Nowhere to Run Review
It's hard to pinpoint the most gloriously ludicrous element of this Jean-Claude Van Damme thriller, which was directed by Robert_Harmon (The_Hitcher) and co-written by Joe_Eszterhas (Basic_Instinct). Maybe it's the improbable casting of offbeat urban pixie Rosanna_Arquette as Clydie, a proud, kindly widow fighting to save her farm from greedy real-estate developers. Possibly, it's the fact that Clydie's kids have been saddled with the names Mookie (Kieran_Culkin) and Bree (Tiffany_Taubman) -- unlikely monikers that seem downright preposterous when applied to a pair of precocious urchins. Perhaps it's the script's attempt to manipulate heartstrings via poor, fatherless Mookie's paternal longing for Sam, Van_Damme's escaped convict with a heart of gold. Probably, though, it's Van_Damme's frequent semi-nudity and the script's resulting sexual anxiety. We get Sam looking at porno mags in his woodland hideout. We get Bree and Mookie stumbling on the naked Sam as he bathes in a lake. And ultimately, we get a frank discussion about the size of Sam's manly endowments between Clydie, the kids, and Sam himself -- all over a hearty breakfast. If this film had starred Arnold_Schwarzenegger and made 100 million dollars at the box office, these varied facts could have provided the basis for many interesting theories about gender roles and the state of the American family in the 1990s. Given that Nowhere to Run is a far more modest production, however, its many idiosyncrasies serve only to distract attention from the fact that it's not a very good action movie. Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
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