No Way Out

Kevin Costner's star has fallen quite a bit lately. I am reminded of an article I read which had a picture of Costner's dressing room door and the 'star' on it off kilter due to some missing screws - an apt allegory mirroring his career of late.

We all know how quickly $240 million USD gets used up making the sort of movie that deserves to go straight to video.

So what elevates an actor's reputation so much so that he alone can command quarter billion dollar projects?

There are a number of films made before 'Waterworld' that showed why Costner could command such studio confidence.

'No Way Out' is arguably one of his best films because it relies not on budget or film length to hammer home a point.

It's 1987 and Costner breaks out as Elliot Ness in the fantastic 'Untouchables'. That year he would star in a much tougher challenge.

'No Way Out' is a political thriller that depends heavily on suspense and plot twists. It is effectively divided into two halves; the first half builds up slowly (perhaps a bit too slowly). The second half seems like a different type of movie completely - it is all quick paced suspense that is relentless and could be confusing in the hands of a more incompetant director.

Costner plays a decorated Navy officer who has been appointed to a position in the Pentagon as a liaison officer to the Secretary of Defense (Hackman). He is recommend by a close schoolmate who is the Secretary's charge de affaires (Patton). Costner and Hackman are seeing the same woman (Sean Young) much to Costner's displeasure.

The woman meets with an unfortunate accident and a coverup ensues to protect the Secretary. The way that it is covered up and the lengths Costner goes to in an effort to help and hinder the investigation is labyrinth in execution and complexity. The ending is also memorable in its shock value and in the effacacy of its inclusion.

This film is notable for it's well developed and sympathetic characters and its deliberate pacing, especially the second half. I liked George Dzunda's wheelchair bound computer technician - his scenes with Costner were quite effective.

Straight up - the box says it's anamorphic, it's not. That might be grounds for return as it is.

I submitted it to the foolproof PC software test and it is non-anamorphic.

Even as a plain 4:3 picture, it's quite good; life-like colour fidelity, decent sharpness, fluid motion. However you do realise that it is a 1987 film by its muted palette and just reasonable contrast. There were variable amounts of grain; some places worse that others. Perhaps they used various film types or used cropping techniques?

I noticed that the original film stock has suffered some damage; none of the imperfections were too glaring but they were there nonetheless.

I have said that this film seems like two different halves - this is reinforced by the fact that the first half is a mixture of indoor and outdoor scenes in a variety of locales ie. on a yacht, in a car, in parties, apartments etc.

The second half is all indoors at the Pentagon often in familiar settings which gives it an almost claustrophobic feel. It is here where things are quite good in terms of video quality. Most defects are early on where there are a variety of challenges for the film including outdoor scenes and open skies.

Even so, I felt the defects do not detract from the film.

Not much to say about this one - it's a Dolby 2.0 track at 224k/s.

Very occasional subwoofer and surround use. The Jarre score is particularly effective doing much to enhance the breakneck pacing and the more relaxed buildup in the first hour.

Decent if not overwhelming music fidelity. Some music ambience in the rear channels. Vocals were quite intelligible however dynamic range is not good with breakup on some loud dialogue and peak effects.

I was unimpressed with an action scene where Costner is on a Naval vessel in the middle of a violent storm. In other films you expect quite an effects ride however this one is particularly poor.

The noise floor is not the best but I expect the original magnetic tape had sustained some damage.

There are a number of alternate language tracks but I make no comment on those other than to say they work.

It comes with one of MGM's fabled 'Collectible Booklets' which is like calling a 34cm 'Pornosonic' TV and mono VCR a 'home theater system'.

It's a two page slick with chapter titles and a short blurb. Collectible? If someone breaks into my place I'd be most upset if you filched my MGM collectible booklets...

My OOP Criterion discs or my LE Star Wars Special Edition laserdiscs? Nah, take them... but leave me my booklets for the love of ghod... :-)

btw. there's a theatrical trailer. The menus are uninspiring, amateurish static jobs.

I quite enjoy Costner's better movies. When he is good, he is particularly good but when he's bad, he's pretty excreble.

This movie belongs in your collection along with 'JFK', 'Dances with Wolves' and 'Wyatt Earp'.

Ok, I think MGM need to lift their game quite a bit but as it stands, it's not a bad disc and quite a great movie.