Review of Broken Arrow (1996) by Ryan G — 02 Sep 2011

John Woo made his first American film with Hard Target (1993), and he found a follow-up with this silly action adventure film, with two good leads and Woo's usual blend of violent action and big stunts.

It's not as bad as what some critics made out, but it could have been better, even if it was made now. It has two pilots for the US Air Force, Major Vic "Deak" Deakins (John Travolta) and Captain Riley Hale (Christian Slater), who are assigned on a training mission with a stealth jet which has two nuclear missiles on board.

During the flight, Deakins uses friendly banter to attack Hale and then bail out and eject over the wilds of Utah. Hale also manages to escape, but Deakins has made a rendezvous with a team of crooks, led by Pritchett (Bob Gunton), who steal the nuclear missiles from the wreckage of the crashed jet, and make off with them.

Meanwhile, Hale has been found by Park Ranger Terry Carmichael (Samantha Mathis) who agrees to help find Deakins and help put a stop to his plans with the missiles, which involves holding Salt Lake City to ransom with them.

It does have some good moments of action, including a chase in a mine and a good one on a train with one of the missiles on board. Woo's American films were never as good as his one's in Hong Kong, but he made sure he had complete control for his next film, Face/Off.