Rating: 
Summary: A must see if you like suspense!
Review: Great acting, on-the-edge-of the chair suspense - in fact, probably the BEST build up of suspense in a movie I have ever witnessed, empathy with the main character - you get right inside the character and literally feel the panic of the precicament he is faced with, action, politics, and a superbly clever twist to the end - I'M SAYING NO MORE BECAUSE I HIGHTLY RECOMMEND YOU TO WATCH THIS FILM FOR THE FIRST TOME IN TOTAL IGNORANCE OF THE PLOT! IF YOU ARE THINKING OF GETTING IT AND YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT YET, THEN STOP HERE! DON'T READ ANY MORE REVIEWS! Take my word for it, a real thriller!
Rating: 
Summary: A well-made political thriller with some pleasant twists...
Review: Having lived around the outskirts of Washington, D.C. myself, it's always a nice treat to watch a film that literally takes place right where I have stood, at one time or another. It's just very fun to know that a famous movie was shot where you once walked. (Although I now regret visiting the set of "101 Dalmations" in London--that's one story I don't often tell people with a smile on my face.)At the beginning of "No Way Out," we get to see Washington from above as the camera glides through the air, swerving and going around in circles, until we land inside a small interrogation room housing a convicted murderer (Kevin Costner), who is in fact innocent and has been framed. "When's he coming out?" he asks as he walks over to a one-way mirror and looks through the glass. Right as we start to think, "Whom is he talking to?" (Or "Does he mean Hackman?" if you've read anything about the film), we fall backwards in time and land in the same place some number of months earlier. "No Way Out" is a government thriller about an officer wrongly accused of murder--when the Secretary of State himself is the culprit trying to avoid a scandal by launching a top-secret cover-up. Costner is the officer, and Gene Hackman is the Secretary of State. After meeting a beautiful young woman (Sean Young) at a party, Costner takes her into a limo and they have a quickie--before they even know each other's names. What's this got to do with anything? Why is my review so choppy and linear-challenged? We'll get there. The relationship between the two turns into a big romance until Costner is sent out to sea, where he saves a sailor from falling overboard and is praised in all the papers--where his girlfriend back home sees his face and is reminded of him. (Now she's the mistress of Hackman, by the way--that complicates matters quite a bit.) When he arrives back home, they go on a romantic getaway--but Hackman finds out and accidentally murders the girl while trying to get her to tell him the name of her lover. Ready to turn himself in, Hackman is persuaded by his gay friend to cover everything up and blame someone else. The gay man even goes and gets rid of the evidence himself--with pride, I might add. (It's like Mr. Burns and Smithers from "The Simpsons"--the latter loves the former, but the former is too powerful and naive to ever notice.) The clever twist in "No Way Out" is that Costner knows Hackman killed Young, but Hackman doesn't know that he knows that. (Get it?) As he runs around the Pentagon and other government establishments, the evidence starts to pile up against him--the negative off the back of a Polaroid camera, a few eyewitnesses who claim they saw a man outside Young's apartment the night of her murder, etc. The great thing about "No Way Out," and another factor that separates it from the rest of its kind, is something that's hard to explain to someone who hasn't seen the film. Essentially, no one knows who killed the girl--and Costner isn't placed under arrest straight away because no one has uncovered any evidence pointing towards him. As the negative off the back of the Polaroid is scanned through a computer and painstakingly altered to reveal the man's face on the photo, Costner runs around trying to eliminate evidence before anyone finds out. The photo will eventually reveal his own face, yes, but he has a number of hours until then to find the true evidence that convicts Hackman. This is a smart thriller with a few pleasant twists, particularly the very end. It's not a great movie by any means, but it's well-acted and solidly directed by Roger Donaldson, who also made last year's "The Recruit" with Al Pacino and Colin Farrell. The guy obviously likes government thrillers. This one is a lot more plausible than "The Recruit," too.
Rating:
Summary: The Consummate Washington Movie/ The Best Spy Thriller!
Review: I love a good spy thriller but most of them do not translate as well onto the screen. "The Three Days of the Condor," "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold," and "The Jackal," the remake, immediately come to mind. Though enjoyable, none of these movies were "better" than the books. "No Way Out" may be an exception. Although only loosely adopted from the film noir novella, "The Big Clock," by Kenneth Fearing (made into a film in the 50s and now out of print), "No Way Out" is one of the most suspenseful, intriguing and best unraveled spy thrillers ever put on film. As a bonus, it is also the "quintessential" Washington movie not only capturing the vistas of D.C./Northern Virginia from the Pentagon, the Rockville Parkway, the monuments to the alleys and canals of Georgetown, but the spirit of desperate machinations of politicians and equally ambitious bureaucrats, big and small, as they scheme and claw their way up the steps of Washington influence and power food chain. For someone like myself who went to school in D.C., lived and worked there, this film is a must own. Whenever I miss D.C., I watch this movie, and then I am glad that I left. But I am also glad I had had the experience. Some of the Hollywood movie reviewers said about this movie, that it was unrealistic. How would they know? They live in Hollywood. How so very not true their statement. Kevin Costner, in his break through role as the stoic and brooding lover/warrior Commander Ferrel, is a decorated up and coming Navy officer who becomes the Department of Defense's liaison to the "intelligence" community. His boss, the Secretary of Defense, played to perfect corrupt pitch by the incomparable Gene Hackman, has nothing but contempt for the "intelligence" community which is made up essentially of the CIA, NSA, the Armed Services and other intelligence gathering organizations as well as counter-intelligence organizations such as the FBI. He calls them a "bunch of piranhas." Commander Ferrel's already difficult task of gathering his own intelligence from and establishing credibility with the "intelligence" community, for the Secretary of Defense, gets complicated when he is asked to investigate the murder of a woman, a beautiful party girl Susan Atwood, played with subtlety and affect by the hugely under-rated talent Sean Young--have you seen "Bladerunner"? I will not spoil your fun and enjoyment by telling you anything more, but that there is a classic love triangle, bureaucratic scheming, foreign intrigue, and one of the best plot twist surprises to delight and satisfy. Paced just right, dramatic tension unfolding intelligently and surprisingly, this Robert Garland script directed by Roger Donaldson ("Thirteen days"--2001) is perfect!!
