Review: Nowhere to Run

A carefully orchestrated prison bus escape sees convict Sam Gillen (Jean-Claude Van Damme) freed, but his accomplice in the break (Anthony Starke) ends up shot and killed by one of the prison guards. Convicted bank robber Gillen ends up finding refuge in the barn of a widowed farm owner (played by Rosanna Arquette), whose young son (Kieran Culkin) takes an instant liking to the stranger. His mother is a little more sceptical, however he proves an effective deterrent for some local thugs who work for the greedy land developer (Joss Ackland) trying to intimidate her off the property. The chief of these enforcers is an ex-cop named Mr. Dunston (Ted Levine). Edward Blatchford plays a local deputy who is sweet on the widow, and none too pleased to see a potential rival for her affections in Gillen. John Finn turns up briefly towards the end as another cop, and veteran stuntman/Arnie Schwarzenegger pal Sven-Ole Thorsen can be seen in the prison bus at the beginning.

 

Much like when I revisited “Legionnaire”, I enjoyed this 1993 action/drama from director Robert Harmon (“The Hitcher”, “Highwaymen”) a bit better than when I first saw it. Scripted by Joe Eszterhas (“Basic Instinct”, “Showgirls”), Leslie Bohem (“A Nightmare on Elm St. 5: The Dream Child”, “Daylight”, “The Darkest Hour”) and Randy Feldman (“Tango & Cash”, “Metro”), it’s based on a story by Eszterhas and Richard Marquand (director of “Return of the Jedi”, who actually died in 1987!). However, I’ll be damned if this movie isn’t basically a remake of the classic western “Shane”, and if you can get into that groove, it’s really not bad, even though apparently neither Eszterhas nor JCVD were overly happy with the finished product.

 

For the most part, I think at the time this just wasn’t the kind of film we expected or wanted JCVD to be making. You see, this was clearly an attempt at softening his image, ala “Wrong Bet”, but sadly this ain’t no “Wrong Bet” (“Shane” meets “Walker: Texas Ranger” is another way of describing it). For starters, “Wrong Bet” still managed to mostly focus on JCVD doing what he does best: Martial arts. This movie? Not so much. In fact, there’s little to no martial arts at all. Instead, we get JCVD riding a motorbike, shooting guns, fucking Rosanna Arquette etc. There’s not a whole lot of kicks or fists, and since this is pre-“Replicant” JCVD in a more plot/character-driven film, this movie sure as shit needed kicks and fists. JCVD wasn’t quite ready for what this film required of him (though he also doesn’t get much dialogue, oddly enough), and didn’t get much of a chance to show off his strongest traits.

 

It doesn’t help that the romantic aspect is held down by an entirely unpersuasive Rosanna Arquette, who apparently wasn’t terribly fond of her leading man. Her character, frankly isn’t much to write home about either, not behaving rationally at all. She wants to jump JCVD’s bones waaaaaay too quickly to be believable. The funny thing about that is, is that the pacing of the film overall is frankly a bit too slow for my liking. On the positive side of things, as clichéd and derivative as the story is, it’s probably a lot stronger than in most previous JCVD films, and Ted Levine gives a terrific bad guy performance. In fact, it’s a shame he’s basically playing a henchman here. Yes, he’s playing Jack Palance in “Shane”, but the role seems de-emphasised somewhat here, and the real villain is played by veteran British actor Joss Ackland. Ackland has been effective from time to time, but here he’s bland and a bit disappointing, going through the motions. Kieran Culkin, however, is a much better child actor than his “Shane” counterpart, Brandon de Wilde, so the film does have that going for it. The film also gets credit for a little creativity in one scene: A henchman gets kicked by a horse, then bashed in the head with a barn door. Haven’t seen that method of dispatch before, I guess. If there’s three reasons to see this film, it’s 1) Ted Levine, and 2 & 3) Rosanna Arquette’s lovely tits. The first one might be more impressive than the second and third, but it’s pretty close I have to say. Actually, you can also add the typically solid Mark Isham (“The Hitcher”, “Point Break”) score to the tick column as well. Very underrated composer.

 

Ultimately not all that great and rather slow-paced. This was a fairly early attempt at JCVD branching out a little bit. It doesn’t quite work, but it’s watchable nonetheless, so long as you don’t mind that it’s stealing basic character dynamics/plot from “Shane” (The main difference is there’s no Van Heflin character here). Just don’t expect a typical JCVD action film.

 

Rating: C+