Shoot to Kill
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Movie Reviews of Shoot to Kill
Movie Review: A Classic
Summary: 5 Stars
The recent movie "The Perfect Getaway" made me think of this movie. I enjoyed The Perfect Getaway, but I don't think it comes close to this film. Truly a classic. A must see for anyone.Movie Review: classic movie
Summary: 5 Stars
Great cast, great story line, great locations. Although I'm not a big Kirstie Alley fan, the rest of the cast are excellent. Would recommend this movie highly.Movie Review: Movies
Summary: 5 Stars
My husband liked this movie so much he said he had to have it if ever came out on DVD. He likes Sidney Poltler. Good additon to collectionMovie Review: Shoot to Kill
Summary: 5 Stars
Tom Berenger was great, as good as in "Last of the Dogmen"!! Glad I bought this movie.Movie Review: Sidney Poitier goes hiking
Summary: 4 Stars
SHOOT TO KILL is worth watching not only for the fun interaction between Poitier and Berenger but, for fans of Poitier, it's probably even more relevant that their man, after ten years of directing, finally returns to the front of the camera. Not too surprisingly, he's as good as ever. No one says his lines quite like Sidney Poitier.
He plays veteran FBI agent Warren Statin, and the film starts out with his botching of a hostage negotiation. Statin becomes obsessed and follows the psychopath to the rugged wilds bordering Washington and Canada. Statin, a dedicated city slicker, "convinces" hostile woodsman John Knox to act as tracker. Knox is one of those independent hermit types who aren't too comfortable around people and would rather be left alone (one rube notes: "Aw, John's alright, he's just different.").
It's a good thing for Special Agent Statin, then, that Knox's trail guide girlfriend Sarah (a really good Kirstie Alley) is escorting a party of outdoorsmen to a fishing site and that Statin's psychopath is hiding in this bunch. Knox, desperately worried for his girl (in his stoic kind of way), aims to eschew the tenderfoot trails for the harder but more direct paths. Can the FBI guy keep up?
SHOOT TO KILL effectively combines genre elements of the buddy chase flick and that of man vs. nature. The nighttime city sequences at the start of the film build the suspense and give you a feel for just how twisted the villain is. In that early segment Poitier's character, calm and cool and twenty-two years on the job, inevitably gets outsmarted and outmaneuvered. And then to really remove him from familiar territory, here come the stunning wilderness locations, and you sense just how out of sorts the big city FBI guy must feel, exposed out in the harsh borderlands, buffeted by the unforgiving climate, munching on rodent. Poitier effortlessly translates this unease on film, and often he even puts a smile on your face. The camera provides a nice, constant change of pace by smartly shifting back and forth between Statin and Knox's pursuit and the goings-on in Sarah's hiking tour.
There's a breathtaking sequence which starts with Berenger precariously navigating a rope bridge, and this was a hell of a crazy stunt and easily the highlight of the film. But SHOOT TO KILL is also graced with terrific smaller moments, some of them funny and respectively involving horses and a moose and a bear. And then, of course, there's that frequently taut, occasionally amusing interplay between Poitier and Tom Berenger, their characters very dissimilar sorts. Poitier, by the way, was in his early 60s when this film was shot, but you wouldn't have known it by watching him onscreen. He looked fit and could've passed for someone in his mid-40s or early 50s. Ever elegant and righteous and in shape is Sidney Poitier, and no amount of saddle sores or cuddling with shirtless mountainmen can change that.
This is a good and often overlooked outdoors thriller, and I've seen it a bunch of times now down the years. Poitier's performance carries the film which, by the way, does take an implausible turn in the last 15 minutes or so. And a small part of me can't help but wonder why there weren't more FBI guys in on this manhunt. But, then again, Sidney Poitier is a baaaaad man.