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This is a very engaging thriller, and I'm a big fan of the muscles from Brussels! All to like.

"NoWhere to Run" is another pure 90's Van Damme action flick & it's a decent film with a good performance by Van Damme as the lone hero, man-on-the-run convict who stumbles upon a nice farmland & farmhouse to hide out & ends up helping the a single mum (Rosanna Arquete) & her kids. This is a nice story actually & Van Damme is good in the acting department & in the action department. Damme ends up helping fight back against some land developer villains (a great Ted Levine) & protecting the family.

Yes there's some cheesy bits but it's an action Thriller with a heart.

Now the 90's wouldn't of been the 90's without Van Damme & his movies!!!! Growing up as a teen during that great time i was massively into Van Damme & couldn't wait for his next movie to come out & i would buy it straight away on video, Awwww Nostalgia & big love for my childhood hero Van Damme.

Yes i grew up on Schwarzenegger, Stallone & Seagal too but it was Van Damme's films that i watched constantly & consider some of his as Action Classic's & some of my all time favourite films like his Apocalyptic Action Masterpiece CYBORG (1989) that's a true childhood Classic of mine, also the John Woo action extravaganza HARD TARGET (1993) & the fun & action-packed DOUBLE IMPACT (1991) & the gritty & tough A. W. O. L (1990) & the brutal prison Action Thriller DEATH WARRANT (1990) plus many more that i genuinely love too like Time Cop, Sudden Death, Maximum Risk & Universal Soldier. Van Damme was such a big part of the 90's & my childhood.

Nowhere to Run is another good action Thriller & a nice 90's time capsule of those better times.

Reactions to this movie seem to depend on one's appetite for action. Those hungry for it are disappointed while those looking instead for plot and character development are pleased. I tend to fall into the latter category but must point out that while "Nowhere to Run" ranks among the better Van Dammes, it relies too much on stock situations, (plucky woman defending homestead), and cliche characters, (corrupt business tycoon with oily smile). I'd also like to point out the good work of Edward Blatchford as the local Deputy Sheriff. It's a thankless part but he manages to make something of it, and no, I didn't read any dark psychological meaning into the scene in which he discovers Van Damme taking a shower. However, I did find utterly bizarre that moment at the dinner table when Patricia Arquette's little girl casually comments on the impressive size of a certain portion of Van Damme's anatomy. This was promptly followed by Arquette's comment that it was only average in size. Talk about weird!

Escaped from prison, Van Damme camps out near a widow's home in the woods.

Sure there's some action in the movie with quite a number of punch 'em outs but the movie really should have been in the drama section, not the action section of rental stores. This is quite a change for Van Damme as he becomes a father to the fatherless, nice guy, gentleman, and town savior.

So the story was really good and damn Van Damme did a good job at his nice guy part. The funniest part is when he and the boy go into town for motorcyle parts and the sherrif dude asks him questions. Listen to how Van Damme pronounces 'motercycle' and 'Quepec'.

"Nowhere to Run" is a 1993 action film with decent action star Jean Claude Van Damme. Although good for fans of the genre and Van Damme, it may be a let down for others. Why I myself am not a diehard Van Damme fan (at least he did "Hard Target"), I thought this movie was good. Why, you ask? Because it has Ted Levine as the bad guy.! Anyway, this movie caught me by surprise. I thought it would be one of those bad movies where stuff explodes just so you can watch stuff explode. But I found it to be a decent vehicle for it's stars, and you never can go wrong with Ted Levine. It's a nice little movie. 6 out of 10.