BROKEN ARROW
A film review by Scott Mendelson
Copyright 1997 Scott Mendelson
1996 102 min. "R"(for constant, occasionally graphic, violence, and much profanity)
Directed by John Woo
Starring:
John Travolta Christian Slater Samantha Mathis Delroy Lindo
Well, I just came back from Broken Arrow, and I must say, I was disappointed. While I still enjoyed it, it could have been a lot better. First of all, the good stuff: The action scenes are awesome(of course, this being a John Woo film, anything less would be horrific)and the stunt work is impressive. As for the acting, it ranges from the Great(John Travolta, who can now play a bad guy whenever he wants) the Good(Delroy Lindo, great as always in a small part) the mediocre(Christian Slater needs work before trying another action hero) to the awful(Samantha Mathis... acting lessons anyone?). Travolta, as the loony navy pilot who steals two nuclear weapons, has a calm style of villainy and wisely doesn't go over the top. This shows best when he calmly asks a bad guy: "Would you please be so kind as to not shoot at the thermal nuclear device?" A lesser actor would have screamed at the guy and probably killed him for a cheap laugh. Sometimes this works, but sometimes we wish villains would stop being so damn hyperactive. As for Slater, he just doesn't fit my idea of an action hero. And his stiff, wooden delivery does nothing to convince me otherwise. But Mathis is much, much worse. She has absolutely no purpose to the film other than to tag along, be saved by Slater, take her shirt off, and keep saying: "This is a bad idea!" once every 10 minutes. But my big problem is that not enough happens in the movie. Basically the entire movie can be summed up in one sentence: Travolta steals bombs, and duels with Slater, first in a desert, and then on a train. An action film of this type needs more locations. Raiders of the Lost Ark probably had a dozen different battle grounds. This film has two. Another problem is the lack of surprises. The film opens with Slater getting his brains punched out in a sparring match. Travolta tells him he lacks the will to win. Is this foreshadowing? Anyone who has seen 4 action movies in a lifetime can probably guess exactly what is going to happen and when. How do we know that Travolta is a bad guy? Well, during the opening flight, he squints his eyes and the camera gives him a looming close-up!! Uh, huh... Also, there seems to be a lack of emotion in this film. If your best friend pulled a gun on you, tried to kill you, then ejected you out of a plane, only to try to blow you up many times, just to get rich, wouldn't you be a little hurt? Also, after all this, you are unable to talk your buddy out of this plot, you are forced to beat him up and leave him to die, wouldn't this sadden you a little bit? The script fails to give one line or reaction of sadness to Slater over the fact that his best friend has betrayed his trust. The plot seems a bit simplistic. Hell, all you have to do to start a bomb is punch in a 5 digit code, and all you have to do to disarm it is to enter the wrong code three times, or get this, touch a single button on a remote control. And, yes, this film's bombs do have those convenient red timers, counting the seconds till doom. Still, I did like the film. It was well paced, with some amazing stunts and action sequences. John Travolta has a lot of fun playing a heavy. And it does let Slater pull the official "Woo Dive" which is when someone jumps forward or backward, while firing one pistol in each hand at an enemy. This time, it's a forward, head first dive. And, when it came, those who understood cheered. "B-"
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