NOWHERE TO RUN
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1993 James Berardinelli
Running Length: 1:34 Rated: R (Violence, language, nudity)
Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Rosanna Arquette, Kieran Culkin, Ted Levine, Joss Ackland Director: Robert Harmon Producers: Craig Baumgarten and Gary Adelson Screenplay: Joe Eszterhas, Leslie Bohem, and Randy Feldman Music: Mark Isham Released by Columbia Pictures
Jean-Claude Van Damme plays Sam, an escaped convict on the run from the law who takes refuge on the land of a pretty, debt-stricken widow by the name of Clydie (Rosanna Arquette). Clydie's son Mookie (Kieran Culkin) discovers Sam and a tentative friendship begins. Meanwhile, a land developer (Joss Ackland) and his henchman (Ted Levine) plot to drive Clydie off her land so that they can use it as part of their new project. When magnanimous offers to buy the land fail, the pair resort to terror, but Sam's presence creates some unexpected complications.
I suppose I should give NOWHERE TO RUN credit in a couple of areas. In the first place, it legitimately attempts to develop the characters. There are numerous scenes whose entire purpose is to build the various relation- ships that form the linchpin of the film: Sam and Clydie; Sam, Mookie, and Bre (Mookie's sister); and Mookie, Bre, Clydie. Unfortunately, few of these scenes work, mainly because of a too-obvious reliance upon formulas, not only for setup, but dialogue as well. There are a lot of cliches floating around in NOWHERE TO RUN, and every facet of the storyline is predictable.
Secondly, the film takes a little chance in giving Van Damme's character a less-than-sterling background. He's a convicted criminal. This is an unusual move for a picture of this type, so, to minimize its impact, the script makes sure that the viewer realizes what a nice guy Sam is. Sure, he may have made a mistake in the past, but underneath, he has a heart of gold.
Finally, there's the ending, which, at least in part, is refreshingly contrary to expectations. That's not to say that it's a tremendously original finale, but at least something about it is a little different.
Surprisingly, there isn't much action in NOWHERE TO RUN, at least in comparison to Van Damme's previous films, and this is one of the reasons why the movie misses its mark. Except for a few short bursts here and there and one extended scene during the climax, the film is mostly talk. And since Van Damme's range as a dramatic actor is marginal at best, this is a problem.
It's apparent that NOWHERE TO RUN's best asset is Rosanna Arquette, who puts spirit and energy into a fetching portrayal of Clydie. Not only is she pleasing to the eyes (a common trait of women in action films), but she can act circles around anyone else in the cast, except perhaps Joss Ackland, but he's on hand just to pick up a paycheck. Ms. Arquette saves more than her share of scenes. Entirely due to her performance, there's a flicker of chemistry between the two main characters.
The most serious flaw of NOWHERE TO RUN is that in trying to do too much, it succeeds at too little. Action fans will be disappointed by the amount of talk and the lack of fights. When there is action, nothing new, spectacular, or inventive is tried. Drama lovers (few of whom are likely to venture into a theater showing this film due to the reputation of its star) will have a hard time swallowing all the banalities. At least those with allegiance to Arquette and Van Damme will enjoy themselves. Both performers get an opportunity to take off their clothes (predictably, Van Damme's nude scene is less revealing).
NOWHERE TO RUN isn't a complete waste of time, nor is it terminally boring, but, as action/adventure pictures go, this one is closer to the bottom end of the scale than the top.
Rating: 6.1 (C, **)
- James Berardinelli (blake7@cc.bellcore.com)
.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews