I think the IMDB users got this about right with a 6.0. I'd never watched this until last night and during the opening credits I was really psyched when I saw all the 80's/90's actors that I like in the cast - Mr Blonde, Nice Guy Eddie, Chazz Palmentieri, John Malkovic, Melanie Griffith, Andrew McCarthy - and it took me a minute to recognize Bruce Dern as the police commissioner.
Although this was entertaining and in a genre I love with actors I like to watch, it lost me on some points of believability. With one swing, Nolte and Palmentieri, two 40-something guys that chain smoke cigarettes and cigars, render two 20 something MP's completely unconscious? The fight where they threw Treat Williams off the plane was the same deal. These were good guys win fight sequences out of the original Star Trek tv show, not a quality movie.
In general, I thought the character development was pretty weak. Most of Chazz Palmentieri's dialogue was sappy genre cliche, setting him up to be the one that they're sorry gets killed, and Chris Penn was mostly just along for the ride.
Nick Nolte's performance was really good and the movie's basically entertaining to watch, but if Chinatown's the gold standard for this type of movie, this one is rated about right, I think.
"Boy that was really exciting. I bet you're a big Lee Marvin fan aren't ya."
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