Travolta stars as an Air Force captain gone mad, Vic Deakins, who steals two thermonuclear warheads right out from under the nose of his co-pilot, Riley Hale, played by Christian Slater and his agile stunt double. Apparently, Deakins has been passed over for promotion so many times that young Hale has risen through the ranks to Captain - and Vic's still not in the Admiral's chair.
Deakins and Hale are flying a test run through Utah, attempting to avoid being detected by their superiors, in an effort to prove that, yes, a stealth bomber could very well destroy all of Utah without interference. During the flight, Deakins distracts Hale and attempts to shoot him (although why he'd be that dumb as to fire a gun in the cockpit of any sort of aircraft is beyond me). Fortunately, Hale realizes what is happening and, in the process of struggling, Deakins "punches him out," ejecting him from the plane. He releases the nukes, unarmed so they won't go off, and bails out of the plane just before it crashes into the side of the canyon. Gratuitous explosion number one.
Upon landing, Hale's luck turns for the worse, then for the better. He struggles briefly with a park ranger (Samantha Mathis, "Little Women," "How to Make an American Quilt") who, while not Sandra Bullock a la "Speed," is pretty darn attractive, as park rangers go. At first, he shows no interest in her, aside from sending her to call for help several times, and he never even asks her for her name. (In fact, we don't know that her name is Terrie Carmichael until just before the credits roll - how '90s.)
The movie never has a dull moment, in fact, I have to admit that I was on the edge of my seat the whole time - counting the gratuitous explosions. Throughout the course of the film, four helicopters, one car, one train and, yes, one stealth bomber are consumed by explosion.
Despite these cool effects, Travolta just doesn't convince me as a villian. He's too cool, too suave to be evil; when Hale says to him, "You're out of your mind," he responds, "Yeah, ain't it cool?!" How Travolta-esque, too much like his character in "Pulp Fiction." His one good line has to be repeated twice for effect, "How many times do I have to say it? Please don't shoot at the thermonuclear weapons!"
So, why is the film called "Broken Arrow?" It's actually a military term for when "we lose" nukes and have to go get them back. Giles Prentice (Frank Whaley), the only honest man in the operation, has the best line in the whole film, "I don't know what's scarier, losing nuclear weapons or that it happens so often, we actually have a term for it."
Overall, the film is well done. The effects are excellent, but the acting is shallow. Travolta's too cool villian might appeal to the teeny-boppers, but he's just not convincing enough for me. Mathis makes a wonderful female hero; she's got more guns on her than anyone else in the film, she can use them and, when facing a former Navy SEAL without a gun, she manages to knock him out with hammer to the head, and not from behind, either. Slater turns in a nice performance, but his stunt double does most of the work.
All in all, "Broken Arrow" is great for people who liked "Speed," but it's a five dollar movie for people who like action films with solid characters and good acting.
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