No Way Out

No Way Out (1987) is something that does not pop up anymore much.   A spy thriller with no superpowers, assassins, or world changing events, just flawed humans and a soviet mole.


Movie: No Way Out (1987)
Rating: R

Starring: Keven Costner as Tom Farrell, Gene Hackman as David Brice, Sean Young as Susan Atwell, and Will Patton as Scott Pritchard.
Score: 7.1 out of 10 stars
Family Friendly: 2/5 (a short, not nude sex scene, random topless woman one one scene, and a moment of domestic violence)
Recommended: Anyone who enjoys watching a old school spy thriller, and for woman who want to see a young Keven Costner.

 Plot Summery (No Spoilers)

Tom Farrel (Costner) meets Atwell (Young)at a Washington ball.  They seduce each other.  After being a hero on his ship, Farrel is invited back to DC to work for intelligence for Brice (Hackman)   Brice is also seeing Atwell, and in a moment of rage kills her when he finds out she seeing someone else.   Brice claims that Atwell was killed by 'Yuri', a known Soviet Mole, and Farrel is tasked to hunt down himself as he leads the investigation.

Plot Summery (Spoilers)

A dashing Naval Officer Farrel (played by a young Keven Costner) meets Susan Atwell (Young), a socialite at a DC Ball.   They quickly fall for each other and make love in the back of a limo with cheesy 1980s music in the background.   Farrel soon goes out on his ship, and rescues a man about to fall overboard.   He is promoted by the Secretary of Defense Brice (Hackman) to a intelligence job.  We also find out the Department of Defense knows they have a spy inside the department that they have nicknamed 'Yuri'

Things become more complicated when we find out that the socialite is also sleeping with Brice.   In Farrel and Atwell's meeting, she takes a film photo (remember, this is the 1980s) of Farrel, who does not want to be photographed.   he crushes the film and throws it away.

Brice gives Atwell a nice gift (that was in turn given to him by a Moroccan diplomat, and thus recorded in a computer system) of a decorative box.   Later Brice finds out that his mistress Atwell is seeing another man, but she does not tell who.  In a fit of rage he throws Atwell off the stairwell and she dies.  

Brice, knowing that he needs to cover up his murder and affair, hes helped by his top aide Scott Pritchard (Patton) who thinks of the wonderful concept of claiming that Atwell knew who the soviet mole 'Yuri' is, and was seeing him.  

Farrel is given the task to lead the investigation to hunt down himself as he was the man who was seeing Atwell.   This leads to the meat of the film, as Farrel deals with pair of CIA "cleaners" and tries to prove that Brice was seeing Atwell while hindering the investigation on himself, without putting attention to himself.    It becomes a race of time between a computer slowly rebuilding the image of Farrel on the discarded film and Farrel linking the box with Brice. 

The climax comes as our three main characters are in the office,  Pritchard reveals that he killed a man for Brice, Brice disowns him for this, Farrel insisting that he must reveal to the public the truth.  It comes to a climax when Pritchard commits suicide, and Brice, ever the political survivor, pins the blame of Yuri on the now dead Pritchard, and our dashing hero of morals is saved....

Then he goes and talks to some interrogators, the man behind the glass comes out, and its Farrel's old landlord, who speaks to Farrel in perfect russian as he welcomes back Yuri to the fold, as Farrel really was the spy all along.

My thoughts:  A truly solid film that is a good classic spy thriller.   Keven Costner is the center of this film, and you can see that he has the ability to hold the entire movie together as it runs down the plot.

Some of this film has dated poorly.   The two new lovers in the back of the limo while 1980's music plays is more humorous then sexy as it so dated.   Also the computer centric tools used is both forward thinking, and yet dated as you see dot matrix printers print and what movies thought Photoshop would look like. 

This also has references to the US activities in Latin America at the time that to most modern viewers would forget, much like the last two administrations have forgotten the concept of the Monroe doctrine.   (I was a political science major, I have to get my dings in when I can).

The ending is both what makes this film great, and at the same time flawed, as its very abrupt and feels disjointed from the rest of the film.   Just seven years later this type of twist ending was used much more effectively in  The Usual Suspects (1995)

Sean Young is surprisingly forgettable in this film.  Of course, most only know her as "Blade Runner Girl".   Hackman and Patton do a solid job.   No one will will awards for the acting, but outside of young none of the actors will leave you wanting more out of the roles.  

In conclusion, its a solid film that is not a waste of your time to see, and could easily become someone cult classic fave movie due to the 'Yuri' ending.