Well. What can I say? This film is rather typical and has the same amount of violence as many other action-thrillers. (But perhaps a little more?) Despite this, it was very enjoyable and in my opinion deserves 6.5 stars-slightly more than it actually got. I never realized that Travolta was such a good "bad guy" actor and almost deserved an Oscar! But Christian Slater was just as good as the out and out good guy, along with Terry Carmichael as his side-kick. The ending was short but effective, because of the pleasing lack of sentimentality and sexism. Keep up the good films, because I certainly enjoyed this one.

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.