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Shoot To Kill (GB title: Deadly Pursuit) is a lively, fairly intelligent action film which benefits from good character development. Many post-1980 action films suffer because they are empty spectacles, full of boring stock characters and visually impressive/emotionally redundant stunts. However, this one is different. There are eight main characters (all of them well-realized) as well as a fundamentally exciting plot, sharp dialogue, and a spectacular mountain setting.

FBI agent Warren Stanton (Sidney Poitier) is desperate to track down a dangerous jewel thief following a botched hostage situation. He suspects that the thief has joined a five-man hiking party in the rugged wilderness near Spokane. Unfortunately, there is no way of contacting the hiking guide Sarah (Kirstie Alley) to warn her that a dangerous killer is among her group. Instead, Stanton has to put his trust in another mountain guide, rough and tough Jonathan Knox (Tom Berenger). The unlikely pair pursue the hiking group, hoping to reach them before the killer strikes again.

The film moves at a good pace. Interest is generated on several different fronts: the volatile relationship between Stanton and Knox; the intriguing guessing-game as to which member of the hiking party is actually the jewel thief/killer; the "race-against-time" tension (as soon as the hikers have entered Canada, the killer could dispose of them at any time). There is spectacular action, but it is not emphasised to such an overwhelming degree that other story threads are lost. Shoot To Kill is a very commendable action film and it is a pity that more films in the genre are not up to the same standard.

After an eleven year absence from the screen, Sidney Poitier chose to return in an action/adventure film where he plays an FBI agent in search of a killer.

He's got good reason to want this guy bad. His quarry is ruthless and kills without mercy. Poitier loses a hostage and the ransom he's asked for. But some good detective work has traced the man to a remote part of the Pacific Northwest.

Where the perpetrator has killed again and joined a party of dry fly fishermen being guided by Kirstie Alley into the rugged mountains. No place for a city kid like Poitier, says mountaineer/hermit Tom Berenger who has the prerequisite skills to get the job done. These two are forced into an alliance of inconvenience.

The best thing I liked about Shoot To Kill is the guessing game we play for the identity of the perpetrator. Any one of the five men in Kirstie Alley's party could have been the killer. Look at the cast list and you'll recognize a few names who've played some pretty loathsome villains in the past. The identity is revealed suddenly and quite shockingly.

What I didn't like with Shoot To Kill is the fact that the final confrontation with the perpetrator is in big city Vancouver where he's escaped with Alley. He needed her in the woods, not any longer, she should have wound up dead. And Berenger and Poitier should have confronted him in the woods.

That script decision made the climax a rather ordinary one that you see in a whole lot of police chase films. Still all the players do fine here, my favorite being Kirstie Alley as the woods smart guide.

Sidney Poitier's return to movies (after a 10 year absence) was this wilderness action flick which is fun all the way.

FBI Agent Warren Stantin (Poitier) trails a nasty serial killer to the wilderness and enlists the aid of an experienced mountain guide Jonathan Knox (Tom Berenger). The killer has "hitched" a ride with 4 other campers who are being led through the mountains by Knox's girlfriend (Kirstie Alley).

Well written script, first rate action sequences and solid acting by Berenger and Poitier make Shoot to Kill an excellent action-adventure yarn that's sure to please most. The opening 50 minutes or so are airtight and then it loses a bit of steam but on the whole it's damn good overall.

Well, this movie's a pleasant surprise; pretty much on every front. "Shoot to Kill" is a taut thriller to to bottom, but I think what sets this apart from other buddy movies is that it crosses genres. It's not just two disparate men on a dangerous mission, but there's also a manhunt and a wilderness movie thrown in for good measure. Still, Poitier and Berenger have a solid chemistry, and their road to mutual acceptance is a rocky one. It's a good cast throughout with a charming Kirstie Alley (to be fair, I haven't (yet) seen "Cheers" and I only really know her as a Vulcan). NIce scenery, too; I got a real "First Blood" feeling with that Pacific Northwest locale. I'm not sure why I hadn't heard of this movie until today, but either way, it's great.

7/10

Thriiling and moving thriller with unstopped action from start to finish . It deals with a streetwise FBI agent determined to track down a cruel series killer who at whatever cost wants to get a valuable loot , including killing and kidnapping . Vengefully , Poitier follows the trail up into the remote mountains on the Canadian border, a far place where a polish cop is comically out of water . As the chase against the homicidal maniac leads to the mountains of the Pacific Northwest , where the tough Inspector teams with tracker Tom Berenguer , while his sweetheart , Kirstie Ally , another mountain guide is held hostage .

This tense and nail-biting thriller is packed with as much taut action as the storyline will allow , but let down at times . Sidney Poitier returns to the big screen after a ten-year absence to portray a city-wise FBI enforcer similar to his previous Inspector Tibbs , and here as the urban fish unfamiliar with the rural pond . While Tom Berenguer does well as the two-fisted mountainer who will stop at nothing to find his kidnapped girlfriend : Kirstie Alley . All the clichés clock in , characterisation is simple and cardboard, but the film works enough . It contains an agreeable chemistry between the two leads : Sidney Poitier and Tom Berenguer providing sympathy and humor . They are very well accompanied by a fine support cast with plenty of familiar faces, such as : Kirstie Ally, Clancy Brown, Richard Masur , Andrew Robinson, Frederick Coffin, among others .

It packs a picturesque cinematography shot on stunning locations in Vancouver , Briitsh Columbia , Canada , Norhwest Pacific , splendidly photographed by cameraman by Michael Chapman. As well as atmospheric and stirring musical score by John Scott , though composed by means of synthesizer . The motion picture was competently directed by Roger Spottiswoode though it draws some flaws and gasps in about equal number . Robert has made nice and successful films of all kinds of genres , such as : Terror Train, Under Fire, The Best of Times , Turner and Hooch, Air America, Stop or My Mother will Shot , And the Band Played On, Tomorrow Never Dies, God's Favorite, The 6th Day and several others . The flick will appeal to Sidney Poitier and Tom Berenguer fans . Well worth seeing