No Way Back

If you`re a fan of Toyokawa Etsushi, as I am, then fast forward over all the scenes that he isn`t in.(And enjoy the closeup of his gorgeous hands when he`s looking for a weapon in the airplane toilet.) Even most of the scenes that he *is* in are stupid. Russell Crowe fans will probably say the same thing about their man.

I find it hard to believe that I could dislike any film starring Russell Crowe, but this one is a complete waste of his talent -- and my time. I'd like to say that his acting job was a "rose among the thorns" but I don't think that even he was convincing. He was a foul-tongued protagonist [with an ugly hair-style that even his character couldn't have thought was becoming] who over-reacted to everything in this tortured and unbelievable plot. In retrospect, I wonder why I even gave it a "3".

An undercover operation goes wrong for FBI Agent Zack Grant (Russell Crowe) when new agent Seiko (Kelly Hu) goes vigilante and kills everybody including herself. Eight people are dead and Grant is blamed. He wants to find the truth. It turns out that Seiko had been calling Yakuza member Yuji Kobayashi and Grant goes to investigate. Gangster Frank Serlano (Michael Lerner) blames Grant for his son's death in that operation, and kidnaps Grant's son. Flight attendant Mary (Helen Slater) comes in after 30 minutes and has a funny turn.

This movie tries so hard to be a stylish action thriller. Writer/director Frank A. Cappello misses the mark and strays into cheesy territories. The over the top acting, the bad style, and the splashy action does nothing but strip the movie of any realism. The only good thing is the funny turn that Helen Slater takes in this movie. It's a welcome relief from all the ridiculous seriousness.

After watching this film I could see the great actor that Russell Crowe has become. The film although lacking a little in the story department, just needed a few added scenes, the actors were great. The comic relief was great. This film received an okay star rating from me and has good reason. You should take a look especially if you are a fan of the man now.

I watched the whole film mainly because Russell Crowe is a good actor and I found it entertaining although, admittedly, I did think about turning it off around halfway through. But it improves along the way.

It's interesting to see him at this early stage in his career. There's always going to be that review that criticizes an actor trying to use an accent for a role but I thought he did okay. In fact, I actually had to look up where he was born. Turns out, not NY.

Another thing I noticed is that someone said this movie would have gone straight to DVD in 1995. The irony here (other than the fact that movies were VHS back then) is that wasn't a derogatory comment back in 1995 - a lot of movies were actually made for places like Blockbuster and Hollywood video.

The film starts out a little slow and we're not really sure if there's some level of humor intended when they dress up what appears to be an FBI agent as a exotic call girl. The filming of her is so controlled that you feel like you're watching an adult film begin and they continue to focus on her as more of a China doll than someone who just learned on the top of a car.

The flight attendant seems to be the comic relief and the antagonist rolled into one but she turns out to be a good character - entertaining, necessay, and likable.

While the plot is a little confusing initially, by the end we're all caught up on why, who, and what. There's a surprise twist after several cat and mouse scenarios.

It's not a bad way to spend 90 minutes.