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Modest ambitions, modest results

Reactions to this movie seem to depend on one's appetite for action. Those hungry for it are disappointed while those looking instead for plot and character development are pleased. I tend to fall into the latter category but must point out that while "Nowhere to Run" ranks among the better Van Dammes, it relies too much on stock situations, (plucky woman defending homestead), and cliche characters, (corrupt business tycoon with oily smile). I'd also like to point out the good work of Edward Blatchford as the local Deputy Sheriff. It's a thankless part but he manages to make something of it, and no, I didn't read any dark psychological meaning into the scene in which he discovers Van Damme taking a shower. However, I did find utterly bizarre that moment at the dinner table when Patricia Arquette's little girl casually comments on the impressive size of a certain portion of Van Damme's anatomy. This was promptly followed by Arquette's comment that it was only average in size. Talk about weird!

JCVD redoes the classic Shane?

The Jean Claude Van Damme Review Matrix (JCVD-RM)

1. Who is he? Sam Gillen, a criminal on the loose
2. Which family member/friend must be avenged? His friend Billy, who breaks him out of police custody, and Clydie (Rosanna Arquette), a worn down widow and mother of two youngsters
3. Does he take his shirt off? In one of the most disturbingly inappropriate images possible in a movie, Sam is completely naked in front of Clydie's children. Luckily, the viewers are spared.
4. Does he have sex with a C-List actress? In one of his most provocative sex scenes ever, Sam and Arquette do a little carnal gymnastics (JCVD gets to a legit second base on film).
5. Is there a tournament? JCVD steers away from his kumite roots in this one.
6. Is training needed for this tournament? He clearly trained and prepared in some way, because he beats everyone down, has a law degree, understands the nuances of the animalistic fright-versus-flight dynamic, is an accomplished motorcycle stuntman, and knows how to drive a forklift.
7. Does he do the splits in training or in the tournament? Sorry JCVD fans, no splits.
8. Does he punch someone in the balls? In the first fight of the movie, one unfortunate guy gets an axe handle to the jewels.
9. Does he do a series of flying or 360 kicks? No jumping of flying in this one.
10. Is his enemy unbeatable? Essentially he's fighting "The Man" and "The System"; so, it depends on your point of view.
11. Does he overcome an injury or other hindrance? It's possible that he had some broken ribs, but that didn't stop him from fixing Clydie's pipes.

12. Does he win? Hmmm...

Nowhere to Run is almost a mirror image of the 1953 classic Shane. An outlaw escaping his past, houses up with a family struggling against the classic tale of greedy corporation versus small land owner. With a sheriff - played by the guy who played Mr. Belding's brother in one episode of "Saved by the Bell" - paid off by the land developer, and a creepy henchman played by Ted Levine, a man who appears to be perfectly suited for only that role, it's up to Sam to save the day. Motivated by the taut, perky body of Arquette, not to mention multiple full frontal shower and sex scenes, JCVD gives us perhaps the best movie in his legendary career, following the lead from Shane one last time, as he rides off into the sunset of an ambiguous future.

Jean Claude van Damme is a 5!

Jean Claude van Damme still had his rugged good looks and athletic prowess in this movie.

The script is silly and contrived, but hey, it's Jean Claude van Damme, not Willie Shakespeare. If you want script and plot, watch PBS. If you want action and good looks, then come to JCvD.

The memorable scenes are the dinner table discussion of Mr. van Damme's "John Thomas"; the bad guy mocking his accent, and Mr. van Damme in the shower. The flight of the fired bullet was a great effect.

