punishmentpark A terrific thriller adventure flick with lots of fine acting by Sydney Poitier, Tom Berenger, Kirstie Alley and the whole bunch playing the survivalists. The film is roughly divided into three geographical sections: 'heist' (prelude), 'survival trip' (the main course) and 'finale in Vancouver' (aftermath). All parts are suspenseful (and comical at moments), but the different settings really add to the colour of the movie.The group dynamics when Alley's characters teams up with a crew (one of them is the baddie, but who?) work great, and Berenger and Poitier have good chemistry as well. Of course, the film works best when you see it for the first time (and you still don't know who the baddie is), but I'm always looking forward to seeing it once in a while on the BBC. It's one of those re-runs that never bores, and I must have seen it at least four or five times by now.9 out of 10.

Jackson Booth-Millard With a great leading actor, a good supporting cast, and director Roger Spottiswoode (Turner & Hooch, Tomorrow Never Dies) involved, I thought, I can't see anything that would be bad about. Basically a man has stolen diamonds from his own jewellery shop, and then the man finds out a mad mad demands the diamonds in exchange for his kidnapped wife. The mad man manages to escape, but FBI agent Warren Stantin (Sidney Poitier) with wilderness experienced and skilled Jonathan Knox (Tom Berenger) as he runs through the Northern American forest. In this forest is a group of hikers, including Knox's girlfriend Sarah Renell (Kirstie Alley), Norman (Richard Masur), Harvey (Hellraiser's Andrew Robinson), and the revealed diamond thief, Steve (Clancy Brown). Also starring Kevin Scannell as Ben, Frederick Coffin as Ralph, Michael MacRae as Fournier, Robert Lesser as Agent Minelli, Les Lannom as Sheriff Dave Arnett, Frank C. Turner as Austin Crilley and Walter Marsh as Sam Baker. Poitier is a good lead, and Brown is a not too bad villain, I think it is the scaling outdoor sequences involving vast forest, rigid rocks and rushing rivers that are most watchable about this quite alright action thriller. Worth watching!

bkoganbing After an eleven year absence from the screen, Sidney Poitier chose to return in an action/adventure film where he plays an FBI agent in search of a killer.He's got good reason to want this guy bad. His quarry is ruthless and kills without mercy. Poitier loses a hostage and the ransom he's asked for. But some good detective work has traced the man to a remote part of the Pacific Northwest.Where the perpetrator has killed again and joined a party of dry fly fishermen being guided by Kirstie Alley into the rugged mountains. No place for a city kid like Poitier, says mountaineer/hermit Tom Berenger who has the prerequisite skills to get the job done. These two are forced into an alliance of inconvenience.The best thing I liked about Shoot To Kill is the guessing game we play for the identity of the perpetrator. Any one of the five men in Kirstie Alley's party could have been the killer. Look at the cast list and you'll recognize a few names who've played some pretty loathsome villains in the past. The identity is revealed suddenly and quite shockingly.What I didn't like with Shoot To Kill is the fact that the final confrontation with the perpetrator is in big city Vancouver where he's escaped with Alley. He needed her in the woods, not any longer, she should have wound up dead. And Berenger and Poitier should have confronted him in the woods.That script decision made the climax a rather ordinary one that you see in a whole lot of police chase films. Still all the players do fine here, my favorite being Kirstie Alley as the woods smart guide.

The_Void Deadly Pursuit certainly has it's fair share of problems, but as an entertaining little action thriller; it stands up well to criticism, as while some of the dialogue, situations and character drawings don't exactly ring true; the film moves quickly and director Roger Spottiswoode does a good job of ensuring that the film is easy viewing and never becomes boring. Deadly Pursuit is something of a film of two halves; it starts off as a gritty cop thriller, and then mutates into a survivalist themed chase movie. The plot is fairly standard at first, as we witness a man being caught robbing a diamond store. The plot thickens when, after some interrogation from the arresting officers, it turns out that the thief actually owns the store! We then learn that he's stealing the diamonds to pay a kidnapper for the release of his wife. FBI agent Warren Stantin manages to chase the kidnapper down, but he gets away with the diamonds and flees into a forest near Canada; thus meaning that Agent Stantin must chase the killer into the woods, with the help of a rugged local who knows the area.The film does have a number of problems - sometimes, for example, it seems to just jump from one scene to the next without much in the way of a connection. This does keep things moving, but the film can feel a bit disjointed because of it. Still, the plot flows fairly well and enough different angles are created to keep things interesting. The film features a decent cast, headed up by Sidney Poitier. Poitier's character changes a lot through the film, and while the actor sometimes looks a bit silly, he does seem to manage this well. He is joined by Tom Berenger, who also gives a decent performance in his role, while the rest of the cast is filled out by the likes of Clancy Brown, Kirstie Alley and Andrew Robinson. Perhaps the best thing about this movie is the fact that we don't know who the killer is for so long, which builds suspense - and mystery, and the film also carries off a nice twist little twist with the choice of actors surrounding the killer. Overall, I can't really say that Deadly Pursuit is one of the best films of its type - but it's certainly a very good thriller and I recommend watching it!