Dom Robinson reviews

Distributed by

20th Century Fox

Cat.no: 08963 DVD

Cert: 15

Running time: 104 minutes

Year: 1995

Pressing: 2000

Region(s): 2, PAL

Chapters: 22 plus extras

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround

Languages: English

Subtitles: 11 languages available

Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Super 35)

16:9-Enhanced: Yes

Macrovision: Yes

Disc Format: DVD 9

Price: £19.99

Extras : Scene index, Theatrical trailer

Director:

John Woo (A Better Tomorrow, Blackjack, Broken Arrow, Bullet in the Head, City on Fire, Face/Off, Hand of Death, Hard Target, Heroes Shed No Tears, Just Heroes, The Killer, Once A Thief, Rich And Famous, Violent Tradition)

Producers:

Mark Gordon, Bill Badalato, Terence Chang

Screenplay:

Graham Yost (Speed)

Music:

Hans Zimmer

Cast:

Vic Deakins: John Travolta (Broken Arrow, Carrie, A Civil Action, Face/Off, The General's Daughter, Get Shorty, Grease, Look Who's Talking Trilogy, Mad City, Michael, Phenomenon, Primary Colors, Pulp Fiction, Saturday Night Fever, She's So Lovely, Shout, White Man's Burden)
Riley Hale: Christian Slater (Bed of Roses, Broken Arrow, Gleaming The Cube, Hard Rain, Heathers, Interview with the Vampire, Kuffs, Mobsters, Murder in the First, The Name of the Rose, Pump Up The Volume, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, True Romance, Untamed Heart, Very Bad Things)
Terry Carmichael: Samantha Mathis (Broken Arrow, Jack And Sarah, Little Women (1994), The Music of Chance, Pump up the Volume, The Thing Called Love)
Colonel Max Wilkins: Delroy Lindo (Broken Arrow, Clockers, Feeling Minnesota, The Hard Way, Malcolm X, Ransom)
Giles Prentice: Frank Whaley (Born on the Fourth of July, Broken Arrow, The Doors, Pulp Fiction, Retroactive, Swimming With Sharks)
Pritchett: Bob Gunton (Ace Ventura 2, Broken Arrow, The Glimmer Man, In Pursuit of Honour, Patch Adams, The Shawshank Redemption, TV: Sinatra)
Kelly: Howie Long (Broken Arrow, Dollar for the Dead, Firestorm)
Lt. Colonel Sam Rhodes: Vondie Curtis-Hall (Die Hard 2, Eve's Bayou, Passion Fish, TV: Chicago Hope)
Secretary of Defence, Baird: Kurtwood Smith (Broken Arrow, The Crush, Fortress, Robocop, Shelter)

Broken Arrow is a high-octane action film from John Woo, best known as the director of many Hong Kong classics such as The Killer and City on Fire, and Graham Yost, the writer of 1994's smash-hit Speed.

The plot is simple. Co-pilots Vic Deakins (John Travolta) and Riley Hale (Christian Slater) are on a top-secret mission to deliver nuclear warheads from A to B. However, after years of flying together, Deakins has taken a turn for the worse and wants them for himself as he can sell them to the highest bidder, holding America to ransom in the meantime.

After overpowering Hale, ejecting said co-pilot from the Stealth Bomber, dumping the nukes, and then bailing out himself, blaming Hale in a message to base, the chase is on as Hale, accompanied by park ranger, Terry Carmichael (played by the babelicious Samantha Mathis) go after Deakins in a cat-and-mouse hunt to the death.

After years in the wilderness, John Travolta came back to the fore in Quentin Taranino's Pulp Fiction, and since then his halo has been allowed to shine with leading roles in Get Shorty and Phenomenon. He comes across superbly in this bad-guy role, taking no crap from Slater, and after any number of set-backs in winning the race, he always comes back for more.

Christian Slater is one of my favourite comedy actors, serving well in the likes of Heathers (co-starring with Winona Ryder), the little-known but excellent comedy Kuffs, and 1990's Pump Up The Volume in which he dated Samantha Mathis, hence Broken Arrow reunites them.

Support comes from the likes of Delroy Lindo, a black actor who tends to play the embittered boss, this time for Travolta and Slater, and previously in 1991's The Hard Way when he kicked James Woods into touch. Frank Whaley is a government agent who, on discovering that a Broken Arrow is a term relating to stolen nuclear missiles, has one of the best lines in the film, "I don't know what's worse. The fact that nuclear missiles have been stolen ...or that it happens so often there's a term for it(!)". Last but not least, Bob Gunton is the man who has paid Travolta to bring him the nukes, and was previously seen in 1994's The Shawshank Redemption as the embittered prison warden trying to kick Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman into touch.

While Fox have done the business as far as providing us with a widescreen anamorphic transfer in its original 2.35:1 ratio, can they explain why it has so much grain? (I'm a poet and I don't know it!)

Other than that, the average bitrate is a good 6.31Mb/s, often hovering around 7Mb/s.

The sound quality is perfect though. Let John Woo loose with a Hollywood budget, several explosions, fight scenes, shoot-outs, etc. all faithfully replicated here and you have an aural reason to be cheerful.

Extras :

Chapters and Trailer :

Languages and Subtitles :

Menu :

I loved this film in the cinema and enjoyed it once again on DVD. However, while the picture quality does leave a lot to be desired, I don't know if the Region 1 DVD fares any better. It doesn't for extras as it doesn't have anything to add to what's on show here.