My Take: Mindless, balls-to-the-wall action thriller. Grab on to that chair.<br /><br />BROKEN ARROW may be required to take a deep long breath, because when it starts, it's a ripping action-packed joy ride complete with guns, explosions, action heroes, great baddies, helicopters, jeeps, chases and all under the great helm of Hong Kong action god John Woo, here having a filed day with special effects, stunts and style. It may be off on implausibility, but you won't need much to think about once the theater gets dark. And when the theater does get dark, and the film starts, the action just keeps pouring in. Woo delivers style over substance (there's more action here than plot), but what style! This is one of the finest piece of action escapism in years, it's also one of the most stylish ones.<br /><br />John Travolta and Christian Slater star as two military pilots who volunteers to transport two nuclear warheads via Stealth Bomber jet. Turns out, the true reason is Maj. Deakins (Travolta), who is still in a grudge after being passed from promotion for a long time, is out to steal the two bombs and hold the for ransom. When he ejects his partner Capt. Riley Hale (Slater) and crashes the jet in the middle of the desert, Hale is out to stop his old partner from detonating the nuclear bombs if his demands of a large amount of cash is met. Samantha Mathis co-stars as a local sheriff Terry Carmichael who gets caught up in the entire mess, and ends up helping Hale out to stop Deakins from going ballistic (there are very few romantic in-turns between the two, just for the good of it).<br /><br />The film runs at 108 minutes, and Woo doesn't let things up. There's action here and action there. It's wall-to-wall full of action and less plot in comparison. The film's plot resembles that of the previous year's hit SPEED, which may due to the writer being Graham Yost, who also wrote that recent blockbuster hit. But who cares, both films take liberty from the DIE HARD films, and they both turned up well. In the matter of execution, this derivative affair is brought with style and pure wall-to-wall action and thrills. And, under Woo's hands, the action is done with style and freshness.<br /><br />Although with a large amount of violence, Woo is the kind of action who treats them like paint in his canvas. Action fans will be pleased by how who treats the heart-pounding excitement and pure action as his ballet . It's action filmdom as a form of art. Highly recommended!<br /><br />Rating: **** out of 5.