Washington Defense Secretary David Brice has a political dispute with Senator William 'Billy' Duvall about the project of a submarine. He asks his advisor Scott Pritchard to invite the Navy Lieutenant Commander Tom Farrell, who has become a national hero after rescuing a sailor during a storm, to join his team. Farrell meets Susan Atwell at a party and they have a torrid love affair. Farrell Learns that Susan is Brice's mistress but he falls in love with her. They spend a weekend together and when they return to Susan's apartment, Brice rings the bell. The upset Farrell leaves the apartment and sees Brice waiting for Susan. Brice has an argument with Susan and pushes her from the balcony which kills her. Brice panics and reports the accident to Pritchard. However, the Cunning chief of staff accuses the imaginary Soviet mole Yuri of murdering Susan. Farrell is assigned to lead the investigations to find the identity of Yuri. Now he must find the real killer before the computer regenerates the Polaroid negative of the two found in Sudan's apartment. David Brice, the Secretary of Defense is feuding with a powerful Senator over a project that Brice wants to discontinue which the Senator wants to push through and Brice knows that the Senator will the Director of the CIA whom he has in his pocket to get an edge on Brice. So Brice has Tom Farrell a Naval Intelligence officer assigned to him to help combat the Director. Farrell upon arriving in Washington hooks up with Susan Atwell a woman whom he had a brief liaison with when he was in Washington a few months ago. He doesn't know that Atwell is Brice's mistress as well. When Brice learns that she's been seeing someone else kills her. Now to find the man she's been seeing so that he could not tell anyone about her and Brice, Scott Pritchard, Brice's confidant suggests that they claim that Yuri, a Russian spy whom some people believe is an urban legend killed her. So the search commences, Farrell tries to find a way to get Brice to stop the search before they find him cause he knows Pritchard plans to kill the guy when they find him. As I watched No Way Out I realised that I had distant memories of having watched and enjoyed this before at some point in my youth. I hoped as it progressed it would hold up and still be as enjoyable - it was. As a thriller it is very satisfying. There are some excellent performances all around. Costner and Young were both great - although almost over the top cheesy at times. Patton and Hackman were exceptional in their sinister performances. They really made this work as at times the story line verged a little on the ridiculous side and you couldn't help but wonder at the credibility of some of the characters decisions. There are some extremely fast paced and tense action scenes such as the chase scene and the building search scene that really are edge of your seat stuff. As the film continues the pace grows and grows until it explodes into a frenetic and frenzied outcome. Just when you think it's all done and dusted the final scene reveals the biggest shock of all. Personally I did like the twist - but think that it could have been done more subtly and effectively. Overall verdict: solid 80's corruption thriller with some excellent acting that gave the story weight and made it work. All out action-packed thriller showcasing what can happen when high leveled people in the government have mistresses.<br/><br/>Kevin Costner plays a liaison to the Secretary of Defense, Gene Hackman. Problem is that they're both having affairs with the same woman, who is killed by Hackman accidentally in a rage.<br/><br/>The real acting kudos goes to Will Patton, the gay assistant to Hackman who dreams up that a Russian spy, named Yury did the killing. Problem is that Costner had just left the house before Hackman came and committed the crime.<br/><br/>The movie is wonderfully tense along the way as government officials look for this Yury, appearing that it is Costner, as there are two witnesses who saw them together during a weekend fling.<br/><br/>How Costner evades capture is most exciting and the surprise ending that shows that there really was a Yury is an emotional wallop on a roller-coaster of a great film. Gripping…A very convincing nightmare, and if Hackman gives too rounded a performance to approach the omniscient evil of Laughton's original, Patton assumes the mantle as Brice's henchman, while Costner confirms his arrival as a star. Clearly, they can remake 'em like that any more.
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347 weeks ago