Broken Arrow

Broken Arrow delivers the hippest action fun around. Travolta's "Dr. Strangelove" exit will blow you away. Ditto the movie.

Woo has turned out a slick piece of business, filled with explosions and assorted acts of violence brought off with considerable movie-making skill.

Broken Arrow is "Speed" gone nuclear. Yet, despite all the explosions, violence, special effects, and other choreographed excesses, this film doesn't have quite the same impact. It's fun, to be sure, and the wild ride doesn't let up for a moment, but the level of tension isn't quite as high.

Mr. Woo orchestrates his giddy, daring stunts on a newly spectacular level. There's plenty of physical audacity on screen.

Though John Travolta and Christian Slater don boxing gloves to open the dippy but zippy Broken Arrow, the real slugfest in director John Woo's elaborately mounted action pic is between content and style. Call it a draw, and call the movie's content a Speed derivative. [9 Feb 1996, p.1D]

One fundamental problem with the movie is that John Travolta is seriously miscast as a nuclear terrorist. Say what you will about the guy, he doesn't come across as a heavy.

Arrow is about as abysmal as abysmal gets.

Broken Arrow is not an original movie, it's an action movie that's made to thrill audiences, not to leave them deep in thought. It manages to rise to the head of the pack thanks to great acting, directing and an excellent score. 2 U.S. army officers, Major Vic Deakins(John Travolta) and Captain Riley Hale(Christian Slater) are assigned to fly a jet plane carrying 2 live nukes to conduct a test. During the flight Deakins reveals his true intent, ejects the stunned Hale out of the plane, and releases the nukes before crashing it. This comes to the alert of park ranger Terry Charmical(Samantha Mathis) who immediatly sets out to find what is going on. Once the nukes are dropped Col. Max Wilkins(Delroy Lindo) is faced with bringing down Deakins and right hand man turncoat soldier Arvid Kelly(Howie Long) with the help of pencil pusher Giles Prentice(Frank Whaley). Travolta is great in an over the top but very entertaining role, and Slater does a good job as an action hero. Mathis is slightly miscast though, and should probably stick to her other hit films. Howie Long effectively plays Kelly with very little skill and no expierence, but his size helps give him on screen presence. Delroy Lindo is effective as the confident military officer, although Frank Whaley, despite being a good actor, is rather annoying in his role All in all if your looking for a great way to spend almost two hours, then sit down and watch this movie. It's definately a movie worth watching several times over **** 1/2 out of *****

It meant to be a honest action thriller about nuclear weapons but is overblown by one or two lousy action sequences and Samantha Mathis is just a distraction.

Typical 90's action flick. The acting was okay, the cinematography was good, the movie was filled with cheesy one-liners, it was predictable and the last half hour is filled with action. If you like 90's action flicks you will probably find this one at the very least entertaining.

for some reason i would call this one a good one for a T.V movie........compare the train end scene with the end scene from Selena..!! LOL!! i enjoyed the suspense of the mine scene i remember

Quite possibly one of the worst movies I've ever seen (right up there with MI:2 - another John Woo movie). I can't seem to fathom how people can enjoy this guys movies. It's so absurd and the acting is horrible! (mainly the girl and Travolta's character)