A failed attempt to give Van Damme a wider appeal

When Sam Gillen escapes from a transport bus to jail he hides out on open land belonging to Clydie. However he finds himself drawn into the fight with ruthless developers who will go to any lengths to get Clydie and her family off her land.Nowhere to Rub was meant to turn Van Damme from a marital arts star into a full fledged movie star. To this end we see the fight scenes mixed with more `acting', `sentiment' and action scenes not involving high kicks. Of course there is plenty of good action and that's all fine – especially the final fight with Dunston. However the `acting' stuff doesn't work and it slows everything down a bit too much.Van Damme struggles with his lines and looks like a bit of a boy. Arquette is OK – but why does she feel she needs to get them out in every film? This is the second film with her in that I've watched in two days and she's topless in both for no good reason! Ackland is OK in another evil bad guy role, but Levine is actually really good value as the main menace. However you know you're in trouble acting wise when a Culkin is one of the better actors in the film!Overall this showed me that Van Damme is better off in a martial arts movie tailored for his fans alone rather than a movie aimed at the audience in general.

Yet Another Good Van Damme Film

'Nowhere to Run', for me, was the turning point in Van Damme's career, much in the same way 'Army of One' (Joshua Tree) was for Dolph Lundgren, in the sense that it opened the floodgates for a more dramatic approach than it did an action one. It didn't open the floodgates financially, but I think it gave Van Damme the confidence to rely more on his dramatic acting abilities than his fighting abilities, which aren't as apparent in this film as his others. Sure, he fights people, he beats the hell out of them, but this is put to the back so that he can let the drama develop and his ability to act beside children take hold.'Nowhere to Run' is a story about a man named Sam Gillen (Van Damme), a thief who has ended up behind bars because he took a murder rap for his partner. During a prison transfer, Gillen manages to escape, where he then hides out in a remote farm, unbeknown-st to the occupants. A young boy finds Gillen in the barn and becomes friends with him, as does his sister. When the children tell their mother, Clydie (Rosanna Arquette), a relationship develops between all of them, and then Sam and Clydie fall in love. Clydie tells Sam about the problems she is having with tyrannical property developers who won't take no for an answer, and Sam decides to fight back. The final scene features an all-out action fest before Sam is found by the police and taken away back to prison.The film is OK, not bad, but not amazingly brilliant either, it is certainly a change of pace for Van Damme. This was a period in cinema whenever the action stars of the 80's began working with children, a development that was opened by Arnold Schwarzenegger with his film 'Kindergarten Cop', and less serious roles in favour or dramatic or comedic effect (Stallone in 'Stop or My Mom Will Shoot', Kurt Russell in 'Overboard', etc, etc). Some of these films were good, some of them were quite bad, but 'Nowhere to Run' isn't that bad to watch at all. The only unbearable scene was watching Van Damme make love, scenes which are always frequent in Van Damme films and are always boring to watch, and slightly pointless to. Otherwise, this film is a good film to watch for both drama and action, and it's reserve a nice slot in the Van Damme filmography.

I like it, but it is not the typical Van Damme flick

I know many people do not like this movie, because they are used having Van Damme in action movies with martial arts and shooting scenes. This is NOT an action flick, instead it is a drama with an action touch.I really enjoyed the movie. Kieran Culkin was excellent and also Ted Levine. There is a scene where it would have been good some tears from Van Damme, but I bet this wasn't possible because of the "macho" he always portrays in all his movies, and... boys don't cry.If you like action you will enjoy the fights and the chase, but do not expect fireworks. There is also the typical "show butt" scene, but what is somehow misplaced is the scene where the kids talk about Van Damme's penis at the dinner, actually unnecessary.All in all I recommend this movie for everyone. You will have a good time.

