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Broken Arrow (1996)
20 Plays23 days ago
This week on the Everything Actioncast, Zach and Chris deal with a Broken Arrow situation and discuss John Woo's 1996 action classic for its 30th anniversary.
Christian Slater and John Travolta star as Riley Hale and Vic "Deak" Deakins, who co-pilot the stealth bomber. On an exercise where they are transporting live B83 nuclear bombs, Deak turns traitor and tries to kill Riley, ultimately ejecting him from the plane. Deak has had an elaborate plan in place to steal the nukes and ransom them back to the US government, or else he'll detonate a bomb in a city. Riley teams up with park ranger Terry Carmichael (Samantha Mathis) to stop Deak and recover the nukes. Zach and Chris discuss the ridiculous opening boxing match between Riley and Deak, Riley and Terry never introducing themselves to each other until the final scene, the arrow-like design of the nuclear bomb core, the big acting debut for Howie Long, and more.
You can watch Broken Arrow on Prime Video. Next week, we're catching a ride with The Hitcher and discussing the horror/thriller cult classic for its 40th anniversary.
We want to hear your comments and feedback. Send them all to contact@everythingaction.com. Also, let us know your movie suggestions for us to discuss.
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Transcript
Intro
Introduction and Main Topic: 'Broken Arrow' 30th Anniversary
00:00:19
Zach Sheets
Hello and welcome to the Everything Action Cast podcast the week of February 9th, 2026. I'm your host, Zach.
00:00:25
Chris Prime
And your co-host, Chris.
00:00:27
Zach Sheets
And this week we have a Broken Arrow situation and we're talking about the 1996 John Woo classic because it's celebrating its 30th anniversary. It came out on,
00:00:36
Zach Sheets
it was, I should have looked this before, February 9th, 1996 is when it came out. And yeah,
John Woo's American Films: Ranking and Analysis
00:00:43
Zach Sheets
his his second American film after, of course, Hard Target and before Face Off.
00:00:50
Zach Sheets
Which i would I would, if I'm ranking like like the first three and American movies, I would probably put Broken Arrow last. But it's not it's it's not bad and any sense. It's like it's it's it's super fun and fantastic.
00:01:01
Zach Sheets
But like just compared to Hard Target and Face Off, it's kind of like just lesser of those three to me.
00:01:06
Chris Prime
It's lesser, but no less. Like, it's not lesser of a movie. It's just when you rank it to the John Woo factor.
00:01:15
Zach Sheets
Yeah, compared like you know Face Off, like one of the greatest action movies of all time. And a Hard Target. Van Damme plus John Woo.
Action Styles in 'Hard Target' vs 'Broken Arrow'
00:01:25
Zach Sheets
feel like Hard Target has more of like the John Woo like insane style to it.
00:01:29
Zach Sheets
I feel like it's a little bit toned down here.
00:01:30
Chris Prime
It...
00:01:31
Zach Sheets
there's like there's definitely there There definitely is is some of the style in Broken Arrow, but like Hard Target...
00:01:34
Chris Prime
It's toned down in Broken Arrow.
00:01:36
Zach Sheets
Yeah. i mean our target
00:01:37
Chris Prime
Especially...
00:01:38
Zach Sheets
I mean, Heart Target has Van Damme unholstering his leg. And like and then like s slowmos of like a guy getting punched, like a helmet. Like a shot of like a helmet. And then like all the stuff in like the Mardi Gras factory at the end and stuff.
00:01:55
Chris Prime
well I was going to say, the fact that I think the first act, no like that John Colin Van Damme doesn't kill anyone until basically the second act, where it's like, alright, now it's time to kill.
John Travolta's Villains: 'Broken Arrow' to 'Face Off'
00:02:06
Chris Prime
hill it's really reserved. Where in Broken Arrow, think Christian Slater, like, only in, like, again, second act, now I can kill.
00:02:17
Chris Prime
So, wait but unlike Face Off, where it's basically just like, everyone's got guns and they're all shooting.
00:02:18
Zach Sheets
Yeah,
00:02:24
Zach Sheets
because Face Off is just like over the top. like Totally unleashed John Woo. Just insanity. but Plus, Nicholas Cage in the mix.
00:02:31
Chris Prime
Yep.
00:02:33
Chris Prime
And like a minor sci-fi element.
00:02:39
Zach Sheets
I think the thing i think about this, too, is like this like John Travolta in Broken Arrow, kind of it's kind of like a practice run for Face Off.
