Nowhere to Run

Directed by Robert Harmon, Nowhere to Run follows fugitive Sam Gillen (Jean-Claude Van Damme) as he takes refuge with a woman (Rosanna Arquette’s Clydie) and her two children (Kieran Culkin’s Mookie and Tiffany Taubman’s Bree) – with complications ensuing after Sam is drawn into Clydie’s battle with an evil land developer (Joss Ackland’s Franklin) and his menacing henchman (Ted Levine’s Mr. Dunston). It’s a top-notch premise that’s employed to sporadically effective yet palpably disappointing effect by Harmon, as the filmmaker, armed with a script by Joe Eszterhas, Leslie Bohem, and Randy Feldman, kicks Nowhere to Run off with an exciting prison-escape sequence that lamentably gives way to a sluggish, slow-moving first half – with the emphasis mostly placed on Sam’s low-key (and far-from-enthralling) exploits and, especially, his attempts at winning the trust of Clydie and the kids. The arms-length atmosphere is, at least, alleviated by Van Damme’s typically stirring work and the inclusion of a few action-packed interludes, as well as the inherently compelling efforts of both Ackland and Levine (ie they’re both just so irresistibly vicious), and there’s little doubt, ultimately, that Nowhere to Run benefits from a comparatively electrifying third act that boasts a solid motorcycle chase and thoroughly satisfying climax – which does, in the end, cement the movie’s place as a decent-enough Van Damme vehicle that should be so much better.

**1/2 out of ****

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