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Director: John Woo
Screenwriters: Graham Yost
Starring: John Travolta, Christian Slater, Samantha Mathis
John Travolta stars as Deakins, a US Air Force major who, tired of repeatedly being ignored for promotion, decides to show his displeasure in a rather extreme way. Whilst out on a night simulation with flying partner Hale (Christian Slater) in a stealth plane packing two nuclear missiles, he puts into action a plan to hold the payload to a ransom of $250 million. Slater, who is unceremoniously ejected from the aircraft when his partner turns on him, is left to foil Travolta’s plans with the help of feisty park ranger Terry Carmichael (Samantha Mathis).
Broken Arrow is nothing particularly original – it’s a pretty straightforward action thriller. Directed by John Woo it offers the qualities we’ve come to expect from him. The action is beautifully choreographed with typical Wooisms such as tense knife/gun to throat stand-offs à la Hard Boiled.
Travolta steals the show as the sinister, clenched teeth-baring Deak although there’s little build-up before he goes bad, which happens barely fifteen into the film. Lack of subtlety over the fact that there’s something not quite right about Deak from the outset means that when he turns it’s hardly unexpectedly sprung upon us. A little more focus on a progression for the character might have added a little more depth to the film, though the focus is clearly intended to be on action and set-pieces rather than asking for any requirement to think.
Slater and Mathis also perform well as the pilot and park ranger individually, although the romantic chemistry often comes across unconvincing and contrived. The way that Mathis’ character requires little assurance that she should trust Hale and then proceed to refuse to listen to much of what he tells her to do seems a little odd. Deak and his henchmen are ridiculously sinister throughout, with numerous unwarranted chuckles, sly looks and cracking of necks like only screen baddies can. They are also traditionally awful shots despite being selected by Deak for qualities such as being highly trained.
All in all Broken Arrow wins no prizes for being particularly original or having a spellbinding storyline, but isn’t a bad way to enjoy an evening of undemanding fun entertainment.
Tune in to Channel 4 on Sunday 26th March at 22:00 for Broken Arrow.