00:02:47
Chris Prime
Oh, yeah. I think this point, John Travolta hasn't played a villain. So this is like a very big villain role that makes his character seem very cool for like a crazy like kind of like, I don't know, like terrorists, domestic terrorists.
00:03:06
Zach Sheets
like traitor to the country
00:03:08
Chris Prime
Yeah, and his whole thing is just trying to basically, like, have a better pension because he's yeah he realizes that, like, in probably, like, ten years, like, he can't retire, like, well.
00:03:23
Zach Sheets
he's been getting passed up for promotions he's he's like kind of like this he's he's just a franchise with the air force or wherever like yeah
00:03:30
Chris Prime
He's thinking disenfranchised, like, the American system.
00:03:32
Zach Sheets
yeah He just wants you he wants the money.
00:03:34
Chris Prime
But... But if I remember correctly, I think, like...
Villain Motivations: 'Broken Arrow' vs 'The Rock'
00:03:39
Chris Prime
this is maybe a year before The Rock.
00:03:44
Zach Sheets
might have been the same year as The Rock.
00:03:47
Chris Prime
like, they've both got a very similar message.
00:03:49
Zach Sheets
Yes.
00:03:51
Chris Prime
But then it's like, oh, no, like, this guy is completely, like, all for the money.
00:03:53
Zach Sheets
yeah it was This was the same year as The Rock.
00:03:56
Chris Prime
Wow. So, two... it Okay, so... It does boil down to, like, what villain is sort of more sympathetic, but Broken Arrow, it's like, oh no, he's just a cool, unsympathetic villain.
00:04:10
Zach Sheets
Yeah, Hummel is like, he's doing the right thing for the rock. Like, he's doing...
00:04:14
Chris Prime
The wrong thing for the right reason.
00:04:15
Zach Sheets
Yes, because he wants to like get like his men that died, like, recognition and their family's money.
00:04:19
Chris Prime
Right.
00:04:22
Zach Sheets
families's money
00:04:23
Chris Prime
Yeah, so they get like the, like, they died in secret missions, so give them like this. Where basically in Broken Arrow, I think he uses the guise of like, oh, like the American system broken. And then it's just like, no, I just want a cool terrorism thing. Because there's a whole thing about the black market, about the nuclear arms that they just, I think in my second act, they like get rid of. They're like, whatever, we'll figure it out later.
00:04:48
Zach Sheets
Oh, like, the but the overall, like, the criminal plot of is kind of like, it's such, like, not fleshed out with that much. just You get, like, these little glimpses of it throughout, but they don't really, like, go into it that much.
00:05:01
Chris Prime
they Yeah, they
Opening Scene and Boxing Theme
00:05:01
Chris Prime
never explain who's buying this
00:05:05
Zach Sheets
Because you have... Well, Bob Gunton is, like, one of the backers. Like, he's giving them the money to buy, like, the...
00:05:10
Chris Prime
this. But like, wait, before we get into let's explain like the the premise in the opening, because then that's where we can introduce Bob Gunton.
00:05:17
Zach Sheets
Okay. yeah Well, let's talk about the opening, which is, like, John Travolta and Christian Slater boxing each other.
00:05:25
Zach Sheets
That's...
00:05:25
Chris Prime
it It starts with like basically a montage opening up like mixed in with Die Hard and Rocky.
00:05:31
Zach Sheets
got some...
00:05:32
Chris Prime
It's got the same Die Hard flying text that comes in, but it's so simple compared to the poster where there's like a bomber and it says Broken Arrow and on fire. And i'm like, cool. And then you see the the actual like credit opening. are like It's so basic.
00:05:50
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:05:51
Chris Prime
Like, wouldn't you think the opening would be like a flying, like burning plane coming at you? it's like, whoa, because they were selling that in the trailer and the lead up the stealth bomber. They're all like, ooh this movie about a stealth bomber.
00:06:04
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:06:05
Chris Prime
And it breaks. But yeah, no, it starts with like a boxing match, which the random theme of boxing comes into play
Boxing Metaphor and Plot Alignment
00:06:13
Chris Prime
here.
00:06:14
Zach Sheets
With like super bizarre, like there's like super bizarre, it's like a microscopic shot of like the top of the of ring.
00:06:21
Zach Sheets
it kind of like zooms in.
00:06:21
Chris Prime
They're both boxing in a void.
00:06:22
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:06:22
Chris Prime
Yeah, they're boxing in some weird space void.
