No Way Out

Wow, as good as this was and it was only slightly above good, the ending I DID NOT SEE COMING FROM 50 MILES AWAY sold me all the way to a solid 8/10 stars.

Never saw this before tonight, but I've known of it since it came out. Probably never seen it because for the longest time I couldn't stand Kevin Costner. Then he made Dances with Wolves and I loved him. Then he made Waterworld and The Postman Back to Back, so I didn't like him again.

But, then I opened my eyes. Noticed him in so many other movies where he was basically perfect and I've been a Costner fan ever since. No way out of this last bond.

So, tonight, while looking for a political thriller - hopefully slow burn, I came across this title in my research. With the HIGH recommendation I found, plus Costner and an all-star cast of the late 80s, I watched it. I knew the basic-basic plot and began, subconsciously looking for clues as I'm accustomed to these late 80s thrillers.

Costner's high-ranking Naval Officer is having a relationship with Sean Young who also happens to be dating his newest boss, The Secretary of Defense. Easy peasy, but muddy. And then, bam, a wrench/twist is thrown in and Costner has to work with/around a coverup even though he might be a suspect, himself.

And that's like 40% of the story. Watch for the rest.

I was rewarded with what I needed: a slow-burn, political thriller. This is 100% that, until the inevitable and messy climax that 100% elevates this above expectations. Sorry I didn't see this sooner, but glad I finally did.

***

Final thoughts: #1 boy, I'm glad I changed my mind to Costner. He is one incredible, thoughtful and brilliant actor. #2, unrelated, half-way thru I wondered if Hackman is still alive. Fair question, he's been out of the spotlight for a while. He is, and also 90. 90! Sadly, Sean Connery JUST died yesterday, and he was 90. I know it's 2020 and aside from a possible positive that comes out of the November 3rd election in 2 days, nothing else comes out of 2020 safe. Here's to your health, Mr. Luthor!

A solid thriller. Costner and Hackman on good form. The tension is skilfully ratcheted up, particularly after the slow-ish start (the first third of the movie establishes the groundwork but isn't that interesting in itself). The twists and turns are neatly handled and the plot sticks to the landing without losing itself to excessive silliness. Good stuff!

But that scene where Costner and Sean Young get it off in the back of the car to the smooth sounds of an 80's power ballad is amongst the most horrifically cliched 80's sex scenes you'll ever see in a movie. Just when it can't get any worse: the saxophone comes in! Thankfully it doesn't hijack the rest of the movie.

"No Way Out" is one of the most original, suspenseful, tightly-knit thrillers ever made, comparable to John Frankenheimer's "Seven Days in May". Set in the Cold War era, Gene Hackman plays the Secretary of Defense, a married man obsessed with his mistress, the exquisitely beautiful Sean Young...as is her other secret lover, Costner, a Naval Admiral who is the C.I.A.'s Liaison. When Hackman accidentally kills Young in a jealous rage, a cover-up begins to find the notorious, never-seen Russian mole "Yuri" who works within the Pentagon, and to frame him for the murder. Costner is commanded to oversee the operation, and the action begins...and is sustained with the intensity of a race on the Autobahn. The amazing all-star cast also features Will Patton, George Dzunda, Iman and David Paymer. Costner delivers what is perhaps his most subtle performance. What distinguishes "No Way Out" is its brilliant plotting, tautness, and constant surprises...with the ending being the most deliriously mind-blowing surprise of all.

There are only a fistful movies I gave 9 points. This is one them. After watching it I immediately had an itch to watch a sequel (regrettably impossible due to the story line). Didn't actually want it to stop and was sad that it ended. (True for just a few other movies, like for example Dr. Zhivago or 12 Monkeys) When I checked the IMDb - rating composition to find out why this movie is so grotesquely underrated, I asserted that the IMDb Staff gave 8 points, anyway. (Phew!) One of the very few US-thrillers, the end of which I wasn't able to predict. Gene Hackman and Kevin Costner are habitually brilliant, Will Patton deserves an Oscar as the best supporting actor in my book.

Okay. The plot has more holes than the brain of a cow suffering from bovine spongiform disorder. So what? The whole movie is fast, palatable, and most important of all, not entirely insulting to the viewer. The story has already been described so I won't go into it except to say that it's an improvement over its source, "The Big Clock," and probably the novel that work was based on. It doesn't depend on special effects. There is only one car chase, ending in a foot race, and it's mercifully brief and doesn't end in an exploding fireball. In fact nothing ends in an exploding fireball. Tears of gratitude brim from my eyes, just being able to write that sentence.

