Ridley Scott rocks, but even he couldn't breathe enough life into this to make it a solid hit. Needed a better writer.
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hawk-58 — 19 years ago(October 07, 2006 09:15 PM)
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Too bad, puzzle queen - you shoulda paid more attention! I have seen this movie many, many times. In fact, just got through watching it again on my big-screen TV on TMC. Ridley Scott is in my personal top 5 favorite directors. I think this is one of his very best. I have seen the comments about "hackneyed plot", but I personally cannot recall another movie with this plot: cop assigned to guard socialite and they fall in love.
I thought the casting and acting were great (God, Mimi Rogers and Lorraine Bracco were - and are - a couple of gorgeous broads!), the pacing was very suspenseful, the villain was TERRIFYING, the soundtrack was wonderful, the sets and cinematography were first-rate - altogether entertaining, frightening, and totally memorable. It isn't Ibsen, but then it's not supposed to be. It is supposed to be an intelligent, polished, well-made slice of escapist entertainment, and that's exactly what it is. I am sure I am not the only one who found the world of the NYC glitterati (of 20 years ago, now) fascinating, as did Tom Berenger's character. It totally sucked him inHe is lucky he escaped with his sanity and marriage; not all of Scott's films end on such a positive note.
Were I voting today, I would still give it a solid 8.0. Now, Blade Runner I would rate 10.0, being my favorite movie of all time (probably; hard to choose just one, from one genre), but this is a respectable effort on Ridley Scott's part. -
Iam006 — 16 years ago(November 14, 2009 09:16 AM)
I know they are a bit too 'movie-ish', but this movie needed a car chase and maybe an actual sex scene. It wasn't a bad film but just needed a little more. Plus, the music was STRANGE AS HELL. Again, not bad. But STRAAAAAANGE.
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dorlich — 15 years ago(September 06, 2010 09:32 AM)
hawk-58
I agree. Love the moody lighting, the casting, and the quandary the detective found himself in was totally believable. Also, the wonderful Katsulas was really terrifying. The murder scene was so shocking and suddencaught me totally off guard. I don't understand the negative comments here.
No, I didn't love you the most, but I loved you first. -
alangalpert — 15 years ago(December 29, 2010 12:22 PM)
hawk-58,
I agree with everything you said, and you said it well. I don't know how the movie could have been more suspenseful or believable. I have only two minor complaints: 1) The volume of the music was too high in a few of the scenes and overwhelmed the action or dialogue; and 2) The shootout at the end could have shown more clearly what was happening. -
jaye50-1 — 12 years ago(July 01, 2013 07:52 PM)
they lost me in the beginning when he was chasing her and she ran into the elevator all he had to do was stick his arm in the door and it would have opened that's what the black protrusions inside the door are for and the movie would have been over i find it hard to believe that anyone doesn't know that sticking your arm in an elevator door opens the door.
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Jumpygrouch — 11 years ago(January 24, 2015 12:50 PM)
Yes the elevator wasn't believable and how about Tom's accent being from Queens? When he got into it, the accent was so clearly Brooklyn, Bensonhurst Italian especially. Any New Yorker would have gotten annoyed by a cop from Queens who so clearly was NOT from Queens! And the look was a very stylized New York for the time, it didn't ring true. She was supposed to live in the UES but the interior of her home was very UWS or Flatiron or further south. And even the doorknob of the washroom at the Guggenheim was wrong. The movie just looked wrong, to anyone who lived in NYC. Berenger and Bracco made the movie touching but so much about it just felt wrong.
"I was made to understand there were grilled cheese sandwiches here" -
Robbmonster — 10 years ago(August 12, 2015 10:42 AM)
Maybe he was from the from the extreme south west of Queens. You know, one block from Brooklyn.
Never defend crap with 'It's just a movie'
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