No Way Out

The last quarter drags on a little too long, and the characters and their decisions often seem unrealistically erratic, but it all comes together in the end. I was surprised this movie was able to pay off so well. The finale comes out of nowhere, but it provides the plot and main character some depth.

Music is corny though. Some of it sounds like it was made for a bad '80s TV show. That's my lone complaint.

There are only a fistful movies I gave 9 points. This is one them. After watching it I immediately had an itch to watch a sequel (regrettably impossible due to the story line). Didn't actually want it to stop and was sad that it ended. (True for just a few other movies, like for example Dr. Zhivago or 12 Monkeys) When I checked the IMDb - rating composition to find out why this movie is so grotesquely underrated, I asserted that the IMDb Staff gave 8 points, anyway. (Phew!) One of the very few US-thrillers, the end of which I wasn't able to predict. Gene Hackman and Kevin Costner are habitually brilliant, Will Patton deserves an Oscar as the best supporting actor in my book.

A solid thriller. Costner and Hackman on good form. The tension is skilfully ratcheted up, particularly after the slow-ish start (the first third of the movie establishes the groundwork but isn't that interesting in itself). The twists and turns are neatly handled and the plot sticks to the landing without losing itself to excessive silliness. Good stuff!

But that scene where Costner and Sean Young get it off in the back of the car to the smooth sounds of an 80's power ballad is amongst the most horrifically cliched 80's sex scenes you'll ever see in a movie. Just when it can't get any worse: the saxophone comes in! Thankfully it doesn't hijack the rest of the movie.

No Way Out is a suspense movie set during the cold war. Political intrigue within the US government is the focus of the film. The politically powerful Brice accidentally kills his mistress. Things get out of hand and he decides to frame her other lover as a spy. He knows that she is seeing someone else but has no idea who. Farrel, her other lover, is the man assigned to her case. He realizes that the investigation will eventually expose him, and when the investigators begin using a computer to restore a partially developed polaroid of Farrel found in the dead girlÕs things he has a good idea of how much time he has. There are some tense moments as Farrel trys to expose Brice before he is caught. Also there are a string of neat twists at the end, which succeed in not being corny.

This is worth your time. I definitely recommend it for fans of military suspense or cold war movies.

"No Way Out" is one of the most original, suspenseful, tightly-knit thrillers ever made, comparable to John Frankenheimer's "Seven Days in May". Set in the Cold War era, Gene Hackman plays the Secretary of Defense, a married man obsessed with his mistress, the exquisitely beautiful Sean Young...as is her other secret lover, Costner, a Naval Admiral who is the C.I.A.'s Liaison. When Hackman accidentally kills Young in a jealous rage, a cover-up begins to find the notorious, never-seen Russian mole "Yuri" who works within the Pentagon, and to frame him for the murder. Costner is commanded to oversee the operation, and the action begins...and is sustained with the intensity of a race on the Autobahn. The amazing all-star cast also features Will Patton, George Dzunda, Iman and David Paymer. Costner delivers what is perhaps his most subtle performance. What distinguishes "No Way Out" is its brilliant plotting, tautness, and constant surprises...with the ending being the most deliriously mind-blowing surprise of all.