Broken Arrow (1996)
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A rogue military pilot and a group of mercenaries attempt to blackmail the U.S. government using stolen nuclear warheads.
The story
United States Air Force Major Vic "Deak" Deakins and his co-pilot Captain Riley Hale are flying a stealth bomber with two B83 nuclear bombs on a secret exercise. Deakins suddenly attacks Hale and ejects him from the plane. He then jettisons the unarmed bombs, reports that Hale has gone rogue, and ejects, leaving the plane to crash in Glen Canyon national park in rural Utah. Colonel Max Wilkins sends a Pararescue team to find the missing warheads. A "Broken Arrow" situation is declared, and Department of Defense agent Giles Prentice is assigned to oversee the situation.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
After Deakins crashes the plane in Utah, a Pararescue team finds the warheads but is ambushed by mercenaries and betrayed by Master Sergeant Kelly, who is in league with Deakins. Deakins and the mercenaries' financier, Pritchett, plan to blackmail the government. Hale is arrested but convinces park ranger Terry Carmichael to help him track Deakins. After a series of skirmishes involving helicopters and Humvees, Hale and Carmichael carjack a Humvee and find Deakins using an abandoned copper mine as a checkpoint. Deakins reveals he programmed the warhead to detonate if Hale tries to disarm it. They escape the mine via an underground river as the bomb detonates. Deakins kills Pritchett and flees with Kelly. Hale deduces Deakins plans to use a train to transport the warhead to Denver. Stowing away on the train, Carmichael and Hale engage in a series of battles with the mercenaries. Hale eventually saves Carmichael and engages in a final gunfight with Deakins. After a helicopter crash kills Wilkins, Hale sabotages Deakins' getaway helicopter. In a final confrontation on the train, Hale overpowers Deakins, acquires the remote detonator, and disarms the warhead. Carmichael detaches the boxcars, and the hurtling warhead strikes Deakins, killing him in an explosion.
- First release year
- 1996
- Runtime (minutes)
- 108
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- John Woo
- Writers
- Graham Yost · writer
- Cast and characters
- John Travolta · Major Vic "Deak" Deakins; Christian Slater · Captain Riley Hale; Samantha Mathis; Delroy Lindo; Frank Whaley; Bob Gunton; Howie Long; Chris Mulkey · Major Hunt
- Genres
- action; thriller
- Themes
- Betrayal; Nuclear threat; Military conflict
- Tone and mood
- Action-packed; Tense
- Premise and plot tags
- Nuclear weapons; Terrorism; Train heist; Military betrayal
- Reception
- The film had a mixed critical reception but was a commercial success, grossing $150.2 million against a $50 million budget.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 54% · review count: 35; Metacritic · score: 61 · scale: normalized rating; CinemaScore · score: B+ · scale: A+ to F scale
- Production trivia
- John Travolta was originally the choice to portray Riley Hale but was chosen instead to portray Major Vic Deakins.; The opening track, 'Rope-A-Dope', has been widely used in other films and media, including Scream 2 and Speed 2.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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