00:06:25
Chris Prime
And if you think about it this is also the same year as Space Jam. So it's like, and this is like a boxing in the future. Is this boxing in a cartoon-like planet? But yeah, no, then it opens to basically introduce that the Air Force loves boxing.
00:06:44
Zach Sheets
It's like John Travolta Deke has like the upper hand on Christian Slater because he always wins the boxing match or something. He's like the more veteran, more experienced person.
00:06:54
Chris Prime
That and he they also explain the different tactics where Deke is more of a technical boxer and Christian Slater is more of a brute force boxer. So Deke always has the advantage of out thinking him.
00:07:07
Zach Sheets
And then they specifically bring up Ropo-Dope, which they bring up later, which doesn't really... i don't think that applies to what the overall plan is, but it's just like a boxing term, I guess. It's just like, that fits. It's boxing.
00:07:19
Chris Prime
No, no, it does make sense. It's all about, like, distracting. So you do one thing, and then the real thing is over here.
00:07:27
Zach Sheets
Yeah, I mean, i guess that's sort of a Ropo-Dope.
00:07:30
Chris Prime
No, a rope-a-dope is bobbing and weaving.
00:07:30
Zach Sheets
Ropo-Dope!
00:07:31
Chris Prime
So, like, you you bob one way, but you punch the other. So that way, like, you trick them into going into where you want them to be punched.
00:07:41
Zach Sheets
yeah Well, the actual Ropidop, like, the Mojali fight was, like, he just, like, let... He let... Was it Foreman, I think? Like, just box the box himself...
00:07:47
Chris Prime
Yeah, forming it tired out.
00:07:49
Zach Sheets
Like, punched himself out and then took him out.
00:07:51
Chris Prime
Yeah, I mean, that's also another tactic. Wait, I'm confused now. Hmm.
00:07:57
Zach Sheets
that's Yeah, that's why it makes... It doesn't really make that... Because it's, like... because Christian Slater later is like, oh, it's all distraction. Like he's distracted. He wants to look here, but he's going over here, which that's not really rope a dope technique. That's what I was like. You get pounded and let the other guy punch himself out. And then you like take him out.
00:08:13
Zach Sheets
So it's just like, they just like, like pulled up, like what's the, what's the best boxing term that like, kind of like sounds good that we can like throw it here.
00:08:21
Chris Prime
I mean, I guess like boxing, Ali, Ali, RoboDope, RoboDope, this. If anything, it should have been like but like a butterfly sting like a bee. Like that could have been a thing where it's like, oh
00:08:30
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:08:33
Zach Sheets
Or would have been a very sensitive if like, if like, like John Travolta, like was like a magician. It's like, and it's all like, where you like he's like, in the magic is like, yeah, like slide a hand, look over here. You know you got you can't follow the card or whatever. Mm
00:08:46
Chris Prime
No, no, I can sort of agree what do you mean by that. Just because this is would have it would have been the precursor to like the prestige or something.
00:08:57
Zach Sheets
hmm. theres
00:08:57
Chris Prime
Of like two of these greatest Air Force fighters, but they're both rival amateur magicians trying to steal a nuke or something.
00:09:06
Zach Sheets
Because that would make more sense that would make more sense if he was like his hobby was be like magic. and then And then it's like, oh, he's's it's like when he does magic.
00:09:11
Chris Prime
Close up magic.
00:09:15
Zach Sheets
It's a distraction. he wants you to look here, but actually you look over there.
00:09:19
Chris Prime
Now you see me, now you nuke.
00:09:20
Zach Sheets
yeah Yep.
00:09:23
Zach Sheets
He pulls like a corner out of like Chris Slater's ear. It's like, there you go. Keep that.
00:09:30
Chris Prime
Okay, so, yeah, the the boxing thing is interesting because it it shows that like they're kind of like brothers. You know, they they they respect each other.
00:09:38
Zach Sheets
here They're co-pilots in the stealth bomber.
00:09:43
Chris Prime
And $20 becomes this running motif between them.
00:09:47
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:09:47
Chris Prime
Like, this is $20 the movie.
00:09:49
Zach Sheets
And they always it's they always bet $20. They pass this $20 bill back and forth between each other. Whoever wins the boxing match or whoever wins the bet gets $20. then...
00:09:58
Zach Sheets
but then
00:09:58
Chris Prime
Okay, so...
