Broken Arrow

Broken Arrow-720P

Broken Arrow-480P

Broken Arrow-360P

Broken Arrow-720P

Broken Arrow-480P

Broken Arrow-360P

Stupid hackneyed movie, totally not worth your 105 minutes. The plot pops out of nowhere, "experienced" ex-Marines shooting away like stormtroopers, nuclear devices that can be turned ON and OFF by chubby little keypads and remote controls, which looks way too cute even for your sister's TV. Travolta overacts while the Slater keeps flashing his charming smile like this is some silent movie. Even Woo was aware this movie had nothing going for it, that is why he kept putting in the awesome soundtrack wherever he could. Hans Zimmer has done a great job on the track, it had me pausing the movie and rushing to try it out on my guitar. Manthis does a good job, but then again she was underwritten, also no explanations as to how a park ranger has such rad martial arts skills. And lets not even go the part where Slater lets her do the risky stuff and goes off to the authorities for help. Seriously, don't watch it.

Warning Will Robinson. Spoilers dead ahead! Things you can learn from this film: 1) Nuclear bombs come with timing devices. 2) 6 minutes is all the time you'll need to escape a nuclear blast if you have a convenient underground river handy. 3) If you have a getaway helicopter on flatbed railway car and someone blows it up the train will be perfectly fine. It won't derail or anything. In fact you can have Christian Slater hiding directly under the thing and he'll be okay too! 4) If you steal a nuclear warhead the US government will mobilize one stupid helicopter to try and stop you. Not a battalion, not a platoon, just one helicopter and a guy with an assault rifle. Action flicks must walk a fine line between spectacle and plausibility. If the script and the director pile up too many "oh-come-on" moments in a film they risk losing the audience. This flick has a pile of "oh-come-ons" the size of K2. On the other hand, even if the production staff has gone overboard on the nonsense a movie can still be salvaged by some engaging performances on the part of its stars. Broken Arrow fails in this department too. Christian Slater plays Christian Slater and John Travolta hams it up to the point of becoming "you want to punch him in his face" annoying. He chews the scenery so badly that he gives Jack Nicholson's Joker in Tim Burton's Batman a run for his money. The film has the gloss and sheen that you would expect from well-budgeted Hollywood product but there is honestly nothing that goes on in it's 108 minute duration that is worth your time and effort. For Godsake, whatever you do, do not spend money on this piece of tripe. You'll just end up feeling foolish in the end.

Frustrated by having spent years and years of being passed up for promotion, disgruntled and maniacal Air Force officer Travolta crash lands a US plane in the middle of the Utah desert where he and his cohorts plan to hold two nuclear warheads for ransom. The only ones who can stop him are his junior officer/co-pilot (Slater), who forms an unlikely team with a reluctant park ranger (Mathis), to try and thwart his diabolical scheme. Woo's one of a kind action scenes make the film worth watching, but they're outweighed by a mediocre script with too many improbabilities and excessive coincidences. Travolta's sinister villain is terribly overacted, and more laughable than menacing. **

John Woo, after his many Hong Kong efforts, came to America and made Hard Target (1993), which due to studio interference and bad taking of direction by Jean Claude Van Damme, wasn't as good as it could have been. Woo got a bad reputation due to his conflicts with both the MPAA and Universal, and it took him awhile to get this one off of the ground. Woo had never worked with special effects, so he was treading into new territory. Luckily, he got two great leads, Christian Slater (soon to be in Windtalkers), and John Travolta (Face/Off). They take his direction well, and each gives a good performance. As the traditional villain's henchman, which I like to call Indestructable Villain Sidekick, Howie Long gives a good performance, and dies a good death too. I never appreciated this movie that much until watching it tonight, and I realized, this is probably the most action-packed movie in a long time. It takes only about 6 minutes to get going, and then, boom! boom! boom! Action sequence after the other, no let-down in between. This movie has plently of shootouts, explosions, and great innovative twists (kicking the rear blade of a helicopter to knock a gun out of one's hand) to make a action movie good. John Woo's cinematography, the great shared moments (the 20 dollar bill and whatnot) are what makes this one a great action movie. Another thing that makes this flick great is that it gave Woo the power to get Face/Off, his best Hollywood outing, the greenlight. I'm looking forward to Windtalkers and love all of Woo's movies. 9 outta 10.