My opinion of BROKEN ARROW has fluctuated each time I've viewed it over the last couple of decades. When I first watched it in the 1990s, I found it somewhat insipid in comparison to John Woo's other Hollywood flicks of the 1990s, HARD TARGET and FACE/OFF. I come to it again after a gap of twenty years and to my surprise, BROKEN ARROW is a lot better these days - huge fun, in fact. It's certainly superior to anything that Woo made post-FACE/OFF, and the entertainment value keeps on coming. The film is exceptionally cheesy, over the top and over-directed, but these things help combine to make it fun. Christian Slater is one of the closest US stars that Woo could find who was similar to Chow Yun-Fat in terms of build and movement, and his relationship with Samantha Mathis isn't bad. Woo is absolutely in love with John Travolta and that love affair would continue in FACE/OFF. The film's plot is preposterous, but the story and action is always on the move, and there are two big action set-pieces (the mine and the train) which contain the kind of massive, violent, well-choreographed shoot-out action familiar from Woo's Hong Kong productions. Great stuff!

Maj. Vic Deakins (John Travolta) and Capt. Riley Hale (Christian Slater) are tasked with flying the new stealth bomber on a low altitude test run with two real nukes. Colonel Max Wilkins (Delroy Lindo) is tasked with tracking them. While flying over Utah, Deakins tries to shoot Hale. Deakins ejects Hale and drops the nukes before crashing the plane. Pritchett (Bob Gunton) hired the group of ruthless mercenaries tracking the nukes. Park ranger Terry Carmichael (Samantha Mathis) finds Hale and helps battle the bad guys. When the nukes are found missing, Broken Arrow is declared.

This has some of the standard John Woo action. It's excessive and fun. I can do without his overuse of the Mexican standoffs but that's also his style. There is good stunt work and lots of explosions. Travolta proves that he can play the bad guy without a heart. Graham 'Speed' Yost finds a way to write another convoluted script that somehow works. This is more compelling that it has a right to be. It is a bit long. It needs to shorten the last bit on the train to make it more exciting. By the time Hale returns to his people, the movie needs to quickly blow up and wrap up.

John Woo's 1996 thriller has to be the worst Woo film that I've seen. For some reason, the magic just wasn't all there this time, maybe Woo's heart just wasn't in it. For one, the film lacks his typical visual flair for shoot-outs and gun battles, and there is a low death toll. Secondly, the plot has to be one of the most hackneyed things I've ever seen, with the old story of someone stealing nuclear weapons. The ending even rips off UNDER SIEGE 2, but at least things pick up a bit here, with an exciting fight sequence on a train.

Sure, there are a few good moments; the bit where a man has a hammer thrown in his face, a bit where a nuclear weapon explodes underground, and the finale where Slater and Travolta slug it out on board a train about to crash, but these moments are few and far between. The miscasting in the film also doesn't help. Christian Slater is more suited to playing psychopaths rather than action heroes, and frankly he just isn't very believable in the role. John Travolta overdoes his psychotic madman role too much, and comes off irritating and childish rather than in the least bit menacing. Still, it's obvious he's enjoying himself in the role, and some of that enjoyment rubs off on the viewer. There are a couple of good actors in supporting roles (including cult favourite Kurtwood Smith),and Samantha Mathis is nice as the female lead, but the pairing of Slater and Travolta just doesn't work very well.

Sure, I enjoyed this film a lot the first time I saw it, but on second viewing I realised just how empty it really is. Despite a few moments of impressive chases and fights, this is nothing we've not seen before and a big disappointment. The way that every helicopter explodes in the film is pretty ridiculous too.