"She witnessed them while committing a crime, so they'll chase her to kill her". Sometimes it's a he, or 2 characters, and sometimes there is a good cop to help out the lead (s). Well, it's a very fashionable Hollywood formula for action, thriller, and comedy movies, during the whole 1980s and 1990s. And Peter Hyams' (Narrow Margin) is no exception.
True that it's a remake of (The Narrow Margin - 1952), but it seems capitalizing on the success of (Midnight Run) 2 years earlier, applying the popular formula, seriously and on a train this time. However, it allowed a nasty question to hang around on my brain, about something else..
What could've happened to such a picture with else directors like James Cameron or John McTiernan?! Sure they might've exploded everything, to reach the most extreme limits, by making one critical climax after another!
Maybe what allowed that question was the low tone, low budget, condition of the movie. And, accordingly, the problem is mainly in us. We want all the movies to be just one movie, the most successful one in our time. And it's impossible, because that would distort all the movies!
(Narrow Margin) is fair without any crazy action or flashy special effects. The pace is tight. Hyams is excellent as a director of photography, his original profession, with sweaty, twilight-like, image. The climactic sequence was super. And it's great to see Gene Hackman in anything.
I believe I have just the script to blame. Firstly, for - as ever - the profanity. And secondly, since it didn't utilize some parts to make it more thrilling; and perhaps that's the reason why this movie felt like a TV production, or as one that was made by the 1950s' standards.
It's not big, not loud, though not bad. So try to think of it as a clever intermission between (Rambo) and (Die Hard), or as a peaceful version of (The Gauntlet) or (Eraser), or as a solid old fashioned thriller. For me, there is always a room for old fashion, Gene Hackman, and 1980s movies.
True that it's a remake of (The Narrow Margin - 1952), but it seems capitalizing on the success of (Midnight Run) 2 years earlier, applying the popular formula, seriously and on a train this time. However, it allowed a nasty question to hang around on my brain, about something else..
What could've happened to such a picture with else directors like James Cameron or John McTiernan?! Sure they might've exploded everything, to reach the most extreme limits, by making one critical climax after another!
Maybe what allowed that question was the low tone, low budget, condition of the movie. And, accordingly, the problem is mainly in us. We want all the movies to be just one movie, the most successful one in our time. And it's impossible, because that would distort all the movies!
(Narrow Margin) is fair without any crazy action or flashy special effects. The pace is tight. Hyams is excellent as a director of photography, his original profession, with sweaty, twilight-like, image. The climactic sequence was super. And it's great to see Gene Hackman in anything.
I believe I have just the script to blame. Firstly, for - as ever - the profanity. And secondly, since it didn't utilize some parts to make it more thrilling; and perhaps that's the reason why this movie felt like a TV production, or as one that was made by the 1950s' standards.
It's not big, not loud, though not bad. So try to think of it as a clever intermission between (Rambo) and (Die Hard), or as a peaceful version of (The Gauntlet) or (Eraser), or as a solid old fashioned thriller. For me, there is always a room for old fashion, Gene Hackman, and 1980s movies.