Film Review: Ricochet (1991)

When your film is based on premise which is unconvincing and/or done to death, the best way is to use it in more relaxed and completely unserious way. One of the better examples for that can be found in Ricochet, 1991 action film directed by Russell Mulchay.

Protagonist, played by Denzel Washington, is Nick Styles and the film begins shortly after he had joined Los Angeles Police Department in order to finance his way towards law school. His career goes to a wonderful start when he bumps into vicious contract killer Earl Talbot Blake (played by John Lithgow). Potentially tragic hostage situation is resolved with Styles’ show of ingenuity which is captured by amateur videographer, instantly turning Styles in media darling and favourite of his politically savvy superiors. As years go by, Styles uses fame to quickly advance in the police ranks and later becomes equally successful assistant district attorney with excellent political prospects. In the meantime, Blake spends years in prison doing nothing but plotting terrible revenge. After impressing fellow prisoners who belong to racist Aryan Brotherhood, he takes their services to stage spectacular and bloody escape, only to fake his own death afterwards. This allows him opportunity to put his long-gestating plan into motion and slowly, but methodically takes away Styles’ friends, career and sanity.

Screen story by Fred Dekker and Menno Meyjes employs often used premise about diabolical criminal who plots terrible revenge against policeman who puts him away. It was originally offered to Clint Eastwood as basis for possible new sequel in Dirty Harry series, but Eastwood wisely refused, considering it too grim. The film in the end arrived into the hands of Joel Silver, producer best known for some of the greatest action films of 1980s. Silver and his seasoned screnwriter Steven E. De Souza quickly recognised that the only way to make this film stand out among many similar thrillers is to push its content over the top. This can be best seen at the beginning when initial confrontation between Styles and Blake feature policeman having to take away his clothes in an attempt to calm the maniac down. Styles very soon afterwards conveniently appears in police locker room completely naked, thus removing any doubt what kind of film Ricochet is. Its exploitative nature is even more recognised by Russel Mulcahy, Australian director of Highlander fame, who was, like so many film makers of his generation, always more interested in style than substance. While there is plenty of violence in the film and even some nudity and rather explicit sex, it is displayed in the rather unserious way that makes this film less of a thriller and more of black comedy. Good example can be found in the scene when Blake earns his credentials among Aryan Brotherhood by engaging in medieval-style duel with fellow prisoner (played by Jesse Ventura) which involves improvised swords. However, Mulcahy and Silver obviously employed most of their creativity in devising Blake’s ingenious and mean schemes determined to ruin the protagonist, which, among other things, involve having him drugged and coerced in having sex with prostitute, which would, of course, be videotaped.

According to John Lithgow, who plays the role of uber-villainous Blake with the ease of veteran character actor who had done similar tasks in his sleep, some of those schemes were so over the top that weren’t filmed or were left on cutting room over cencorship concerns. What remained represents a good piece of guilty pleasure. The film proved quite beneficial for Denzel Washington, who not only enjoyed establishing himself as an action star and new symbol of Hollywood masculinity, but also because it allowed him to display his acting skills even in context of exploitative content. Washington is great in the role of confident no-nonsense and ambitious man who quickly loses his sanity due to his adversary’s schemes, only to use that very insanity to lure him in final trap. The rest of the cast is solid, but still easily overshadowed by two main actors. Mulcahy and De Souza in the end begin to run out of creativity and the finale is much weaker than the rest of film, relying too much on pyrotechnics and somewhat unconvincing subplot of Styles’ old neighbourhood friend, played by Ice T, who became a drug lord and, for some reason, decides to help Styles in his hour of need. Ricochet is a film that could recommended to fans of Denztel Washington and 1980s style of action cinema, although some parts of the audience might be put off by too violence and rather disturbing scene involving protagonist’s little children. It was modest success at the box office, but wasn’t that loved among critics, especially after it made Cape Fear, Martin Scorsese’s film with similar premise, look like much less fun.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com
Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/
Leofinance blog https://leofinance.io/@drax.leo
Cent profile https://beta.cent.co/@drax
Minds profile https://www.minds.com/drax_rp_nc
Uptrennd profile https://www.uptrennd.com/user/MTYzNA

Unstoppable Domains: https://unstoppabledomains.com/?ref=3fc23fc42c1b417
Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax
Bitcoin Lightning HIVE donations: https://v4v.app/v1/lnurlp/qrcode/drax
Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax
1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e

BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG
ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7