Nowhere to Run

• Directed by Robert Harmon
• January 14, 1993 (Singapore) / January 15, 1993 (US)

An escaped convict stumbles on a widow’s farm that is coveted by a ruthless developer and decides to take up her fight.

I consider myself fairly knowledgeable of action films even if I have never seen them but Nowhere to Run is a blank spot in my mind despite its reported earnings. I checked thinking maybe it flopped and that is why I did not recall it. $64 million on a $15 million budget sounds good.

Like any good Western, the story centers on a landgrab scheme. Since this is set in the 90s, land for a rail line is jettisoned in favor of a pricey development though all the other basic types of characters are there.

Legendary character actor Joss Ackland is greedy developer Franklin Hale looking to turn the farm of kindly widow Clydie Anderson (Rosanna Arquette) into pricey homes over getting land to sell to the incoming railroad. Instead of using eminent domain as other companies might do, he hires a thug named Mr. Dunston (Ted Levine) and a few goons to intimidate the woman into signing over her farm. From nowhere (actually he is a prison escapee) comes handsome stranger Sam Gillen (Jean-Claude Van Damme) who gets a bout of ethics and morals when being a Peeping Tom (he sees her topless getting ready for a shower). True love.

At the time Jean-Claude Van Damme was a big enough star to attract a quality cast. Much like some later Schwarzenegger efforts did for Ahnuld, Nowhere to Run shows acting ability in Van Damme as he like other action stars tried to grow beyond the dying action genre of the 80s. He steps up to the challenge in a film that has as much acting as it does action portraying a man with some good in him that is able to change when he finds something worth fighting for. In a prison escape that looks like it inspired the one in Fast Five, he is sprung from prison by his buddy who gets killed by a lucky shot.

Van Damme shows an ability to emote and be sympathetic when necessary. And against actors who still have some mainstream success or had it recently he avoids disappearing into the background. Yes, Levine or Arquette or even Kieran Culkin are notable. Even the formidable Joss Ackland, who is one of my favorite actors, doesn’t overshadow him and the man was an eye-catching performer.

This tries to be an action movie with some heart and I think it gets there more often than not. It’s not the deepest of films but does mixes action and emotions and a bit of commentary better than some other efforts by action stars when they realized the genre was changing. Aiming for more drama, while it does have action sometimes in those moment Van Damage-as-Sam can get his butt kicked.

There is some use of slow-mo to heighten the drama. When a guy is getting knocked out, it works but slowing it up when he comes to and poses a threat again can be overdone and it’s overdone here. Slow motion stirring is fine, but they slow everything down. Let it run under 90 minutes. Just make it good if it’s 89! 

And it is good. It’s not a great drama and maybe not one of his top action films but it is a good and entertaining movie. It works in a story that’s been done a lot but doesn’t feel like a real retread. Van Damme and Arquette are a great couple and the villains all pose a genuine threat.

The ending is much more plausible than Lionheart though it has shades of that. Hale has the upper hand and looks on the precipice of winning. Mr. Dunston has moved from it being a job to a personal grudge against Sam. Levine portrays him as wanting to get it all over with while Ackland uses his skill to make Hale a big threat to Sam though he was in no shape to actually beat Sam. The cops show with Hale getting legally/ethically defeated. Unlike Lionheart, Sam must return to jail with only the possibility of coming back to his love and her family.

Nowhere to Run is a good modern Western. It’s exciting and a solid dramatic action entry for Jean-Claude Van Damme that will entertain his long-term fans.