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Partners
Ricochet
Denzel Washington, John Lithgow and Ice-T star in this enjoyably over-the-top revenge extravaganza by the director of Highlander. Well-written and powerfully played, it's also home to a string of increasingly spectacular action sequences
Denzel Washington takes on his first major role in a loopy, labyrinthine thriller described by director Mulcahy as an anti-buddy movie. Rookie cop Styles (Washington) foils an attempt by would-be hitman Blake (Lithgow) to enter the criminal big league, and gets him sent down for a seven year stretch. From his prison cell the increasingly mad Blake watches Styles' progression through the ranks, eventually escaping and arranging for Styles to be framed for murder. Mulcahy ratchets up the tension by jump-cutting between Lithgow and Washington, both of whom are cooking on gas. Lithgow in particular is gripped by a sort of violent mania, duelling with fellow prisoners in a gladiator's uniform and busting out of prison with a power drill. Ice-T, fresh from New Jack City, appears as Washington's drug dealing ally and though his screen time's limited he provides a stream of bad-ass gags. A strangely old fashioned climax has Washington and Lithgow scrapping up a skyscraper and it's to Mulcahy's credit that though his film is vicious, lurid and inventively nasty, it's also ever so slightly camp. Verdict Spectacular, violent and wildly excessive urban actioner that may not be taking itself quite as seriously as first appears. |