A huge surprise

Having recently revisited my old Van Damme collection (my wife has developed a bit of a crush on JC), I have made my way through all the classics (Bloodsport, AWOL, Kickboxer, Death Warrant, Universal Soldier etc) and hugely enjoyed revelling in the guilty pleasure of watching a short, white Belgian dude kick the living snot out of everyone else on the screen. Why else would anyone go to see a Van Damme picture?The last film I came to was Nowhere to Run. Having not seen it in a good ten years, and remembering it as slow-paced, indulgent and severely lacking in arse-kicking, I was not really expecting to be at all impressed. It's funny, looking through most of the reviews here, that two groups of people have clearly emerged. The first group, the Van Damme fans, are all complaining that this is not your average VD film and bitching about how they were cheated into watching a serious drama.The other group are all up in arms at the fact that anyone would make a serious drama and cast Van Damme in it. I have a name for this group, but I doubt IMDb would publish it. Let's just call them w*nkers. Why the w*nkers, who clearly have an abundant dislike for the Muscles from Brussells, would go to see a film with his name above the title is beyond me. Cinesnobs have no place at a Van Damme show. I'll leave it at that.The reason I felt compelled to write this review is that I am, admittedly, a bit of a Cinesnob, but I'm also happy to take a film for what it is. I like James Bond, I like Sonny Chiba, I like blaxploitation and I also fricking like Van Damme movies! What I did not expect, was for "a serious drama starring Van Damme" (trying saying that out loud without snickering) to be so Damme good! (Get it?)The story is pretty simple, JC is an escaped con who happens upon a sleepy little town which is about to be pulverised by a nihilistic land developer (not surprisingly, a British one, played with appropriate menace by Joss Ackland). He befriends a little boy (not in the Michael Jackson way, though the boy in question is, ironically, Macaulay Culkin's younger brother, Kieran) and consequently gets rather chummy with the boy's mother. Happily, she is both widowed and incredibly hot. As if her being a still distraught widow weren't enough, she is also being harassed to a rather unreasonable degree by Ted Levine, who is hilarious and brilliant and the land developer's chief henchman. Cue Van Damme.Sounds like the ideal recipe for another typical action flick, so I am willing to forgive those VD fans who felt cheated. What we actually end up with is a genuinely moving, well paced and hugely enjoyable action drama. It may sound unthinkable, but JC actually pulls his character off perfectly. Sam is mistrusting, awkward but ultimately striving to be a decent person. Director Mark Harmon made a very savvy decision in keeping JC's dialogue to a minimum, leaving him the task of creating a believable character with his face and body language alone. Don't believe the naysayers, JC delivers a truly surprising performance.Rosanna Arquette also handles her role well, even if the character is flying dangerously close to stereotype. Her performance grounds the whole story, and we both care for her plight and admire her determination (the men in the audience will also admire her perfectly formed semi-naked body). The two kids were bound to be annoying, but they're certainly nowhere close to being as bad as they could have been.The real star of this film is the consistently beautiful cinematography by the relatively unknown David Gribble. With scenery like this, you'd be hard pressed to go wrong with the external stuff, but the interiors are equally well shot.The big let down, both in terms of cinematography and the film as a whole, is the truly lame action. There are only a handful of action sequences in the whole show, but they're easily the dullest moments in the film. When you have a good story, solid characters and a really well-cast group of fine actors, do you really need to throw in a bunch of crappy fights? Sadly, if you're selling this as a Van Damme picture, the answer is yes. So they had the courage to put JC in a serious role and give him the chance to prove that he can actually act, but they didn't have the balls to actually sell the film on this basis. The trailer says "Van Damme, as you've never seen him before" and then just gives us a bunch of poor action clips. Is it any wonder that nobody who actually bothered to see this film liked it?If it weren't bad enough that the action scenes are badly shot and clumsily edited, they're also punctuated by really poor one-liners from JC ("Strike 3, you're out!" and "Au revoir, f**ker" are among the worst). One gets the feeling that there were differences in the opinions of the director and the star and the opinions of the producers and studio folk. Presumably, someone thought they had found a happy balance. Someone was wrong, and the film really suffers as a consequence.If you can overlook this, and you're not watching the film either to complain that it's not a solid action flick or to complain that Van Damme is in a drama, you'll probably find yourself surprisingly impressed with the film.

Quick Reviews!!

