Reviews

A movie that you can watch over and over again and find something new. There really is something for everyone and for those who follow classical screenplay protocols this is an absolute must. The timing of events and the pace of those events is absolutely perfect. Richard Gere is really extremely good and in fact as time goes on his role may actually turn out to be one of his best. He has such a fragile bravado in this tale of selfish loner turns good. Debra Winger and Louis Gossett are also outstanding. It is a movie that you either love or you hate and, over the years, the critics have very much wanted to play it down but there is no doubt in my mind that it is a classic tale well told with every aspect of "the cinema" used to its fullest extent

The storyline revolves around the plot to steal a mysterious briefcase by a bunch of misfit ex-security service mercenaries. De Niro plays the lead as he and his comrades speed around the French countryside moving from one doublecross to the next. The car chases are excellent but the overall flow of the movie is clumsy and dated. There are too many cliched moments involving French cafes, ex-Russian spies and Irish terrorists. Multiple attempts at sophistication and intrigue fall flat as an accomplished cast try to sustain the suspense. A glaring example is the extreme waste of Sean Bean as a twitchy ex-SAS imposter whose role serves no purpose but to introduce a few overly clever references to the English town of Hereford. (The connection between the town and the SAS is probably lost on much of the audience and no explanation is given). This movie tries to bridge the gap between an intelligent dialogue-driven thriller and a gratuitous all-action movie. Sadly, it falls very flat somewhere in between.