When Cameron Poe, of the US Army, is found guilty of manslaughter after killing a drunk man while protecting his wife outside a bar, he is sent to jail for eight years. During that time his daughter is born, but he waits patiently in his cell until his release date. He is flown home on board the Jailbird, which also transports some very dangerous convicts to a maximum-security prison in Louisiana. The convicts manage to escape directed by Cyrus "The Virus", who also leads the plane's take-over and re-routes it to an abandoned airfield to catch another plane which will take them to a foreign country. With Poe's help, the authorities learn where the convicts are headed for and manage to get there before they take off again.
Probably Simon Wests' best work. The General's Daughter was pretty weak and the remake When A Stranger Calls was too watered down for the PG-13 rating and also was more of a suspense movie than horror film. Another noticable cast and I was extremely surprised to see Dave Chappelle in there. John Malkovich was brilliant as Cyrus 'The Virus' Grissom. Although, my biggest beef with the film was the use of the song "How Do I Love" by Trisha Yearwood. To me it just didn't seem to fit the film. Finally, and I don't know this may just be me, but this seemed like a Michael Bay film. I know he didn't have any part in it but to me, it just felt like I was watching Bay (not in a bad way).
Uhh, you read what I wrote earlier right?
Bruckheimer effectively took Bay's over-the-top Fuck-You style in the 1990s, and produced movies with Wells and Tony Scott, among others, shooting. This also includes up to Antoine Fuqua with the flop KING ARTHUR(which is why he was called the black Michael Bay for some time).
As for MANHUNTER, glad you liked it. I think its flawed, and I admire its attributes more so than I actually like it, but MANHUNTER is a nice refreshing picture since the serial killer sub-genre is so refined, so expected, so boring(probably why I really liked ZODIAC so well).
Besides, its attributes maybe makes it barely sqeak over the prime example of the assembly-line serial killer thriller...RED DRAGON. Barely.
Thing is, complaining that an over-abused baddie is hardly featured in a film isn't exactly....legit.
The problems with MANHUNTER is the 80s-ness of it. Yikes. The shootout ending is just out of place, like boss Dino DeLaurentiis told Mann to get some action made.
What I did like the most about MANHUNTER was its initial pacing. Usually, the serial killer thriller that Hollywood produces goes like this: Killer strikes, cops clean up, killer stalks, cops chase, etc.
With MANHUNTER, unless my memory fails me, the first half-hour to 40 minutes is William Petersen investigating the brutal murders. What makes this special is that when the Tooth Fairy finally makes his appearance, with his hostage awakening in his home, its just so goddamn creepy without the need of music or over-the-top sets or even some expected comic book supervillainy details....you know, like RED DRAGON.
