him and bring him back. Very shaky assumption.On the flight back to L.A. a critical role is filled by Helen Slater (of early "Supergirl" fame) as Mary, a rookie flight attendant who tries hard to get along with Zack but doesn't quite get there.There could be a summary of the story but I am going to skip that. This movie is barely as good as its IMDb rating of "5". The dialog is very poor most of the time, and the characters are directed to do some very stupid things, often, to advance the plot. Just one example, Zack at one point has chased down Yuji in the desert after an escape, and as Zack begins to mumble something steps in front of Yuji in perfect position for Yuji to overpower him, which he does. No FBI agent in his right mind would have done that. There actually is a second positive thing to take away from watching this movie. I have no doubt the script writer and the director tried their best to make this a fine movie, so it just serves to illustrate how difficult the job is. When we see a fine movie with an interesting script and superb acting we tend to take it for granted, but few movie-makers have that skill.
If you`re a fan of Toyokawa Etsushi, as I am, then fast forward over all the scenes that he isn`t in.(And enjoy the closeup of his gorgeous hands when he`s looking for a weapon in the airplane toilet.) Even most of the scenes that he *is* in are stupid. Russell Crowe fans will probably say the same thing about their man.