The $20 Bet Motif
00:09:59
Zach Sheets
so well
00:09:59
Chris Prime
But the thing is, it would have been funny if it actually was the same $20, but I think it's like multiple
00:10:06
Zach Sheets
They make it seem like it's a state 20. Because Travolta has it like in his pocket, and then for or like I think for like the whole movie, it kind of comes back at the end. It's like, oh, it's mine now.
00:10:20
Chris Prime
I thought that was like another 20 that they pulled out at the end.
00:10:23
Zach Sheets
It's just like, oh, that was just like Travolta just had a wallet full of Hmm.
00:10:28
Chris Prime
Makes sense. He's like crazy enough to do. I mean, back then they didn't have like good credit cards. You to pay everything in cash.
00:10:35
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Whiskey used discover card.
00:10:39
Chris Prime
Diners Club.
00:10:40
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:10:41
Chris Prime
But I also think this movie's like the anti Top Gun movie.
00:10:47
Chris Prime
Hear me out. So, you know, in Top Gun, it's like a lone Maverick.
00:10:48
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:10:52
Chris Prime
And this time it's like two brothers already, like tight and in the air Force already.
00:10:58
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:10:59
Chris Prime
And then they're the best at their what they do, because that's why they're on this like exercise that I don't know, for whatever reason, they want to carry a nuclear weapon like below radar, which, OK, you don't need the real nuclear weapon to test out the
00:11:13
Zach Sheets
i think I think what they've mentioned what they say is specifically is they want to they want to make sure if they're carrying a nuclear weapon that they like the radar can't detect like radiation or gamma radiation.
00:11:21
Chris Prime
can't detect it
00:11:24
Zach Sheets
They're trying to detect like the actual weapons and see if they make sure it doesn't like i interfere with like the stealth capability or the radar.
Realism in Nuclear Bomb Design
00:11:30
Chris Prime
so i don't know if they say this in the movie but they should just make it decommissioned nuclear weapon like and like just make sure like oh they're carrying like the radioactive material but they can't trigger it like
00:11:43
Zach Sheets
Yeah, it's they specifically have like the two biggest nuclear missiles that they could possibly carry at the
00:11:50
Chris Prime
And you know what's even crazy is like you don't even really see what's inside the bomb. So it's just like what you think is like a fusion core, like some orb that basically has to get like like pulsed into exploding where it would have been scary if you like if they open the canister and it basically was the weapon from the rock where like the pearl.
00:12:10
Zach Sheets
The pearls, yeah.
00:12:11
Chris Prime
be Yeah.
00:12:11
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:12:12
Chris Prime
You know, at least that's like, OK, this is why we need to carry it. It's like as long as like this gets hit. You know, they they basically said that, like, oh, we could drop it, and as long as it doesn't go off in the right way, it's useless.
00:12:27
Zach Sheets
it's gotta to be art yeah It's gotta be armed first, and then if it's... It can, sit it can like, sit on fire for, like, I think if someone says, like, five minutes, and it won't blow up.
00:12:36
Chris Prime
So, like, yeah That's like the MacGuffin of the movie, but it becomes really like just becomes like something that they all have to drag instead of like a scary plot device.
00:12:44
Zach Sheets
Yep.
00:12:50
Zach Sheets
There is, like... Everyone's just, like, heaving them around. Like, without they get like it's like, whatever, it's nuker bombs. Throw it up this ramp.
00:12:56
Chris Prime
Yeah, the way they're treating it is like the way you treat like refilling the gallon water at like a water station.
00:12:57
Zach Sheets
Whatever.
00:13:03
Zach Sheets
who
00:13:04
Chris Prime
So it's like also like you you could just like take out the core, right? You don't have to drag the tube. Because the core seems like it's three feet.
00:13:20
Zach Sheets
Oh, because they just they this dismantle it from like the war like the missile part, and then they have like the inner part, and then it has the inner part has like the keypad on it that they need that like arms it.
00:13:30
Chris Prime
Mm
00:13:31
Zach Sheets
i don't Yeah, i don't know if you can, like, disassemble it any more than that.
00:13:34
Chris Prime
I mean, it would make sense for them to just take, like, more parts off of it, because then it's more compact. But for whatever reason, the nuclear warhead also has, like, a very MacGuffin spear, like, tip.
00:13:48
Zach Sheets
yeah
00:13:49
Chris Prime
See, the bomb doesn't do that. Like, it doesn't need to be, like, an anchor.
