Broken Arrow

R

Released Feb 9, 1996

1 hr. 48 min.

Action

List

54%

35 Reviews

Tomatometer

44%

100,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Air Force pilots Vic Deakins (John Travolta) and Riley Hale (Christian Slater) are sent on an overnight top-secret mission with two nuclear weapons aboard their aircraft. But, after they are in the air, Deakins changes the plan. He attempts to kill Hale and then steals the weapons with the intent of selling them to terrorists. However, Hale survives the crash and meets up with park ranger Terry Carmichael (Samantha Mathis). Together, Hale and Terry attempt to thwart Deakins' plan.

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Critics Consensus

John Woo adds pyrotechnic glaze to John Travolta's hammy performance, but fans may find Broken Arrow to be a dispiritingly disposable English-language entry for the action auteur.

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James T

Great soundtrack! Over the top action.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/10/24

Full Review

Aaron G

If you need something to put on to kill a couple hours, this is the movie for you. Plot feels like it was written by an Elementary student. Plenty of plot jumps and cheesy one liners. I was expecting more from John Travolta & Christian Slater. I was pleasantly surprised to hear the wilhelm scream during a concluding fight scene.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

12/27/23

Full Review

DanTheMan 2

For lack of a better phrase, Broken Arrow doesn't really feel like a John Woo movie, lacking so much of his style, influence and trademarks but it does have explosions... lots and lots of explosions. Having been gifted a larger budget, it's well-crafted but completely mindless entertainment, existing purely as a way to showcase the film's action scenes which, in all fairness, do deliver (the finale on the train being more than worth the price of admission). It seems Woo was met with even more studio interference here than with Hard Target as there's no rhyme or reason as to why any does anything, no coherency with its characters or story with empty clichéd dialogue but it's tongue in cheek amid its seriousness with Travolta, delivering as the film's villain, hamming it up to near Face/Off levels of brilliance. Meanwhile, Slater brings next to no charisma to his role and his chemistry with Samantha Mathis is non-existent, I can't be the only one thinking that Nicholas Cage would have been a way better pick for Slater's role. Despite a lot of mayhem taking place on screen, the most memorable component of this otherwise ramshackle of an actioner is Hans Zimmer's awesome score. Broken Arrow is ultimately a subdued effort, one with a lot of cheese but not a lot of energy which in turn can make it feel like a slog.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

11/21/23

Full Review

Sebastian L

Woo has absolutely no interest in what makes sense as long as there are guns and explosions. This isn't even funny bad, it's just bad.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

10/26/23

Full Review

Topi L

One of the most underrated movies of all time. This is my kind of an 90's action movie.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

08/13/23

Full Review

Jack O

So if I didn't know, John Woo was the one who directed Broken Arrow before Face/Off and after Hard Target. This is a generic action film by all means but it's enjoyable by any means necessary. Aside from that, it does have one scene that is just as awesome as the action scenes. I literally remember some parts of the film and the nuclear weapon explodes. Watch this! That is awesome! Aside from that, nothing really out about Broken Arrow. It's an enjoyable film for some viewers but they'd just manage it to be decent. Broken Arrow is not as good as I thought but it's decent. However, I still think his film, Face/Off is fantastic.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

06/19/23

Full Review

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John Woo

Director

John Travolta

Maj. Vic Deakins

Christian Slater

Capt. Riley Hale

Samantha Mathis

Terry Carmichael

Delroy Lindo

Col. Max Wilkins

Bob Gunton

Pritchett

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Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

Broken Arrow is beautifully crafted, mindless entertainment–nothing more, but also nothing less.

Jun 7, 2022

Full Review

Owen Gleiberman

Entertainment Weekly

Rated: C

Sep 7, 2011

Full Review

Mick LaSalle

San Francisco Chronicle

Rated: 3/4

Jun 18, 2002

Full Review

Robin Holabird

KUNR (Reno, NV)

The movie Broken Arrow remains rentable, while the region's monolithic cliffs still overwhelm the senses.

Jul 23, 2021

Full Review

Mike Massie

Gone With The Twins

Despite a lot of mayhem taking place on screen, the only memorable component of this ramshackle actioner is Hans Zimmer's score.

Rated: 2/10

Sep 11, 2020

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

An inane thriller for those with a penchant for films that nuke themselves on purpose.

Rated: C

Aug 8, 2018

Full Review

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Synopsis

Air Force pilots Vic Deakins (John Travolta) and Riley Hale (Christian Slater) are sent on an overnight top-secret mission with two nuclear weapons aboard their aircraft. But, after they are in the air, Deakins changes the plan. He attempts to kill Hale and then steals the weapons with the intent of selling them to terrorists. However, Hale survives the crash and meets up with park ranger Terry Carmichael (Samantha Mathis). Together, Hale and Terry attempt to thwart Deakins' plan.

Director: John Woo
Executive Producer: Joe Gareri, Christopher Godsick, Brad Lewis, Dwight H. Little, Michele Maples
Screenwriter: Graham Yost
Distributor: 20th Century Fox, Fox
Production Co: 20th Century Fox, WCG Entertainment Productions, Mark Gordon Productions
Rating: R
Genre: Action
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 9, 1996, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 1, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA): $70.6M
Sound Mix: Surround

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