Rating:
Summary: As far a supense films go. This is the best I have ever seen
Review: I saw this film when it first came out, since than no other movie has compared to the twist and turns this movie has. It is the type of movie you wish you could see for the first time all over again. It will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Rating:
Summary: INTRICATELY CRAFTED POLITICAL THRILLER
Review: If only the ending could be just a tad different, this would be twice as popular as it ever got. The topnotch, passionately made film largely goes unsung, a bit like "The Siege," only because it threw away all the riveting plot twists when it reached its ho-hum finale (some may call it a great final twist). Quibbles aside, this fast paced nail-biter may be one of the quickest 2 hours of cinema ever filmed. Costner plays a Navy commander assigned to a high level post in the DOD, where he, and the Secretary of Defense become embroiled in a murder/scandal. The bulk of the film chronicles the Departments Under Secretary's attempts to quash the problem. A high level Russian mole in the U.S. government is being pursued throughout the film. The chase keeps narrowing down more and more drawing the government officials closer and closer to the culprit. The tension became almost unbearable as the mole was about to be trapped. Costner, for a change, is really convincing in his role, the tight dialog helping him immeasurably. Sean Young actually smiles in this movie and looks twice as good as all her other newer movies put together. Gene Hackman has the usual commanding screen presence. All in all, a fabulous politically charged thriller you ought not to miss!
Rating:
Summary: INTRICATELY CRAFTED POLITICAL THRILLER
Review: If only the ending could be just a tad different, this would be twice as popular as it ever got. The topnotch, passionately made film largely goes unsung, a bit like "The Siege," only because it threw away all the riveting plot twists when it reached its ho-hum finale (some may call it a great final twist). Quibbles aside, this fast paced nail-biter may be one of the quickest 2 hours of cinema ever filmed. Costner plays a Navy commander assigned to a high level post in the DOD, where he, and the Secretary of Defense become embroiled in a murder/scandal. The bulk of the film chronicles the Departments Under Secretary's attempts to quash the problem. A high level Russian mole in the U.S. government is being pursued throughout the film. The chase keeps narrowing down more and more drawing the government officials closer and closer to the culprit. The tension became almost unbearable as the mole was about to be trapped. Costner, for a change, is really convincing in his role, the tight dialog helping him immeasurably. Sean Young actually smiles in this movie and looks twice as good as all her other newer movies put together. Gene Hackman has the usual commanding screen presence. All in all, a fabulous politically charged thriller you ought not to miss!
Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully tense, fast-paced thriller
Review: If the studio is no longer producing videos of this movie, the studio should be closed down. It is one of best spy thrillers ever made, with a very convincing portrayal of Washington politics and intrigue in the defense and intelligence communities. It's probably Costner's best acting performance, and even his Russian accent is not that bad. The love scene in the limousine is great, almost as good as Gene Hackman's jealousy-driven murder of Sean Young and the manhunt with which the movie builds to a crescendo. Magnificent entertainment.
Rating:
Summary: A really good politcal thriller. Good suspense film.
Review: Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman, Sean Young, and supporting cast all turn in excellent performances in this underrated but very effective political thriller. This is a very good and effective movie dealing with inside Washington politics and intrigue, and international espionage. The plot moves at a breakneck pace, there are few draggy lulls of the type that plague so many movies these days, and the film never fails to capture and retain the viewer's interest. This is a great "beer and chips" film for a Friday evening. No spoilers here, but just let it be said that as one watches the film, it twists and turns and continues to surprise the viewer. Costner is very effective here, Gene Hackman has his usual presence, and overall, this film solidly succeeds in its goal, which is to entertain. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A really good politcal thriller. Good suspense film.
Review: Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman, Sean Young, and supporting cast all turn in excellent performances in this underrated but very effective political thriller. This is a very good and effective movie dealing with inside Washington politics and intrigue, and international espionage. The plot moves at a breakneck pace, there are few draggy lulls of the type that plague so many movies these days, and the film never fails to capture and retain the viewer's interest. This is a great "beer and chips" film for a Friday evening. No spoilers here, but just let it be said that as one watches the film, it twists and turns and continues to surprise the viewer. Costner is very effective here, Gene Hackman has his usual presence, and overall, this film solidly succeeds in its goal, which is to entertain. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: It'll keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end
Review: My review title says it all. If you like suspense movies, you will love this one. I'm not a Kevin Costner fan, I can take him or leave him, but this movie stands on it's own for it's plot and suspense. Trust me, this one will keep you guessing until the end. The only down side is, like most great suspense movies, it's not as exhilarating the second time, but still nice to watch.
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