Back in Hong Kong, John Woo was the Martin Scorsese of Asian Cinema. Since he's come to Hollywood with HARD TARGET, he's been a glorified action-jobber director. it almost makes one want to use the "O" word on John Woo......Overrated.
In this otherwise by-the-numbers cliche action meal ticket, the only innovative or actually interesting execution was that of the opening with the overhead shot of a boxing ring, surrounded by darkness as the combatants duke it out with their gloves.
Maybe its just me, but when a movie's sole cool grace is used in the opening credits, we're in trouble.
But I can't blame BROKEN ARROW's dull tip totally on Woo.
I love action movies, but there is always trouble when I'm totally rewriting the film's story within my head.
Take the mine sequence. I mean, why not simply have that John Travolta the bad guy had his goons plant explosives at every cavern-entrance to the mine, so to contain the nuclear bomb's explosion (remember, they just want to send a message to D.C.) and keep any government troops from disarming the bomb in time. But with Christian Slater and his Useless Love Interest, Travolta does this to trap them in a nuclear holocaust, and his gang runs off to avoid radiation. Then the Useless Love Interest knows something the bad guys and their mine-maps didn't know: There is a little-known river flowing under the caverns, which the heroes use to escape just in time.
BUT NOOOOOOO!
Instead, the movie has Travolta arming the bomb at 13 minutes, and does the most logical thing in his position...he chases after the heroes and continues their gunfight, then he has the mine's only entrance to the surface blocked off.
Or better yet, how Travolta's character goes from being rather-smart and prepared disgruntled employee going the DIE HARD profit route to, and then turn into a psychopath in the finale* for no reasonable explanation except to explain why the second bomb is ticking away, and an excuse for an 1980s-esque gay-as-hell bitch muscle fist fight between Slater and Travolta this side of COMMANDO.
BROKEN ARROW isn't a bad movie despite my whining. I got my forgettable thrills, gunfights, Useless Female Star, Dispensable jobber-troops, and Woo's trademark goofy slow-motion cinematography, but like DIE HARD 2 or any Michael Bay movie, it acts moronic just for the sake of its insepid plot.
