This tall tale finds Kurt Russell and Mel Gibson as a couple of long time friends who now find themselves on opposite sides of the law - Mel as a "retired" drug dealer and Kurt as the cop tasked with bringing him down. Michelle Pfeiffer (looking about as sensational as ever) finds herself in the middle of these two strapping studs as a story of drugs, sex, love and double crosses unfolds. Who are good guys? Who are the bad? Not sure who's got the moral high ground here but in the end it doesn't really matter. Robert Towne not only wrote a brilliant screen play, he did a great job of directing this film. While you might not think Mel Gibson, Kurt Russell, Michelle Pfeiffer and Raul Julia are the best actors of their generation, this movie is surely one of the best works in their repertoire.
Compared to the average cop movie, the film is slow. On the plus side, considering it's a Hollywood movie, the film has an unusual ability to see shades of grey. At the end of the day, both of those observations stem from that fact that the film is primarily a romance with a police investigation backdrop. The characters are well drawn for crime film but are still pretty two dimensional for a romantic drama.
Overall rating: 7 out of 10.
Compared to the average cop movie, the film is slow. On the plus side, considering it's a Hollywood movie, the film has an unusual ability to see shades of grey. At the end of the day, both of those observations stem from that fact that the film is primarily a romance with a police investigation backdrop. The characters are well drawn for crime film but are still pretty two dimensional for a romantic drama.
Overall rating: 7 out of 10.