La Manière forte

Entertaining mix of action and comedy, at least for the first two-thirds of its length. Then there are some rather overextended action sequences and the film loses some of its comic edge. Still, the acting is first-rate all around, with Fox and Woods offering many laughs when the script gives them the chance, and Stephen Lang a highly enjoyable, totally loony villain. (**1/2)

"The Hard Way" is a good old fashioned popcorn flick which gets off to a fast start and keeps moving until the credits roll. Fox plays an Indiana Jones type adventure movie star who goes to NYC to hang with a badass cop (Woods) to learn what being a cop is like and becomes embroiled in a serial killer caper. The well crafted, unpredictable screenplay is chock full of action, comedy, stunts, suspense, light drama, etc. with nary a dull moment to be found. Good not-to-be-taken-seriously Hollywood fun stuff worth a second look for those who saw it a decade ago.

Wildly violent, but hilarious comedy about a showboat-like Hollywood action star (Michael J. Fox) who in order to prepare for his next film, comes to the Big Apple and tags along with a hard-boiled police detective (James Woods) who is desperately determined to nab a notorious killer dubbed "The Party Crasher" (Stephen Lang) despite nearly getting himself killed in the process. Fox and Woods certainly make an interesting comedy team. There's no way that this movie could without the presence of a seriously funny actor like Woods to be included in the film. The film has a few great moments including one where the Woods character impolitely asks the captain (Delroy Lindo) to get the Fox character off his back and the film's climax is exciting and makes a great reference to "North by Northwest". It's the "The Odd Couple" meets "Dirty Harry" head-on.

The Hard Way is directed by John Badham and collectively written by Lem Dobbs, Michael Kozoll and Daniel Pyne. It stars James Woods, Michael J. Fox, Stephen Lang, Annabella Sciorra, Luis Guzman, LL Cool J and Delroy Lindo. Music is by Arthur B. Rubinstein and cinematography is by Don McAlpine and Robert Primes.

An action movie star researching a role is allowed to tag along with a hardboiled New York City policeman, who is less than enamoured with his company as he looks to stop the serial killer known as "The Party Crasher".

Given John Badham's CV, The Hard Way looked to be right up his street, his career containing solid if unspectacular buddy buddy action comedy pictures. This is just above average thanks to the Woods and Fox pairing and some nifty dialogue one liners. The concept of a Hollywood star tagging along with a grizzled real copper is smart, but the pic ends up over stuffed, even if the action and comedy - courtesy of some high energy set-pieces - rewards enough to stop tedium setting in.

Lang's maniacal villain is over the top, though he seems to be enjoying himself, while such is the brisk pace for the most part, when it sags into its quieter periods it strains the patience - the blend uneasy. Yet the finale rewards on basic action terms, with suspense intact, to ultimately give us a just above average pic of its type. 6/10

The Hard Way is a great action comedy, but totally underrated. In this film Michael J. Fox plays an action actor Nick Lang, who wants in his next film play the New York cop John Moss, played by James Woods.So Nick spends some time with Moss, like lives in the same apartment with him.Moss doesn't like this at all, he's not such a big fan of Lang.And then there is also a bad guy, played by Stephen Lang.So there are two problems that Moss has to get rid of.And John has a girlfriend Susan, who is played by Annabella Sciorra.And John's having some problems with her too.But everything turns out fine with Moss, Lang and Susan, but not so fine with the crook. This was a great film with great actors.Michael J. Fox was great as usual and it was nice to see James Woods in a comedy.It would be nice to see a sequel for this, but the movie wasn't so successful as it should have been, so maybe not then.