Shoot to Kill

Directed by Roger Spottiswoode, Shoot to Kill follows FBI agent Warren Stantin (Sidney Poitier) as he teams up with a professional tracker (Tom Berenger’s Jonathan Knox) to locate an on-the-lam criminal and his hostage (Kirstie Alley’s Sarah Rennell). Filmmaker Spottiswoode delivers an impressively engrossing opening detailing said criminal’s initial encounter with Poitier’s dogged character, with the strength of this stretch ensuring that the midsection, which revolves mostly around the aforementioned pursuit, generally feels somewhat anticlimactic by comparison. (There are, at least, a number of memorable moments contained within the bloated second act, including the criminal’s abrupt murder of several hiking-group members.) It’s clear, then, that Shoot to Kill‘s overall effectiveness is due mostly to the superb performances of its various actors, as folks like Poitier and Berenger manage to infuse even the most minor of sequences with an engaging feel that proves exceedingly difficult to resist (although the ongoing emphasis on Warren and Jonathan’s incongruously wacky buddy-comedy exploits feels somewhat shoehorned in). The stirring and genuinely exciting climax ensures that Shoot to Kill ends on a palpably captivating note, which confirms its place as an erratically-paced yet generally better-than-average old-school thriller.

*** out of ****