Operation: Broken Arrow

"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.

Frustrated by having spent years and years of being passed up for promotion, disgruntled and maniacal Air Force officer Travolta crash lands a US plane in the middle of the Utah desert where he and his cohorts plan to hold two nuclear warheads for ransom. The only ones who can stop him are his junior officer/co-pilot (Slater), who forms an unlikely team with a reluctant park ranger (Mathis), to try and thwart his diabolical scheme. Woo's one of a kind action scenes make the film worth watching, but they're outweighed by a mediocre script with too many improbabilities and excessive coincidences. Travolta's sinister villain is terribly overacted, and more laughable than menacing. **

In his "TV Movies and Video Guide," Leonard Maltin asks, "Why was this movie made?" The answer is simple: To entertain the people. I was certainly entertained by this far-fetched action thriller, due in no small part to John Woo's imaginative direction of the action sequences. John Travolta overdoes the psycho routine, hamming it up when some restraint would have made for a more believable performance, but his considerable charm sees him through. Christian Slater, an actor who hasn't impressed me as anything more than a Jack Nicholson wannabe, makes a surprisingly commendable hero. This movie is junk food, of course, but it's very tasty indeed.

John Travolta stars in this mindless thriller in which he steals a nuclear weapon and its up to Christian Slater and Samantha Mathis to save the world.. Overall a good action flick with a leave your brain at home plot..Travolta goes slightly over the top with his character but is still good..Slater is ok and Mathis does what she can with what little the script gives her.. on a scale of one to ten... 6

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.