Broken Arrow A Film Review By Michael Redman Copyright 1996 By Michael Redman
**1/2 (out of ****)
John Travolta has come a long way since his "Saturday Night Fever" days. His latest films have shown a depth undreamed of during his disco period. (Of course, just about anything would be depth compared to disco.) The evil criminal genius character in this film isn't exactly a step forward.
He and Christian Slater are Air Force buddies but their relationship takes a turn for the worse when Travolta decides to kill his friend and steal nuclear weapons. His plan is to ransom the bombs for a zillion bucks and get back at the military for passing him over for promotion at the same time.
Slater survives, teams up with the film's babe factor, a park ranger, and sets out to stop the nefarious plot. From then on, it's a shoot-em-up with big guns.
In truth, Travolta isn't bad in his role, but the character, like the rest of the film, isn't believable. Supposedly he has the entire scheme plotted out and every possibility dealt with. For a genius, he doesn't do so well. Not one of his plans works.
Luckily for the future of the to-be-bombed Southwest, Slater falls into every possible piece of luck. Ejected from a stealth bomber into the Utah desert, he is rescued by the park ranger. In that same vast wasteland, he somehow locates Travolta with little trouble. Every time that he is left behind, he again locates his prey easily. Remarkably enough, armed with only a pistol, he defeats an army of bad guys and their big modern military stuff.
There are impressive bits: grand explosions, scenes from "Close Encounters", sound effects from "Star Wars", a truck chase from "Indiana Jones" and even music reminiscent of "Twin Peaks". Admirable pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that don't make a complete picture.
As mentioned in previous comments about "Sense And Sensibility", there are movies that are obviously aimed at one sex or the other. This is decidedly a guy film, just not a very good one.
[This appeared in the 2/15/96 "Bloomington Voice", Bloomington, Indiana. Michael Redman can be contacted at redman@bvoice.com] -- mailto:redman@bvoice.com This week's film review at http://www.bvoice.com/ Film reviews archive at http://us.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Michael%20Redman
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