00:13:54
Chris Prime
That's why like, i don't think they understand nuclear weapons, but they're like, alright, it's just, like, cool looking.
00:13:58
Zach Sheets
It looks cool. Yeah.
00:13:59
Chris Prime
Yeah, like, it's a cool-looking bomb, don't get me wrong, but it's very, like, if you know what missiles do, it's like, the the outer shell doesn't need to be also the, like, bomb itself.
00:14:11
Chris Prime
Like, the tip. But I think they're going for the the but the thing about arrows. Like, it makes sense that the bomb is also an arrow.
00:14:20
Zach Sheets
Yep.
00:14:21
Chris Prime
So they lean heavy into that. And if that was the case, Christian Slater should have been also having an arrow. Like, he should pick up a bow and arrow from some Native American that's in Utah.
00:14:32
Zach Sheets
Or something, yeah, or have a, like, or Smith and Mathiscare, like, carries, like, a crossbow or something. Mm-hmm.
00:14:37
Chris Prime
Yeah, and her truck. She's like Hawkeye of, like, the park rangers.
00:14:42
Chris Prime
But yeah, so it's not like any, it's it's it's a lot of like foreboding music and and coolness from John Travolta because it's not it's not even known to the audience that John Travolta is the bet like bad guy yet. you just you sort of If you had to pay attention, if you've never seen this movie before, no trailer, just walked in blind, didn't read anything, said, Broken is cool movie, go see it. Don't don't look up anymore, right?
00:15:07
Zach Sheets
and
00:15:08
Chris Prime
Is John Travolta like automatically the bad guy?
00:15:13
Zach Sheets
well I love how sudden it is because it kind of it also kind of seems like Christian Slater makes this joke like he's like makes this mention is like oh you just like hear it like you're not gonna leave like you like hearing like these like nuclear missiles like and playing god with them like having like the power at your fingertips and like well take yeah Trilter just gives like this like just evil look just like oh you motherfucker I'm gonna kill you now
00:15:29
Chris Prime
Oh yeah, then that's the sudden jump.
00:15:36
Chris Prime
Yep. Yep, yep. That's where I was like, oh was that the line where it's like, oh, I'm playing God? I'll play God right now. It's like... Because
00:15:43
Zach Sheets
Like that set him off? That made him like turn into a traitor?
00:15:48
Chris Prime
it wasn't even like suspicious where it's like, oh, I saw like on your answer machine you know something. Or or we like I found this letter. I don't know what about. I figure like maybe I'll talk to you about it.
00:15:59
Zach Sheets
Yeah, Christian Slater has absolutely no idea this is going happen. There's no even an inkling that this going to happen.
00:16:04
Chris Prime
You know, in some movies, the the villain sort of hints that, like, they're on desperate times or, like, they have, like, something that's going wrong and then they're like, oh, I have a solution, but I'll tell you later. Like, that's the the four, like, shadow.
00:16:23
Chris Prime
Here, it's just like, John Travolta, yeah, it's like, he's such a cool guy. He doesn't, he's like, he is Maverick. He's an evil Maverick where he's like, i don't want to be, like, you know I don't want promotions. I don't i don't like the team. i don't like the brass. I don't like the organization the organization of the Air Force.
00:16:39
Zach Sheets
yeah
00:16:39
Chris Prime
And then Christian Slater's like, yeah, I'm gonna get better. I'm um'm i'm young. I'm going to rise up.
00:16:44
Zach Sheets
he wants to He wants to fly the Aurora, which I guess is an even even like cooler stealth
00:16:50
Chris Prime
It's the... I think the like yeah it's based on the SR-71. think it's something based on the s r seventy one like the longer one, not like the the wide stealth bomber.
00:17:03
Chris Prime
Because that one, I think it's like one pilot.
00:17:06
Zach Sheets
Yeah, and and it's also, like it's like it's it's just a rumor, like it's never actually been like, officially confirmed to exist.
00:17:12
Chris Prime
Mm-hmm. It makes sense. It'd be weird if John Woo was just like, oh, cool. like Let me just put this in my movie.
00:17:19
Zach Sheets
They put this top secret plane that I heard about in there.
00:17:23
Chris Prime
Yeah, I feel like it's one of those like fantasy bombers where at the time they couldn't make that just because like the parts and the tech. And they're like, we already have so many like like stealth bombers, whatever the model this is.
00:17:37
Chris Prime
Because if I know you didn't play a lot of PS1, but at this era, I played a lot of Ace Combat 2.
