a5c7b9f00b In Washington, the Defense Secretary David Brice has a political dispute with Senator William &#39;Billy&#39; Duvall about the project of a submarine. He asks his advisor Scott Pritchard to invite the Navy Lieutenant Commander Tom Farrell, who has become a national hero after rescuing a sailor during a storm, to join his team. Farrell meets Susan Atwell in a party and they have a torrid love affair. Farrell Learns that Susan is Brice&#39;s mistress but he falls in love with her. They spend a weekend together and when they return to Susan&#39;s apartment, Brice rings the bell. The upset Farrell leaves the apartment and sees Brice waiting for Susan. Brice has an argument with Susan and pushes her from the balcony. She falls on a glass table and dies. Brice panics and reports the accident to Pritchard. However, the Machiavellian chief of staff accuses the imaginary Soviet mole Yuri of murdering Susan. Farrell is assigned to lead the investigations to find the identity of Yuri, and gets in serious situation with the presence of witnesses of his weekend with Susan and the regeneration of a Polaroid photo that was found in Susan&#39;s apartment. A coverup and witchhunt occur after a politician accidentally kills his mistress. I remember being in the theater with my friend, and she turned to me and said about Costner &quot;He is just so good in this film&quot; and I replied &quot;He will be somebody someday.&quot; This was that kind of film. You felt the performances in your bones.<br/><br/>The film had that type of chemistry between all the major players. The plot would just seem like it was going to lag and then you get twisted around again. Three years later I went out and bought the script with a month&#39;s worth of money from my first job. I still have that script on my bookshelf. I also have had a copy of this film in my collection for the last 10 years.<br/><br/>Sean Young was still at her peak and the limousine scene is unforgettable. It is also proof that you can add sex in a movie without making the audience think they will be taking time away from the theme and plot of the movie. Will Patton of Remember the Titans was also starting his movie career and played his character of a &quot;protect the Director at any cost&quot; to a &quot;T&quot;. Gene Hackman was Brice in this movie.<br/><br/>George Dzundzathe loyal friend, Imanthe South African caught in the middle of her friend&#39;s indiscretion and Chris D.one of the &quot;Contras&quot; helped round out the supporting cast.<br/><br/>Roger Donaldson&#39;s direction really helped you feel the tense pace and the closed in feelings in the Pentagon.<br/><br/>I gave this film a 9 because it may be seenoutdated due to some cold war references. Main assets, in my preference order, are:<br/><br/><ul><li>the outdated blurry 80s style – not a definite period, ugly colors, funny hairdos, cold war sci-fi…;</li></ul><br/><br/><ul><li>the cast (Kostner, Hackman, Sean Young);</li></ul><br/><br/><ul><li>the finale, adapted from The Big Clock.</li></ul><br/><br/>As with Joe Eszterhas&#39; scripts (starting with Jagged Edge, released 1985), the storyline is a treat on first viewing. You really think it&#39;s a darn good movie. On second viewing I&#39;d say it&#39;s pretty slow, nothing much builds up before we&#39;re getting really close to the Grand Finale. For instance the love story is only a way to delay the start and doesn&#39;t help the story to pick up. Love? Jealousy? Secret service? Cold war? Conspiracy? It&#39;s a strange mixture only made watchable by a very good cast.<br/><br/>As for the comparison with The Big Clock let&#39;s say it falls into the general case of mismatching a noir story with a sunny pastel 80s ambiance. Basically,with the D.O.A. remake starring Dennis Quaid, this appears to be a photography issue. Not the DP&#39;s fault. No producer would have thought of making a wide audience flick with noir-style lighting in the 80s. But the way the Grand Finale is handled is at fault too. In addition to the erratic rhythm, we can blame that one on the director. How would such a theoretically rivetingly suspenseful climax work in a setting that&#39;s not made to look labyrinthine and claustrophobic? That is the biggest flaw of the movie. Had Roger Donaldson (Australian-born,James Farrow who directed the original) done it right he could have ended this movie on a high mark. Instead, No Way Out goes on with a uselessly dull epilogue that further cripples the movie.<br/><br/>In my opinion, only worth watching if you&#39;re interested by some of the above. Beyond this analytical aspect it&#39;s only a very forgettable movie. The action is tight and suspenseful, and the plot culminates in the most astounding last-minute switch of the decade. Kevin Costner and Gene Hackman shinethe main characters, and Will Patton leads a solid supporting cast.
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