There's a completely unnecessary plot twist at the very end that leaves final developments ambiguously open. But, that aside, and given a bit of effort at the suspension of disbelief, events hang together logically and build on one another. And we follow them tensely as one improbability leads to another. The movie has images that impress themselves on the viewer's perception, willy nilly, whole scenes and little bits of business.

We have, first of all, Kevin Costner as a naval officer all of us can identify with -- he's smart, heroic, handsome, virile, important, and looks very spiffy in his immaculate white uniform and shoes as he skips or runs full tilt through the sterile corridors of the Pentagon, pursued by devils or by two brainless thugs in dark suits, one of whom sprints in a more than usually awkward manner, his arms flapping gracelessly at his sides. Costner's acting. It's okay. He still sounds and looks like an innocent all-American surfer but he can't help that. Now and then he actually successfully projects the feelings and thoughts of his character. (I couldn't figure out what the gold badge on his uniform was; it looks like neither a submariner's dolphins nor an aviator's wings.) Sean Young -- wow! Has any body, I mean anybody ever been more classically assembled? Her face is full of good bone structure. It has no quirkiness. She's beautiful in the way a painting of a woman would be beautiful if you took a portrait artist, sat him down, and asked him to dream up a pretty woman and get it down on canvas. Her face is an operational definition of "conventional beauty." And it doesn't stop with her face. She exudes a kind of sensuality that seems unaware of its own appeal, only aware of its own needs. She's foxy in the most negligent kind of way, the kind of woman who might not draw the curtains at night -- not because she enjoys showing off but because she just doesn't care. She may not lay waste the countryside as an actress, but doesn't need to. And what she says is believable enough.

Gene Hackman is supposed to be a misled good guy. Yet he's guilty of, what?, would it be manslaughter? Womanslaughter? First-degree male chauvinist swinery? His character is supposed to be basically sympathetic, and he and the director play it that way, after establishing him as a politician unwilling to play along with the militarists in Congress. But he's pretty weaselly when you come right down to it -- begging Costner not to give him away, promising him anything -- promotions, better jobs, whatever. And in the end he seems willing to let all the blame fall on his assistant, Will Patton.

In many ways, it's Patton's movie. Patton is to Hackman more or less what Martin Landau was to James Mason in "North by Northwest," a jealous and protective buffer between his master and the rest of the world. And Patton does a superb job here. After accidentally killing his girl friend, Hackman stumbles into Patton's apartment, needing "someone to talk to before I go to the police." As Hackman spills out his story, Patton hovers over him with a troubled meaningless grin, both his hands fluttering around Hackman's shoulders from behind, as if ready to massage his trapezius. Patton's eyes bulge with surprise and concern. In an earlier scene when Hackman is dressing for a date with Young, Patton carefully brushes some unseen specks from the shoulders of Hackman's dark jacket, preparing his crush for an encounter with his own rival. And watch the expression on Patton's face when he's alone in the gymnasium with George Dzunza and Dzunza spills the beans about Costner's knowing everything. The changes Patton's features undergo are so subtle, the stretched fatuous smile relaxing into the open mouth of utter surprise. What an opportunity for a lesser actor to overplay the reaction, but Patton holds it all in place. That grin turns from idiotic to reassuring in a scene in which Hackman hits Patton in the head with a neatly flung folder full of papers. In context, the actor's natural slight lisp is menacingly telling. We really didn't need Fred Dalton Thompson to inform us in his boring monotone that the character was "a homosexual." I suppose the line was in the script because it was designed to enlighten some elderly folks who may never have left their home in Elko.

It's a catchy movie. I didn't find the opening that slow. Except I guess I've seen enough heated sexual encounters in the back seats of limos and taxis. This one harks back to Angie Dickinson's scene in DePalma's "Dressed to Kill." Knowing DePalma one wonders if the idea came to him from Hitchcock's oft-repeated fantasy of the woman who acts like a perfect lady until she gets you in the back seat of a taxi and immediately opens your pants. (In Hitchcock's fantasies it was always an icy blonde.) It's worth seeing this, if only to watch the visual imagery, enjoy the acting, and let the narrative take you along in its own exciting way.