Ricochet * (1991, Denzel Washington, John Lithgow, Ice-T, Kevin Pollak, Lindsay Wagner) – Classic Movie Review 10,840

Director Russell Mulcahy’s 1991 Ricochet is a wildly tacky and violent action thriller with Denzel Washington as Nick Styles, a former cop turned LA assistant district attorney being dogged by psychopathic killer Earl Talbot Blake (John Lithgow), who has escaped from jail after Styles (Washington) put him there with a bullet in his knee seven years earlier when he was a cop. Blake’s meticulously planned revenge is a series of violent events to destroy Styles’ career and life.

Mulcahy directs with pace and some verve, and there is a fair quota of sick laughs and violent action, but where are the intelligence, the credibility and the class? Lithgow is a good actor, game for anything, but he is terribly miscast in a role Rutger Hauer could have done well. Surely even diehard action fans could do without the drill in someone’s head and the power-saw cutting off someone’s arm.

Writers: Steven E de Souza (screenplay), Fred Dekker (story) and Menno Meyjes (story).

It is rated R for strong violence and sensuality, and for strong language and drug content.

Also in the cast are Ice-T, Kevin Pollak, Lindsay Wagner, Mary Ellen Trainor, John Amos, Victoria Dillard, John Cothran Jr, Josh Evans, Linda Dona, Matt Landers, Lydell M Cheshier, Starletta DuPois, Sherman Howard, Viveka Davis, Jesse Ventura, Rick Cramer, Don Perry and Tom Finnegan.

Ricochet is directed by Russell Mulcahy, runs 102 minutes, is made by Summit, Home Box Office (HBO), Cinema Plus, Indigo Productions and Silver Pictures, is released by Summit Entertainment (1991), Warner Bros (1991) (US) and First Independent Films (1991) (UK), is written by Steven E de Souza (screenplay), Fred Dekker (story) and Menno Meyjes (story), is shot in Panavision and DeLuxe color by Peter Levy, is produced by Joel Silver and Michael Levy, is scored by Alan Silvestri and is designed by Jaymes Hinkle.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 10,840

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