Review of No Way Back

No Way Back (1995)
7/10
Different Experience !
11 September 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Different music: (I Am Onto You) is so sensitive piece of music. You don't run into anything like that in the usual action flicks. Its sad sense moved me memorably. And it deepened a romantic feel, not about the events but about the movie itself.

Different lead: well, sure Crowe isn't familiar with Hollywood fares. He's not Willis, Sly or Denzel. But the 31 year old actor at the moment had to do one to prove that he could be a star. He added much seriousness and toughness to the stereotype that he was handed. It was his thriller, and it was good. Generally, it is not rare to see Crowe playing a role in a thriller; but it is rare to see a usual role, as that, played by Crowe.

Different case: the Asian characters were always the same in the American movies, the bad same to be precise! Certain shameful marks had been adhered to them for years and years. You'd feel another treating since the early 1990s. I think that the entrance of Asian funds in the Hollywood production game got a lot to do with the reason of this transmutation. Here, it's more than clear from the death of the Asian girl at the start like a martyr, to the Asian evil guy who turns out to be an honest friend after all, and a criminal yet with a heart of gold. It suits perfectly a 1995 movie!

Different touch: Aside from strange homage to Kubrick's (A Clockwork Orange - 1971) at the movie's intro, the writing and the directing of Frank A. Cappello was fine. Although he just recycled the same old nonsense again, but in entertaining and remarkable way. I loved the most the conversations of the lead and his little son; that was a bit different and amusing. According to this movie, I think it's bad that Cappello only wrote 5 movies, and directed 2 movies, in 25 years, since the early 1990s to the mid 2010s.

My only complaint: While everything runs so fast and thrilling, the movie lacked the big budget that could put some logic to the illogical matters. For instance, I didn't buy the fallen plane's sequence. With dazzling special effects, it would've been more effective.

The conclusion: It is suitable for 90 minutes of fun, and it doesn't allege anything but that. It could've been another forgettable, averagely produced, B-movie. But its simple differences gave it a distinct character that worked.
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