Broken Arrow

"Would you mind not shooting at the thermonuclear weapons?!" -Deakins (John Travolta)

"You know, you can't arm real nuclear weapons by dialing 1-800-Blow-Up into them." -My friend Jessica, illustrating perfectly how wonderfully silly this film is.

Every summer, I start craving a need to watch action movies. It's always been one of my favorite genres ever since I was a teen and ever since Broken Arrow came out, it's been one of my favorites. 

The film stars John Travolta as Deakins, a disgruntled Air Force pilot who is plotting to steal a pair of nuclear weapons and hold them for ransom. Standing in his way is his co-pilot, Hale (played by Christian Slater). To cover his tracks, Deakins ejects Hale from their plane, parachutes the bombs out and ejects himself over the Utah desert. 

Deakins hooks up with his cronies, including his sidekick Howie Long and the whiniest villain ever, Pritchett (played by Bob Gunton). Meanwhile, Hale gains the assistance of Park Ranger Terry Carmichael (played by Samantha Mathis).

The film is one long chase as Hale and Terry try to steal the nukes back from Deakins and Company. This includes a car chase through the desert between two humvees, an extended shoot out in an abandoned copper mine, and an extended fight on a moving freight train. This film also includes four seperate helicopter explosions, which seems a bit excessive, even to me.

At the end of the day, Broken Arrow is Travolta's show, playing the baddie Deakins with such an infectous over the top glee. Slater does his best in the hero role, as does Mathis and the two share the same chemistry they had in Pump Up the Volume. But still, it's Travolta that dominates the film and is easily one of the most memorable things about the film.

Hans Zimmer's score is one of the other memorable aspects of the film, providing a group of memorable themes, especially Deakins theme, a twangy guitar riff contributed by the great Duane Eddy. This theme even found a second life a year later as Dewey's theme in Scream 2. The theme was used in the temporary soundtrack when they were editing that film and it fit so well, they licensed the music and kept it in the finished film.

The film is directed by John Woo, and while it's one of his more minor efforts his trademarks are still all over the film, from the use of slow motion to his heroes brandishing dual handguns. He takes the film up a notch, giving it some style and wit to set it apart. 

Broken Arrow doesn't pretend to be anything more than a shoot 'em up action picture, with perhaps a bizarre helicopter bias. In it's own unambitious way it's a thoroughly entertaining, if quite silly, action film that I personally have always enjoyed.