NO WAY OUT

This 1987 Kevin Costner vehicle is an adaptation of a 1946 novel 'The Big Clock', written by Kenneth Fearing.

The clever plot-device Fearing came up with was to have the protagonist given the job of investigating a murder, with the catch being that he has been framed for the murder by the real murderer, who has set up the investigation.  Thus there is a race against time (hinted at by the title) whereby the protagonist has to uncover the murderer before the investigation closes in on him.

Here the hapless fall guy is a US Naval Intelligence Officer, Tom Farrell (Costner) who is in a relationship with Susan Atwell (Sean Young).  The complication is that she is also having an affair with Farrell's boss, US Secretary of Defence David Brice (Gene Hackman).  Things take a bad turn when Brice accidentally kills Susan in a jealous fit of rage.

Fortunately his resourceful righthand man Scott comes up with the idea of side-lining the police by setting up a special investigation (which I suspect isn't a real thing) headed up by Tom, with the idea that the guilty party should be Susan's other lover (i.e. Tom).  

To further muddy the waters the idea is fostered by Scott that the murderer is a KGB sleeper agent (codename 'Yuri') within the Department of Defence.  

To ensure that Brice is safe, Scott also arranges for two CIA assassins to be on hand to despatch Tom when he is unmasked.

The first time I saw this film I enjoyed it a lot - a great cast, an intriguing plot - what's not to like?

This time around it just about holds up as a fairly slick and typically 1980s piece of Hollywood entertainment, but I couldn't help being aware of some weaknesses. 

Somehow Tom's situation never quite generates as much tension as it ought to.  Some scenes between Costner and Hackman going toe-to-toe would have helped, but instead Hackman is really wasted.

Then there's the fact that of course Scott just has to be gay, and goes so deranged at the end he kills himself.

There's also a substandard bit of action midway through involving the assassins and Tom which instead of being exciting just makes the assassins look inept.

But maybe the main problem is the messy ending.  Spoiler alert: Yuri does exist, and guess what, he's Costner!

Superficially this is a neat twist, but of course it does mean that the guy we've been rooting for all along is really a KGB agent.  The film tries to get around this by having Tom/Yuri refusing to go back to Mother Russia, instead walking off into the sunset.

There's one slight problem though.  All the way through the film a computer has been working on converting a poor quality negative into a usable image, which will reveal Tom to be the mystery lover and therefore murderer.  And just when the investigation is wrapped up, and everyone thinks Scott is Yuri, the computer image of Tom appears.  

So the ending leaves Tom's fate up in the air, and therefore that of Brice too.  Unsatisfactory to say the least.

RATING: ✓ If You've Nothing Better To Do