Probably the most forgotten of the Vietnam war movies of the series of films on that subject made in the 1980's, it's most likely forgotten because of its leading actors, not exactly box office superstars in spite of their obvious talent, William Dafoe and Gregory Hines. It's an interesting, if not great film, dealing with the investigation of the murder of a Saigon prostitute, brutally shot in the head after finishing the deed with her mysterious killer. It's up to Dafoe and Hines to solve this line as it's believed to have involved an American soldier, and that leads to the murder of anybody who seems to know anything about what went on and who was responsible. It's easy to determine who the guilty party is, but the fun part of watching this cat and mouse game is the fact that at one point, the mouse is the cat, and all of a sudden, the cat becomes the mouse.
When all is revealed, it turns out to be much bigger than what they expected and that leads to their results of the investigation getting them into all sorts of trouble. The film is quite graphic, and there are some very disturbing scenes that show Hines and Dafoe getting in trouble at the same time with Vietnamese rebels fighting on the street and the MP's who should be protecting them. There's also a subplot involving nun Amanda Pays, as well as the intense, amoral officer played by Scott Glenn. In spite of a lot of plot holes and a frequently messy script, the direction by Christopher Crowe keeps everything moving at a steady pace, and once everything comes together, anything that seemed convoluted before is all of a sudden much more clear. So definitely an intriguing thriller that should have been a bit more well received even though it's far from a great film.
When all is revealed, it turns out to be much bigger than what they expected and that leads to their results of the investigation getting them into all sorts of trouble. The film is quite graphic, and there are some very disturbing scenes that show Hines and Dafoe getting in trouble at the same time with Vietnamese rebels fighting on the street and the MP's who should be protecting them. There's also a subplot involving nun Amanda Pays, as well as the intense, amoral officer played by Scott Glenn. In spite of a lot of plot holes and a frequently messy script, the direction by Christopher Crowe keeps everything moving at a steady pace, and once everything comes together, anything that seemed convoluted before is all of a sudden much more clear. So definitely an intriguing thriller that should have been a bit more well received even though it's far from a great film.