Review of Nowhere to Run (1993) by Stuart K — 27 Apr 2014

Directed by Robert Harmon (The Hitcher (1986)), and written by Joe Eszterhas, this action drama had been around since the 1980's, and Eszterhas had planned this one with Return of the Jedi director Richard Marquand.

When Marquand died, it was shelved, but Eszterhas revived it after the success of Basic Instinct (1992), and it gives it's lead actor to do some "serious acting". French-Canadian bank robber Sam Gillen (Jean-Claude Van Damme) was convicted for a murder he didn't do, and he manages to escape from Federal custody.

After a short while, he sets up camp on a piece of farmland owned by Clydie Anderson (Rosanna Arquette), a single mother who lives with her two children Mike (Kieran Culkin) and Bree (Tiffany Taubman).

The kids meet Sam first, but Clydie has been threatened by local property developer Franklin Hale (Joss Ackland), who wants to buy her land, and has even sent heavies round into forcing her to sell her land, but with Sam around, he'll put up a fight to keep them away.

This was ever-so-partially inspired by Straw Dogs (1971), but Van Damme manages to put in a good performance, as silly as most of it is. It's mostly drama, with the bulk of the action reserved for the film's third act, where Van Damme does what he does best, kicking ass and keeping the bad guys away.