SHOOT TO KILL
A film review by Chuck Dowling
Copyright 1997 Chuck Dowling
Shoot To Kill (1988) **** out of ***** - Cast: Sidney Poitier, Tom Berenger, Kirstie Alley, Clancy Brown, Richard Masur, Andrew Robinson. Written By: Harv Zimmel, Michael Burton, and Daniel Petrie Jr. Directed By: Roger Spottiswoode. Running Time: 110 minutes.
"Shoot To Kill" is one of the most underrated action films of the 1980's. So good in fact, that Sidney Poitier ended a ten-year absence from film to play the lead role.
As the film begins, we see a man seemingly breaking into a jewelry store. When the police arrive, along with FBI agent Warren Stantin (Poitier), we find out that the man is the owner of the store and is stealing diamonds to give to a man who has taken his family hostage. The police go to their house, and the kidnapper makes his demands. He escapes with the man's wife as a hostage and heads for the docks, where he has a boat waiting. He allows Agent Stantin to accompany him in order to take the wife home once he's made his escape. However, to prove a point, the kidnapper kills the wife and heads off with the stolen diamonds.
The criminal, trying to flee to Canada, disguises himself and joins a group of men out for a wilderness hike, led by Sarah (Kirstie Alley). The audience has not seen the man's face to this point, so we have no idea which of the five men in Sarah's group is the bad guy.
Stantin enlists the aid of Jonathan Knox (Berenger) to help him survive the rugged terrain and to capture the criminal. To fuel Knox's desire to go, Sarah just so happens to be his girlfriend. Knox would much rather go alone than to have Stantin burden him. He knows that the very urban FBI agent won't survive a day out in the woods. But Stantin doesn't give him much choice. He feels responsible for the woman's death and is determined to get his man.
Now there are a couple of problems with the film. For one, why would Stantin be the only lawman in pursuit? I would think they would have teams of men and choppers and dogs and all of that. Second, the scoring of the film is awful. Third, the last 10 minutes or so really seem to contradict everything that happened in the rest of the film. They end up chasing the criminal in the city, complete with the obligitory car chase scene. Why would you end this story in the city when these characters have been going through hell on earth out in the wilderness? Let them shoot it out in the snow.
However, there's a lot going for "Shoot To Kill" to overlook those flaws and to still recommend it. The screenplay is very well paced. Instead of wasting 20 minutes introducing us to the main characters, as about 98% of films do, the plot starts right away and we get to know the characters as the story progresses. It has a good little mystery involving the group of men and who may be the killer. It has some very well staged and tense action scenes, particularly the one involving a man-made crossing over a dangerous canyon. It has the provenly successful "buddy picture" relationship of Knox and Stantin. It also uses the tried and true "fish out of water" scenario as Stantin learns all about the rough outdoors in winter. Granted those last two are WAY overused nowadays, but when they are done well, as they are here, it's not so bad. Poitier gives a good performance as the edgy FBI agent, and he and Berenger have some good scenes together. "Shoot To Kill" is a fun film, and very entertaining.
-- Chuck Dowling Visit Chuck's Movie Reviews at http://users.southeast.net/~chuckd21/ Over 1,600 movies rated and/or reviewed! Movie news, box office reports, film related links, and reader's polls and reviews.
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