Broken Arrow (1996)

Like nearly every other in this genre BROKEN ARROW is dumb with a capital DUM . It suffers from a myriad of plot holes and factual errors that anyone who has surfed the net looking through sites dedicated to the military will be able to spot at once . One early example is when the pilots eject and control have no idea to their fate . It's a well known fact that pilot suits contain a homing beacon so pilots who eject on missions can be instantly traced

We as an audience are supposed to forgive this ignorance and this audience member found it very easy to . Yeah it's a Hollywood movie from the 1990s so we're treated to very unlikely plot twists in a movie where the good guy and an innocent woman just doing her job have to stop bad guys so get ready for firefights , explosions and the obligatory scene of a countdown

BROKEN ARROW might not be a classic action adventure movie ( It's a little too formuliac ) but it's better than most from the 1990s . Travolta purposely does an impression of Tom Cruise except he's a bad ass and Christian Slater may seem an unlikely action hero but he's far more convincing than Steven Seagal or even Keanu Reeves . John Woo directs in a workman like manner and though it's not his best movie Woo does treat us to some spectacular and grisly deaths

Fmovies: My Take: Mindless, balls-to-the-wall action thriller. Grab on to that chair.

BROKEN ARROW may be required to take a deep long breath, because when it starts, it's a ripping action-packed joy ride complete with guns, explosions, action heroes, great baddies, helicopters, jeeps, chases and all under the great helm of Hong Kong action god John Woo, here having a filed day with special effects, stunts and style. It may be off on implausibility, but you won't need much to think about once the theater gets dark. And when the theater does get dark, and the film starts, the action just keeps pouring in. Woo delivers style over substance (there's more action here than plot), but what style! This is one of the finest piece of action escapism in years, it's also one of the most stylish ones.

John Travolta and Christian Slater star as two military pilots who volunteers to transport two nuclear warheads via Stealth Bomber jet. Turns out, the true reason is Maj. Deakins (Travolta), who is still in a grudge after being passed from promotion for a long time, is out to steal the two bombs and hold the for ransom. When he ejects his partner Capt. Riley Hale (Slater) and crashes the jet in the middle of the desert, Hale is out to stop his old partner from detonating the nuclear bombs if his demands of a large amount of cash is met. Samantha Mathis co-stars as a local sheriff Terry Carmichael who gets caught up in the entire mess, and ends up helping Hale out to stop Deakins from going ballistic (there are very few romantic in-turns between the two, just for the good of it).

The film runs at 108 minutes, and Woo doesn't let things up. There's action here and action there. It's wall-to-wall full of action and less plot in comparison. The film's plot resembles that of the previous year's hit SPEED, which may due to the writer being Graham Yost, who also wrote that recent blockbuster hit. But who cares, both films take liberty from the DIE HARD films, and they both turned up well. In the matter of execution, this derivative affair is brought with style and pure wall-to-wall action and thrills. And, under Woo's hands, the action is done with style and freshness.

Although with a large amount of violence, Woo is the kind of action who treats them like paint in his canvas. Action fans will be pleased by how who treats the heart-pounding excitement and pure action as his ballet . It's action filmdom as a form of art. Highly recommended!

Rating: **** out of 5.

Wow! What a brilliant action movies this is! John Travolta as a bad guy is just priceless! The movie got me gripped right from the start and I couldn't lay my eyes of the TV. Although not much fan of Slater, this was one hell of a ride. Travolta's acting is just brilliant and the ending is even better, just because of a one facial expression Travolta does!! Don't believe me? Watch it. Must see for John Travolta fan's and must see for any action movie fans. Brilliant film and brilliant story... If for no other reason, the excitement on John Travolta's face when he says "I said god damn what a rush!" Overall 10/10 for this brilliant movie.

Broken Arrow fmovies. John Woo, after his many Hong Kong efforts, came to America and made Hard Target (1993), which due to studio interference and bad taking of direction by Jean Claude Van Damme, wasn't as good as it could have been. Woo got a bad reputation due to his conflicts with both the MPAA and Universal, and it took him awhile to get this one off of the ground. Woo had never worked with special effects, so he was treading into new territory. Luckily, he got two great leads, Christian Slater (soon to be in Windtalkers), and John Travolta (Face/Off). They take his direction well, and each gives a good performance. As the traditional villain's henchman, which I like to call Indestructable Villain Sidekick, Howie Long gives a good performance, and dies a good death too. I never appreciated this movie that much until watching it tonight, and I realized, this is probably the most action-packed movie in a long time. It takes only about 6 minutes to get going, and then, boom! boom! boom! Action sequence after the other, no let-down in between. This movie has plently of shootouts, explosions, and great innovative twists (kicking the rear blade of a helicopter to knock a gun out of one's hand) to make a action movie good. John Woo's cinematography, the great shared moments (the 20 dollar bill and whatnot) are what makes this one a great action movie. Another thing that makes this flick great is that it gave Woo the power to get Face/Off, his best Hollywood outing, the greenlight. I'm looking forward to Windtalkers and love all of Woo's movies.

9 outta 10.

"Broken Arrow" is a good action film about a Stealth pilot (John Travolta) who steals nuclear weapons one night during a practice mission. His goal is to sell the weapons back to the United States government by blackmailing them. Old partner Christian Slater is willing to stop Travolta at all costs with the help of ranger Samantha Mathis. Howie Long makes an impressive film debut as Travolta's evil henchman. The screenplay is smart enough to work and the direction is fast and furious. A film that is about as good as it can be. 4 stars out of 5.

If you want an action film in which the hero has a personality, and the bad guy has an even better personality, take a look at Broken Arrow. John Woo's choreographed action is not as dramatic as the Matrix-clone films that are so common today. He is great at creating interesting relationships between heroes and villains, and this film is a good example.

John Travolta is terrific. Christian Slater breaks typecast by playing a nice, sane soldier doing his duty. The love interest isn't an idiotic supermodel playing a nuclear scientist or something, but a park ranger, also doing her duty. She is cute, earthy, and actually believable.

If you want a film that will repeat every aspect of every other military adventure film you have ever seen, you will be disappointed. If dialog bores you, skip this film. If you like action movies filmed entirely in parking garages and spooky allies, then you will not appreciate the settings in this film in America's majestic West.