BROKEN ARROW
US, 1996, 108 minutes, Colour.
John Travolta, Christian Slater, Samantha Matthis, Delroy Lindo, Frank Whaley, Jack Thompson.
Directed by John Woo.
Broken Arrow is the code name for the theft of a nuclear missile. As one of the characters remarks, it is worrying simply that the authorities have a name for it. But two are stolen here with the intention of holding the US to ransom.
Graham Yost wrote the screenplay for Speed and uses much the same formula again for action. John Travolta seems to relish the opportunity to be a snarling, leering baddie, pursuing good guy Christian Slater who wants to recover and defuse the bombs. Park ranger Samantha Matthis joins in the action.
It is all far-fetched (even Jack Thompson's American accent as a US general), but capitalises on special effects and stunt work, all co-ordinated by Hong Kong's John Woo, a director with a cult following at home and around the world. This is his second US film (after Hard Target with Jean- Claude Van Damme). He went on to make the very successful Face/Off, Mission Impossible 2 and Windwalkers. It's big-budget, hyped matinee stuff.
1.Entertaining action adventure? The American tradition of disasters, heroics? Political background?
2.The work of John Woo? His Hong Kong reputation? Action adventures and dramas? Transition to America? Using American genres and conventions? The Hong Kong action tradition in an American feature?
3.The range of locations, headquarters, aerial action, crashes? The desert? Cars, boats? The train and Colorado? The impact of American locations - and the contrast with Washington DC? The musical score?
4.The importance of action and editing? The stunts? Special effects? The stars?
5.The opening and the focus on the boxing ring, the aerial shot, the focus on Deakins? The contrast with Hale? Age and experience? The bout and the symbolic conflict between the two men? The prize, picking Hale's pocket? The friendship between the two? The visual impact of the boxing bout?
6.Deakins and Hale, their training, skills? The authorities and sending them on a mission? The testing of the bomber? Live nuclear warheads? The flight, their friendship? The change of tack? Deakins and the struggle with Hale, trying to shoot him, trying to take command? Hale and the ejection from the plane?
7.Deakins and his landing the plane? His plan to take the nuclear warheads, to sell them? His deal with Pritchett? The transporting of the nuclear heads? The deals? The assumption that Hale was dead?
8.Hale and his landing in the desert, wandering? Taking stock of what had happened? The confrontation with Terri Carmichael? Her attempt to arrest him? The fight - and his winning? The play about the guns? The interrogation? His persuading her to work with him, the mission to retrieve the nuclear weapons?
9.The authorities in Washington? The puzzlement? The seeming impossibility of the stealing of the warheads? The realisation that Washington was being held to ransom? The money deal? The attempts to find the warheads? The sending of Giles Prentice and his theoretical background? The chief of staff, the chairman and his reaction?
10.Hale and Carmichael and their following Deakins? The vehicles and the chases? The clashes? The dangers with the warheads and disarming them? The helicopter and its chase of Hale? Hale and Carmichael destroying the helicopter? The motor boat and their attempt to take over the bombs - but their failure? Carmichael hiding in the boat? Hale going to the next destination?
11.The retrieval of the bombs? The squad and Deakins having paid them off - and the murder of the others? The brutality of Deakins and his plan?
12.The capturing of one of the jeeps, the bomb, going to the copper mine, Deakins' own destination? Deakins and his trick - communications, making Hale activate one of the bombs, taking the other bomb? Hale and Carmichael and their being trapped, the pit, the active bomb, their spectacular escape via the underground river? The detonation - but the depth in the mine and the damage being contained?
13.The code for Broken Arrow, the loss of nuclear weapons? The Washington reaction? Deakins and his technique in blackmailing the government? To pay for the other bomb?
14.Hale and Carmichael and their using their wits, working out Deakins' plan, Denver rather than Salt Lake City, getting to the train? The struggle in the train, the destruction of Deakins' helicopter? The activating of the warhead? Carmichael and the fight? The finale with Deakins and Hale in their final boxing bout? The deactivation of the bomb?
15.The ingredients for the super thriller? The credibility of the plot? The touches of credibility - and the superhuman heroics?
16.John Travolta as villain? Enjoying himself - and his delivery of deadpan lines, especially about nuclear bombs? Christian Slater as the earnest hero? Samantha Mathis taking equal share as the intrepid heroine? The contrast with the military boffins and the theoreticians and the money dealers as well as the traitors?
17.The film as an action thriller - but the underlying comment about the nuclear age, saboteurs and terrorism, the role of the military and government?
