Ohne Ausweg

"Nowhere to Run" is a 1993 action film with decent action star Jean Claude Van Damme. Although good for fans of the genre and Van Damme, it may be a let down for others. Why I myself am not a diehard Van Damme fan (at least he did "Hard Target"), I thought this movie was good. Why, you ask? Because it has Ted Levine as the bad guy.! Anyway, this movie caught me by surprise. I thought it would be one of those bad movies where stuff explodes just so you can watch stuff explode. But I found it to be a decent vehicle for it's stars, and you never can go wrong with Ted Levine. It's a nice little movie. 6 out of 10.

Reactions to this movie seem to depend on one's appetite for action. Those hungry for it are disappointed while those looking instead for plot and character development are pleased. I tend to fall into the latter category but must point out that while "Nowhere to Run" ranks among the better Van Dammes, it relies too much on stock situations, (plucky woman defending homestead), and cliche characters, (corrupt business tycoon with oily smile). I'd also like to point out the good work of Edward Blatchford as the local Deputy Sheriff. It's a thankless part but he manages to make something of it, and no, I didn't read any dark psychological meaning into the scene in which he discovers Van Damme taking a shower. However, I did find utterly bizarre that moment at the dinner table when Patricia Arquette's little girl casually comments on the impressive size of a certain portion of Van Damme's anatomy. This was promptly followed by Arquette's comment that it was only average in size. Talk about weird!

Now, we are moving into what I consider a good Van Damme flick. The story has been told many times. It is similar in many respects to Romeo Must Die - evil developer wants to put up a kitzy development and needs to run off small landowners. Clydie (Rosanna Arquette) resists and her deputy dawg boyfriend (Edward Blatchford) is playing both sides. In comes the hard-ass to get things finished (a very young Ted Levine) and, at the same time our hero breaks out of prison and camps on her doorstep. It seems Van Damme is always either breaking out of prison or going AWOL. Relationships with her two cute kids begin and then things really heat up with mom. Boyfriend is jealous and it all comes to a head, as expected, between Van EDamme and Levine. Smaltzy ending, but great chases. fights, and lots of passion.

Escaped from prison, Van Damme camps out near a widow's home in the woods.

Sure there's some action in the movie with quite a number of punch 'em outs but the movie really should have been in the drama section, not the action section of rental stores. This is quite a change for Van Damme as he becomes a father to the fatherless, nice guy, gentleman, and town savior.

So the story was really good and damn Van Damme did a good job at his nice guy part. The funniest part is when he and the boy go into town for motorcyle parts and the sherrif dude asks him questions. Listen to how Van Damme pronounces 'motercycle' and 'Quepec'.

This is another Jean-Claude Van Damme action flick, but a definite notch above many of his other films, at least in production values. The photography and stereo sound are excellent.

Actually, this is pretty simple stuff and old storyline of a low-key good guy rescuing the girl from local meanies. Here, Van Damme defends Rosanna Arquette and her small kids.

In another respect, the movie is just another avenue for the two stars to show off their incredible bodies. Neither has ever been shy about doing that and certainly aren't in this movie. My only objection is having one of the kids make a sexual remark, which is done in here. There is no excuse for that.

Ted Levine, who has turned nice guy in the hit TV series "Monk," is an effective bad guy in here. He played a lot of villains before "Monk" came around.

Anyway, it's fairly low-brow entertainment, but at least it is entertaining and fun to watch.