Tonight's Movie: No Way Out (1987) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

One of the more memorable films of the '80s, NO WAY OUT (1987), has just been released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber.

A 4K edition packaged with the Blu-ray is also available.

Star Kevin Costner had a remarkable, star-making run of films in the late '80s, with this film preceded by SILVERADO (1985) and THE UNTOUCHABLES (1987); NO WAY OUT was then followed by BULL DURHAM (1988), FIELD OF DREAMS (1989), and DANCES WITH WOLVES (1990). He's been a favorite of mine for close to four decades now.

I first saw NO WAY OUT on its original theatrical release, then revisited it and reviewed it here in 2011. This was my first time to watch it in 13 years, and I thoroughly enjoyed it all over again.

NO WAY OUT's screenplay by Robert Garland is based on the Kenneth Fearing novel THE BIG CLOCK, which was filmed in 1948. My reviews of the excellent earlier film may be found here and here.

The 1987 film makes significant plot changes, including an oddball ending which will not be discussed here. I really like the creative way most of the story was reworked, including changing the setting from a stylish magazine publisher's office to the mazes of the Pentagon. This is one of those times when I feel a remake was more than justified.

Costner plays naval hero Tom Farrell, who's appointed to be an aide to prickly Secretary of Defense David Brice (Gene Hackman).

Shortly after arriving in Washington Farrell begins an affair with free-spirited Susan Atwell (Sean Young). Unfortunately Atwell is also the married Brice's mistress, but she loves Tom and pledges to break off the relationship with Brice. Brice kills Atwell in a jealous rage.

Brice and his overly devoted aide/"cleanup man" Scott Pritchard (Will Patton) plan to frame the mysterious other man in Atwell's life for her murder and Farrell is deputized to investigate.

Farrell, who has been stunned to learn of Atwell's death, has to find a way to prove that Brice is the murderer before the investigation closes in on...himself.

There's much more to the plot, with many twists and turns, but the less said the better; this film is great fun to discover while watching. It's a highly entertaining 114 minutes featuring strong performances all the way around.

NO WAY OUT is interesting to the modern viewer in another way; it's one of those movies like another film from the same year, BABY BOOM (1987), which is both "so near and yet so far." Other than the "big hair" it seems very modern...but computers are primitive and use floppy discs, and urgent secret phone calls must be made on pay phones. I've often reflected on how the advent of widespread cellphone use has changed plotting in movies.

For additional analysis of the characters and performances, I invite readers to click over to my detailed 2011 review.

NO WAY OUT was directed by Roger Donaldson and filmed by John Alcott. The supporting cast includes Fred Thompson, Howard Duff, George Dzunda, and Iman.

A side note for anyone who may be wondering: This film has no connection to the 1950 film of the same name which starred Sidney Poitier, Richard Widmark, and Linda Darnell.

Parental Advisory: NO WAY OUT is a strong R rating due to nudity, language, violence, and mature themes. The nude scenes are completely unnecessary and detract rather than add from the film. They are really my only significant complaint, other than That Ending.

Kino Lorber's print is from a new HD master from a 4K scan of the original 35mm camera negative. The Blu-ray looks great.  I did notice I had to turn my TV sound up quite a bit higher than usual for the soundtrack to play at what I consider a normal level.

Disc extras consist of a new commentary track by Steve Mitchell and Richard Brewer, as well as an archival commentary by director Donaldson; an interview with Donaldson; and the trailer.

Recommended.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.

Tweet