Broken Arrow

Distributed by
Fox Video

Cert: 15

Running time: 104 minutes

Year: 1995

Cat.no: 8963W

Released: 12th May 1997

Sound: Dolby Surround

Widescreen : 2.35:1 (Super 35)

Price: £15.99

Extras : None

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Director:

John Woo (Hard Target, City on Fire, The Killer)

Producers:

Mark Gordon, Bill Badalato, Terence Chang

Screenplay:

Graham Yost (Speed)

Music:

Hans Zimmer

Cast:

Vic Deakins : John Travolta (Pulp Fiction, Get Shorty, Phenomenon)
Riley Hale : Christian Slater (Kuffs, Pump up the Volume, Heathers)
Terry Carmichael : Samantha Mathis (Jack And Sarah, The Thing Called Love, Pump up the Volume)
Colonel Max Wilkins : Delroy Lindo (The Hard Way, Clockers, Malcolm X)
Giles Prentice : Frank Whaley (Pulp Fiction, The Doors, Swimming With Sharks)
Pritchett : Bob Gunton (The Shawshank Redemption, Ace Ventura 2)
Kelly : Howie Long
Lt. Colonel Sam Rhodes : Vondie Curtis-Hall (Die Hard 2, Chicago Hope (TV))
Secretary of Defence, Baird : Kurtwood Smith (Robocop, Fortress)

B roken 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 last seen in 1994's The Shawshank Redemption as the embittered prison warden trying to kick Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman into touch.

Picture quality is very good indeed. Sharp and colourful. The quality of the surround sound is a knockout from start to finish as one explosion follows another, also being effective for directional sound effects, and just make sure you duck when that Stealth Bomber crash lands...

This video comes highly recommended if you like a top-notch blend of action, comedy, and a little ham-acting...

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1997.