Sem Perdão

On the surface, this film, which I like, is like dozens of other revenge-the-death-of-a-cop-partner stories. But the saving grace of the movie is the characters, and some of the dialogue.

Spoilers in the following

Eddie Jilette is a tough cop. A tough Chicago cop. But what distinguishes the film that his Captain is tougher and nastier. In a later scene in the film, the captain and Eddie are in an airport where, in the Men's washroom, after making sure that they're alone, the captain gives Eddie a weapon to kill the villain, and expects him to use it. In most such films, a tough cop usually has a captain who's either a politician or a wimp. How refreshing!

The film also has a nice touch. Eddie rents all the rooms of a hotel in Algiers. The only inhabitants were the clerk and a cat. Eddie tells the clerk to beat it, because he's expecting a showdown battle there. Shortly before the battle commences, we see the cat leave the building.

One I've watched several times and one that's in my library.

Richard Gere is a Chicago cop on the vengeance trail as he follows his partner's killers to New Orleans to settle his own personal score. The film moves at a brisk pace as Gere and a Cajun sexpot flee through the Louisiana bayous from a murderous crime lord who wants his baby doll back and to destroy the Chicago detective who would avenge his partner's murder. Gere and Kim Basinger go very well together, and the chemistry between them adds to the film's realism. Basinger is the sexy swamp girl type who finds herself falling for Gere, although they clash repeatedly while handcuffed together as they attempt to elude the brutal underworld figure and his henchmen. George Dzundza is also good as Gere's superior and Jeroen Krabbe is measured and deliberate as the Cajun butcher. The film's final moments are explosive and predictable and close out an exciting thriller.

No Mercy is one of those familiar revenge thrillers that offers no novelty whatsoever and is for the most part unoriginal but that doesn't mean it doesn't entertain.

Gere, a Chicago cop, goes to New Orleans to avenge the death of his partner. Basinger plays Gere's link to the crimelord and sparks fly between the two.

As said before, there's nothing original here, however there are some entertaining action sequences, solid acting from Gere and Basinger (who, by the way looks incredibly HOT), nice New Orleans scenery and a refreshing unsympathetic cruelty associated with Gere's character. He's simply not very likable and therefore a little bit more memorable.

No Mercy is a solid no-brainer but nothing all that special.

After receiving a tip from a suspect, Chicago cop Eddie Jillette poses as a hit man, he's to meet with a mysterious guy from New Orleans and from there uncover the plans. But things go awry and Eddie's partner and friend is brutally murdered, a stunningly gorgeous blonde seems to hold the key to it all, so Eddie heads South with revenge and anger driving him on.

80s popcorn thrillers get a hard deal on IMDb, it seems that many people visiting them for the first time post 1990, seem determined to judge them against the likes of multiplex favourites like Bad Boys. The 80s was far from being a great decade for action/drama movies, but there was a ream of tidy pieces that fulfilled the genre requirements for those so inclined. Here in Richard Pearce's No Mercy we have a protagonist hell bent on revenge {Richard Gere, lots of hair but acting with force}, a sultry blonde stirring passions {Kim Bassinger in the same year she turned heads in Nine 1/2 weeks}, and a weasel baddie with a pony tail {Jeroen Krabbé enjoying himself}, throw in swearing before it was a fashionable accessory, explosions aplenty and an ability to have the viewer shouting for our cop to bloody succeed at all costs. Yes there is the obligatory simmering romance under trying circumstances, and yes the ending holds few surprises to anyone who has watched films since 1930, but it's a very credible piece that is certainly more entertaining than some of the dross action pictures that are churned out weekly for the MTV generation these days. 7/10

This film begins with a Chicago detective by the name of "Eddie Jillette" (Richard Gere) receiving a tip from an informant that a wealthy man named "Paul Deveneux" (Terry Kinney) has arrived in the city and is looking to hire a hitman to kill somebody in New Orleans. Since this person has never seen the hitman in question Eddie decides to go undercover and check it out in detail. Unfortunately, things don't go as planned and after his partner "Joe Collins" (Gary Basaraba) and Paul Deveneux are ruthlessly murdered, Eddie decides to go to New Orleans and find the man responsible. Of course, what he doesn't fully understand is that New Orleans is very different than Chicago and the person he is after is much more dangerous than anybody he has ever encountered. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was an exciting crime-drama which suffered from several highly improbable scenes. But that's Hollywood for you. Regardless, I thought that both Kim Basinger (as "Michel Duval") and Richard Gere put on excellent performances and I have rated this movie accordingly. Slightly above average.