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No Way Out (1987)
Directed by Roger Donaldson
Starring: Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman, Sean Young, Will Patton
Who the heck is Roger Donaldson? That’s what I was asking when I saw the credits for this 1987 film. Sure I knew who Kevin Costner (Field of Dreams) and Gene Hackman (Unforgiven) were. I can even say that Will Patton (Remember the Titans) is a familiar name to me. Come to find out, Roger Donaldson has been around a long time. He’s behind some pretty good movies, including Thirteen Days and Cocktail. This time he took on an interesting story with some big name actors.
Commander Tom Farrell (Costner) fell in love with an energetic young woman (Young). The problem was the relationship she was carrying on with his boss (Hackman) at the same time. When she turns up dead, Commander Farrell finds himself in the middle of an international conspiracy. Now he’s searching for answers and looking for a way out.
If it wasn’t for the soundtrack, this movie might have been a bit harder to date. The acting from the trio of male stars is awesome. Gene Hackman always seems to deliver when he’s given a role. I actually don’t know that I can think of a role that he played badly. (Let’s not look too hard at his Lex Luthor days.) For Kevin Costner, 1987 was a great year. In addition to this movie, he made The Untouchables, one of my favorite movies of all-time. Finally, who knew Will Patton was such an intense and gifted actor? I knew him from a couple decent movies (Armageddon, Remember the Titans), but this was a great performance.
Don’t forget Sean Young. I don’t know that I have heard that name before seeing this movie. Once again I was surprised. She’s had roles in a lot of movies I’ve seen over the years. From Blade Runner to Ace Ventura, Sean Young has been around for a long time. She was good in this movie, but I think she didn’t quite earn a spot on the top shelf this time around.
The story for this film was pretty good. I don’t think it was the best suspense film of the 80s, but it did keep me interested . It was also less predictable than I thought it might be. The camera work and the dialogue were also really well done. The weakness of this movie, as I’ve already stated, is the score. The composer worked with enough synthesizers to date this movie without question.
Overall, this is a fun movie that is worth the watch. I think Costner and Hackman fans should definitely see this one. It’s also going to appeal to suspense fans since it kept the intensity up nicely. I give this one 3.8 out of 5 stars.
Did You See That One? 
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