Date: Fri 23-Feb-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Illustration: C

Location: A-12

Quick Words:

Broken-Arrow-Travolta-Playing

Full Text:

(rev "Broken Arrow," 2/23/96)

Now Playing-

A Satisfying Blast For Action Fans

By Trey Paul Alexander III

If familiarity breeds contempt, then a mounting number of contemporary films,

tired rehashes of overworked formulas, are just asking to be scorned. On the

other hand, many of us who write about movies are too quick to put easy,

oversimplified labels on flicks - Speed becomes Die Hard on a bus, or

Waterworld becomes The Road Warrior on water, and so forth - when such

generalizations can be unnecessary and unfair.

Broken Arrow , which is playing at Danbury's Crown Cinema theatre, is a kind

of pulse-pounding, simply-plotted, thunderous action thriller that Hollywood

has shelled out for years now. That is not to say Broken Arrow is not

entertaining or without its share of dazzling moments, but there is the

definite possibility some may be unable to see the forest of inventive

sequences for the trees of occasional genre conventions.

This two-hour ballet of testosterone-charged action heroics gets its title

from the military speak used to describe the government's loss of nuclear

weapons. The plot here centers around the abduction of two warheads. (One

character mutters insightfully, "I don't know which is scarier: the fact that

two nuclear missles have just been lost, or the fact that it happens so often

there's actually a term for it!") The culprit in this case is deranged pilot

Vic Deakins (John Travolta), who sabotages a flight in a B-3 Stealth Bomber

during a training exercise over Utah in order to abscond with the missles.

Travolta made his recent big screen comback with an Oscar-nominated turn in

Pulp Fiction as a hit man, and solidified his status with a star turn as a

loan shark enforcer in last year's Get Shorty . Despite the shady professions

of those characters, both of them were portrayed as likable protagonists (in

Pulp Fiction , he makes the oxymoronic phrase "assassin with a heart of gold"

into a credible reality). Thus, his part in Broken Arrow is his first

out-and-out villian role, and he appears to relish it, snarling his way

through the picture with a gleam in his eye.

Standing across from Travolta as his nemesis (and the movie's protagonist) is

Christian Slater, who plays a B-3 co-pilot, Riley Hale. He becomes the thorn

in Deakins' side when he gums up the works in this outrageous scam by

attempting to thwart his ex-buddy and his nefarious cohorts. The safety of

Utah and the security of the United States government may hang in the balance,

but Broken Arrow is essentially a battle of wills between Deakins and Hale.

Tossed in for good measure is the token female, here embodied by Samantha

Mathis, playing a park ranger who assists Hale in his quest. Though her

presence as the lone woman in this flick is a typical formality in action

films, she is no helpless female. In fact, her character is refreshingly

active and responsible, instead of reactive, cloying and nonessential.

Asian director John Woo, renowned in Hong Kong for his double-barrelled,

two-fisted action epics, brings his kinetic style to this extravaganza, his

second American movie ( Hard Target was his first). Despite a love of

slow-motion sequences, Woo's work is never lethargic, as evidenced by

rapid-fire pacing and daring stunt choreography that has Travolta, Slater,

Mathis and crew impressively flying about with reckless abandon. Woo dares you

to spot any stunt performers (although there are a number of them, just watch

the credits), and his actors are so gamely involved in all the mayhem, you

will be hard pressed to find the stand-ins.

When all is said and done, Broken Arrow should be a satisfying blast

(literally!) for action fans. It is rated R for profanity and violence, but

the gore is fairly restrained for this type of flick.