Van Damme was on a role in the late eighties, early nineties, making some of the most fun, simple action movies of the era. His ability to always get a laugh, and being renowned for his nice-guy qualities have ensured his continued success, even if most of his movies now are straight-to-DVD capers.In Nowhere to Run he stars with an established cast as another misunderstood nice guy, an escaped convict who decides to help a young widow and her family who are struggling against a local developer who is forcing them out of their home. There is a good amount of action, some strong performances, and some very funny moments. Van Damme plays Sam, a mysterious convict who has escaped from prison. He sleeps in a tent outside a small town where two local young kids find and befriend him. Eventually their mother Clydie, played by Rosanna Arquette finds out and invites him into their home cautiously. Of course they fall for each other, much to the distaste of local Sheriff and love interest Lonnie, who decides to look into Sam's background. Franklin Hale, played with typical evil by Ackland is the main bad guy, but his side-arm Levine is the main threat. Sam helps the family, foiling Hale at every turn, but the past is catching up with Sam...Arquette, Culkin, Levine, and Taubman as the daughter are particularly good, and the story tries to be light-hearted and moral. It may be another attempt to achieve a wider audience for Van Damme, and it is definitely one of his most accessible, thanks to the good cast and humour. The various discussions on Van Damme's naked body are always humorous. Overall another good Van Damme film which will please fans, and may interest a few others.7.5 out of 10

Only one reason

I bought a copy of NTR for one reason and one reason only: a single scene near the beginning, prominently featuring Rosanna Arquette. This was the same reason I bought a copy of "The Wrong Man", starring John Lithgow and - Rosanna Arquette. Discretion prevents my explaining further. Other than the scene already mentioned, I found the movie pretty worthless.

Nice guy saves the day in one of his better films

Escaped from prison, Van Damme camps out near a widow's home in the woods.Sure there's some action in the movie with quite a number of punch 'em outs but the movie really should have been in the drama section, not the action section of rental stores. This is quite a change for Van Damme as he becomes a father to the fatherless, nice guy, gentleman, and town savior.So the story was really good and damn Van Damme did a good job at his nice guy part. The funniest part is when he and the boy go into town for motorcyle parts and the sherrif dude asks him questions. Listen to how Van Damme pronounces 'motercycle' and 'Quepec'.

Best Van Damme Film

This movie just kicks [butt]! and I tought Hard Target and Kickboxer where the best....once I sae this one I changed my mind..A MUST HAVE VAN DAMME flick BUY IT NOW.

Best Van Damme Movie Ever!

Well first of all I never really liked Van Damme's movies, well it's not so much that I didn't like them but it was pretty much the same thing over and over again...he would beat up people. However, this movie had a different story line. It wasn't only an action movie, but a drama as well. I think that he did a great job potraying the character and he really took on the role of the "father" for the little boy. I think he did a great job with that, since when you looked at him, you could tell that he wanted to be part of that family. I think he should do more movies like this, and it is definetely worth seeing/buying...you'll enjoy it :). So don't wait any longer, BUY it. Oh and this one isn't only for guys...my mom saw it with me and she enjoyed it as well. I believe females will enjoy this one as well.

Where the hell are his helicopter kicks?

This movie must have been made off a bet that Van Damme couldn't have a successful movie without having helicopter kicks in it. And what does he do? He does no kicking at all!!! All he uses his legs for is kneeing some heads. This movie might have a story, but if I wanted that I wouldn't be watching a Van Damme movie. I love his movies and kicks. That's why I don't like this one. 1 out of 10.

Could have been very good,if only the directing was'nt so awful.

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All CostsNowhere To Run carefully conveys some touching,poignant moments,absent from every other Van Damme film except Legionnaire,but clumsily portrays them.The charecter development is poorly worked out,with potentially great charecters to build on either being killed off too early,or too quick to shed their skin.More of the film Van Damme obviously concentrated on being more dramatic,but ultimately the action scenes are as usual,especially so at the end,what take over,but again,this is too rapidly conveyed to have any real lasting effect,other than to do what any other basic Van Damme film would do.For a truely dramatic break from the norm,Legionnaire remains the Van Damme film to talk about.**

One of Van Damme's worst...

