No Way Out (DVD)

...turn round and say that No Way Out was his best movie, I for one am in agreement. For once that slightly wooden slightly aloof stance he has about him (and that he delivers to every single movie he has ever been in; with the exception of Fandango), actually suits the character he plays here, also at the time the movie was made Costner was a rising star and had not got the idea that he could make movies as well as star in them.

The ...
...the big selling point for No Way Out is that on its second re-make it finally got things right. That being said my biggest issue with No Way Out was that due to what I believe to be bungled advertising at the time it was made blatently apparent whom the actual killer of Susan way, personally I believe that should this identity have remained secret that the film would have achieved a much wider success than it did. The plus side for you potential ... more

On a night out Lt. Commander Tom Farrell (Kevin Costner) happens to catch the eye of Susan Atwell (Sean Young); its an instant attraction for both parties, and after a quick love making session in the back of a limo the two become occasional lovers, the reason its casual is because she already has a lover.
With Tom overseas Susan realises how much she misses him, and plans to leave her other lover.

So when Tom returns and the couple decided that there relationship is “for keeps” Susan finally faces up to her lover. At around the same time Tom is awarded a medal for overseas heroics and promoted to work at the Pentagon, where his new boss becomes the enigmatic Defence Secretary David Bryce (Gene Hackman).

When Susan decides to leave her first lover an argument breaks out and in a freak accident she falls to her death. The killer is a man of great importance and tries to hide the fact that the affair ever took place. Knowing that things were known by some people about his and Susan’s relationship to protect himself he develops an elaborate story, in which the killer becomes “Yuri” a Russian spy and assassin. With this in the minds of every Pentagon employee, they start closing the net on the killer, which because of evidence left around Susan’s apartment; Tom knows that before long they will be coming for him. Tom has a choice find the truth, or if he fails spend the rest of his life in prison as a traitor to the country.

If you ask the biggest Kevin Costner critic, most of them will turn round and say that No Way Out was his best movie, I for one am in agreement. For once that slightly wooden slightly aloof stance he has about him (and that he delivers to every single movie he has ever been in; with the exception of Fandango), actually suits the character he plays here, also at the time the movie was made Costner was a rising star and had not got the idea that he could make movies as well as star in them.

The movie itself is a remake of The Big Clock a Ray Milland movie from the late 1940’s, last time though the movie received criticism that it was not quite the finished article with a few loose ends. Without understanding the criticism behind the story the French also remade the movie in 1976 calling it Police Python 357, and this was even more confusing with twice the amount of loose ends. Here the story ties up every loose end but one. So the big selling point for No Way Out is that on its second re-make it finally got things right. That being said my biggest issue with No Way Out was that due to what I believe to be bungled advertising at the time it was made blatently apparent whom the actual killer of Susan way, personally I believe that should this identity have remained secret that the film would have achieved a much wider success than it did. The plus side for you potential viewer is that now 20 years after its initial release you stand the opportunity to get deeper into the heart of the movie without knowing all the answers, that’s unless of course you watch the accompanying trailer that comes packaged on the DVD before you watch the film itself; so if on the off chance you do come by this DVD don’t watch the trailer, you have been warned.

Onto the plot itself, and what you have is an incredibly thought out and well engineered plot device; it continues to weave a very twisted path as it uncovers various stories and elements at a slow pace, while doing so the movie is a very faced paced one, its like going for a 100 minute run. There is no time with the exception I guess of the first 20 minutes, to run off and make yourself a cup of coffee, because if you do you’ll come back missing a great chunk of the story; and lets face it if the story your watching on DVD is good, we forget we have a pause button on our remote control; if its that good and we want to go to the toilet, we still cross our legs and wait for the end!

That’s the beauty of No Way Out it’s a very submersible film, you sink right into the plot, the characters, and the general ethos the story is conveying to you. Another rather nice element (if you can call it nice) are the array of kind and considerate individuals who we are introduced to along the way, each of which becomes drawn into this twisted plot of lies and quite literally executed for their involvement, involvement in a story that quite literally never actually occurred. And this is so realistic, because these issues occur in real life; while those with the power continue, the weaker pawns are sacrificed for “the greater good”, or in this case the bad.

Don’t be deceived into thinking that this is a one trick pony of a movie, its not just a taut thriller; No Way Out blends the right mix of thriller, action and romance to make it appeal to a broader spectrum. And this was another issue on which the movie was ruined on release, because some of the original trailers quite simply made this look like a romantic tale with a loose thriller as a back burning story. And that’s quite sad because even now I’ll point the movie out to people and they will say “I don’t like romantic films”.
There is a quite epic action scene towards the middle of the movie, which moves the story up several paces as Tom runs to avoid detection, in doing so unfortunately making someone a casualty. But this scene takes in a variety of sights of Washington, that the normal Washington resident might see, but those alien to Washington who only ever see it on the screen don’t normally see. If you have ever seen Ronin, or To Live And Die In LA and remember the breathtaking car chases that helped to make the movies what they were, No Way Out delivers the same sort of action but on foot.

Sean Young delivers a pre-hellraising performance as the sometimes plain, sometimes beautiful victim. And the thing that appealed to me about Young as an actress was that she was an achievable target for me; so often you get a leading lady who is so unbelievable good looking that those less happy with there looks cant relate to; with Young I think most men can see themselves dating this fairly standard looking actress. Her performance is great, and she really plays on the points that I have just raised, while still managing to remain a sexy and sultry individual. Interestingly despite being the third billed cast member and the essence of her being all over the movie, Young is actually on screen for less than five minutes, but because they spread her five minutes across the first half of the movie you think she is there more often than she was. Interestingly enough its just after No Way Out that she became known as a Hellraiser so perhaps she had actually started being a pain, and her role was reduced so that she could not effect other elements of the plot; whatever the case its something that you really don’t notice on a first viewing.

While Gene Hackman plays the same character you usually see in these thriller style movies he so often associates himself with (well until more recently) other actors get chance to shine; most noticeably George Dzundza who is always the first person I think of when I bring the movie up. Mrs. David Bowie Iman turns up to add a quirky name to the cast schedule and in fairness for the little time she is on screen you wont be criticising her acting ability. Finally worth a mention is Will Patton who at the time was little known, his hair flicked performance as David Bryce’s sidekick Scott Pritchard varies from the sinister to the hysterical, its a good performance but the character itself is deeply flawed.

No Way Out will thrill, titillate, amuse and at times allow you to romanticise; what should not be allowed to happen is that for whatever reason you miss this movie. If you have any leanings at all towards support for Costner then this will be the movie that you’ll love him for. If you hate Costner then this will be the movie that the hatred turns to something less powerful; but on another side its a movie that’s stronger than its cast, and it could still be a great movie even with a cast of characters that you truly hate.

As mentioned earlier the DVD comes with a trailer (if you purchase the original release) if you purchase the 2007 release which looks exactly the same then the trailer is missing. There is no way to identify the two apart as the original and the new release have exactly the same covers, the difference being that the original release five years ago is a full priced title (though probably not now) and the re-release is meant for the budget buyer. The RRP for No Way Out is £5.99. 

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