No Way Out

Several times during this film I felt that there was no way out. It isn't entirely riveting. From 1987, directed by Roger Donaldson (Cocktail, Dante's Peak and others), and starring Kevin Costner (just as his career was taking off), it's a rather laborious political thriller. Costner is a naval officer, working at the Pentagon, having an affair with a woman who is also having an affair with his boss (played by Gene Hackman), the secretary of defense, who accidentally kills her. Costner is (in a roundabout way) framed for the murder. This is the gist of the film, but it takes a long, long time to get going. It's almost two hours long, and you can feel every minute drag by. Eventually the tension does begin to mount as the hunt closes down on Costner, but there's no great acting, music or dialogue to keep you excited here. Costner has always been rather bland, and it's a style that worked in a few movies, but doesn't really work here. The twist at the end is bizarre, and feels forced to make the film interesting (although I assume it must've been in the original novel by Kenneth Fearing). You lose all confidence and sympathy in your main character, and thus leave the movie feeling cheated, rather than satisfied. It's a strange decision by the writer/director. There's little to recommend here, and I think you might be better off watching the original film from the 1940s, The Big Clock.