I'm a huge fan of Jean-Claude Van Damme. Heck, I own all his movies! Sadly, that includes this one, which I saw a couple days ago and am still recovering from. It's not as bad as "Cyborg." It's not even close to that level of badness, but it is definitely not worth paying for. The biggest reason this just isn't very good is that our hero is an escaped convict. Now, we get the feeling he was doing more than your average prisoner to get sent to a maximum security prison, probably like the one in "Death Warrant," another JCVD movie that is worse than this. "Nowhere to Run" begins with his daring getaway which is actually kind of cool, but then gets a little creepy when our "hero" befriends a small boy. Soon, he's hanging around his house and protecting the boy's family from rich evildoers who couldn't and don't stand a chance against Van Damme. The movie's lame, predictable, and at times tasteless. There are gratuitous nudity scenes abound, one including two children talking to Van Damme while he's bathing in a river. The action is spread far apart from itself as the screenwriters obviously became more concerned with the story, probably because they realized there was little action to fill the gaps where talking occurred. Sure, Van Damme has done much, much worse. But that's not to say this movie is a keeper. At best, it feels like your average Steven Seagal flick, a shame since Van Damme is clearly a much better actor than the pony-tailed giant. This said, I'd still throw it at the bottom of the barrel with other Chuck Norris/Steven Seagal/early Van Damme flicks.

Great movie!

This is a typical Jean Claude van Damme movie but it is really good. There is a plot, action, comedy and drama which actually blend together quite nicely. It's a good no-brainer, almost feel good at the end kind of movie. I don't particularly care for Rosanna Arquette but she did ok. Ted Levine (the Capt. from the USA show Monk) is really great as a bad guy. He doesn't have his mustache in this movie but his voice is very distint. Anyway, if you like Jean Claude, I think that you will like this movie. It is one of his better movies during the peak of his popularity.

a two-time movie

waht i mean by this is that when u watch this movie for the first time ur gonna think "Wow,what a great movie"and thats true. i liked it a lot.but ur gonna watch it a second time and its not gonna be as fun,see?its a great movie,but not a whole lot of martial arts action in it at all.well anyway if ur a Van Damme fan,get it,but if not,skip it.(I like Van Damme movies but i got this one for free from a friend and im sorta glad i didn't spend 10 bucks on it)

Van Damme makes audience wanna shout!

So here's this guy, some Belgian import who regards himself as a star continually. However he's sinking with movies like 'The Quest', 'Maxumum Risk' and 'Knock off'. 'Nowhere to run' was a tomb too. From Joe Eszterhaz' story Leslie Bohem ('Daylight') and Randy Feldman ('Tango and Cash') wrote an uneventful script about a prisoner who protects an innocent family from bad guys. Beginner Robert Harmon directed a half-action, half-romance movie that won't please anybody. 5 of the 10.

He's back, and he's got a motorcycle!

Jean-Claude Van Damme is back! And this time he's got the hots for a petite little southern gal played by the ever gorgeous Rosanna Arquette! Some evil men are out to take her land, but Jean-Claude, and escaped convict on the lam, is here to be her savior! Full hot explosions, hot girls, and plenty of Van Damme kicks and punches! This film is sure not to let you down!

Claude & Roseanna Show Off

This is another Jean-Claude Van Damme action flick, but a definite notch above many of his other films, at least in production values. The photography and stereo sound are excellent.

Actually, this is pretty simple stuff and old storyline of a low-key good guy rescuing the girl from local meanies. Here, Van Damme defends Rosanna Arquette and her small kids.

In another respect, the movie is just another avenue for the two stars to show off their incredible bodies. Neither has ever been shy about doing that and certainly aren't in this movie. My only objection is having one of the kids make a sexual remark, which is done in here. There is no excuse for that.

Ted Levine, who has turned nice guy in the hit TV series "Monk," is an effective bad guy in here. He played a lot of villains before "Monk" came around.

Anyway, it's fairly low-brow entertainment, but at least it is entertaining and fun to watch.