Morts en sursis

Geoff Murphy has directed some excellent action films. Both his earlier Goodbye Pork Pie—to which Never Say Die has been compared—and his later Under Siege: Dark Territory are well-paced films, but Never Say Die seems to miss the mark.

Never Say Die tries to decide whether it's action, comedy or thriller but comes across as "none of the above". The story seems disjointed, while the relationship between the two lead characters (played by Temuera Morrison and Lisa Eilbacher, particularly stunning here) comes across as uncomfortable thanks to the script (also by Murphy). It's a pity—both are able performers.

One knows from the neatly arranged car chases and photography that Murphy is capable of so much more. Compared to his other efforts, Never Say Die is tiresome, slowly paced and struggles throughout its 90 minutes. Its few saving graces aren't enough.

Only one positive review and a 5/10 rating for a movie with so much awesomeness. This movie delivers exactly what it should, explosions, and lots of 'em. It also has gratuitous car chases (Corona V Jag?, Corona every time!) intentionally funny/corny dialogue, great scenery and locations, one of the worst songs I have ever heard (not 'Ghost Riders') and good performances from the two likable leads with George Wendt, ('Norm' from cheers), in a very small role. I guess the producers felt they needed a name to sell it on the American and European market. One of Murphy's best imo and should be, in a perfect world, a highly sought after cult movie. But whatever, I have my VHS copy and am just happy to have it.

The story ,which is very basic and not hard to follow, involves a hapless Kiwi reporter (Morrison) and his American girlfriend (Elibacher), who are pursued by seemingly unknown forces who will stop at nothing to kill them.

So many funny moments, but my favourite scene is the special forces guys in the helicopter who keep shooting at each other and complaining about it in strong Kiwi accents! High end cinema it ain't, but we knew that. One of the previous reviewers alludes to this film being tiresome and slow paced!!! No way, in fact the opposite is true, the pace rarely lets up, only to develop the characters a little, as any good movie should. 8/10 from me.

Director Geoff Murphy clearly had an enjoyable time making this, putting James Bond type action into New Zealand's South Island West Coast, a marvellous, sparcely populated rain forest terrain, but has it all starting in New Zealand's biggest city as a contrast. Although the action is serious, the male and female lead characters (both played by rather sexy actors) have a mysterious enemy out to get them resulting in plenty of action and spills, there is also plenty of subtle humour along the way - my favourite scene is when commando types in a black helicopter appear, firing bullets into the lead characters' hideout while "Ghost Riders in the Sky" plays on their stereo. Many reviewers at the time of this film's release saw it as a kind of sequel in spirit to "Goodbye Pork Pie" made by Murphy 10 years earlier. This are very few New Zealand films available on home video/DVD release which is a real shame. For those interested in a good reference book, I recommend "Celluloid Dreams", available from Amazon.com

I like the bit where he sells a car to jake the muss