00:17:46
Zach Sheets
Okay.
00:17:47
Chris Prime
And then one of the planes you could swap out is like the same stealth bomber. Terrible handling, let me tell you that. like just It's more visually cool and has a shitload of like damage you can dish out, but the point is is that like this was sort of that era of, like catch see how cool this bomber thing is? It's so big, right?
00:18:06
Zach Sheets
Yeah, they' not not it's not for dogfighting. It's a bomber.
00:18:09
Chris Prime
Nope.
00:18:09
Zach Sheets
It's supposed to just fly super high and and like either like do reconnaissance or drop bombs from like super high altitude no one knows that they're...
00:18:15
Chris Prime
Yep. Yep, that's the point. It doesn't even need to be black. Just whatever reason they're like black. It's like, yeah, if you fly high enough, though, they're not going to see this black. It's like it's always at night.
00:18:27
Chris Prime
It's always flown like in a like two person team because the rest of just like cargo. And it's supposed to be lightweight so you can do all that. But yeah, I leading up, I was like, cool.
00:18:39
Chris Prime
Like I remember this from Broken Arrow playing this and I'm just like, yeah, no, this this plane sucks.
00:18:47
Chris Prime
I feel like it. In a dogfight, yes, it's going to lose. But also in a rainstorm. like
Depiction of Stealth Bombers and Escape Plan
00:18:54
Chris Prime
Or if you remember in Executive Decision, that's the same stealth bomber they get close to and that kills Steven Seagal.
00:19:01
Zach Sheets
yep
00:19:03
Zach Sheets
Then you flip the the stealth switch like they do in this movie. Stealth mode's on.
00:19:09
Chris Prime
Well, they they do a thing where the exercise is flying, what, like a thousand feet from the ground?
00:19:15
Zach Sheets
Yeah, because below radar, they want to make sure like they can't get detected. and and the
00:19:20
Chris Prime
and pretty sure if they hit a bird, there goes the plane. It's sucked into the engine.
00:19:26
Zach Sheets
They've got Academy Award nominee Delroy Lindo tracking them.
00:19:31
Chris Prime
Yeah, Delroy's like very underutilized in this movie. He's cool in it, don't get me wrong, but like it's so funny how they only use him as the guy in the base up until the third act and it's like, he's he's like he's what he's part of this team.
00:19:47
Chris Prime
But there's so after John Travolta pulls a gun and then attempts to like the poorest assassination attempt, like to John Travolta, like also pull the gun and sort of just like grin at it.
00:20:00
Zach Sheets
He's just...
00:20:04
Zach Sheets
Well, he he he he gives that look. well he He tells Christian Slayer to look out the window to like see if he spots something. And then when Christian Slayer is distracted out the window, he pulls the gun out and then gives them gives that like insane look.
00:20:18
Zach Sheets
And then Christian Slayer sees that in like the reflection of the of the glass, and then that's how he knows about to get shot in the face. So they have like their their like cockpit fight, and then Christian Slayer gets ejected out. like like Cholta pulls the ejector seat And then gives, like, just like that, like, last radio signal, like, oh my god, hell, what crazy! I'm ejecting! And then, like, he bails out.
00:20:43
Zach Sheets
And he also, like, dumps nukes out of the cargo bay, or the mob bay.
00:20:48
Chris Prime
Right, which I think, I don't know what the plan was to initially crash the bomber, because it seems like there was a plan, and then it keeps going wrong, and then they have to like keep adjusting.
00:20:48
Zach Sheets
And they, like, they better parachute down.
00:21:04
Zach Sheets
Well, because like his his' like guys on the ground like have a big spotlight, so I think they i think they wanted him to drop like the bombs like in that area where the spotlight was, but then they just blast past it, cause i guess because he's fighting with Christian Slater.
00:21:19
Zach Sheets
So he probably should have taken Christian Slater way earlier if the plan was to drop them in that certain spot.
00:21:27
Zach Sheets
And then he has to bail out, and then they like the self-bomber blows because crashes into a canyon.
00:21:32
Chris Prime
Yeah, which I think that was, like, unintentional.
00:21:35
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:21:37
Chris Prime
Because I feel like John Travolta would have been like, alright, well, I'm gonna just bail now and, like, just let it soar like through the sky for a while. i can see, like, him being psychotic and letting him do that. But yeah, the... It's cool that, like, the recovery team is prepared, but it just seems like so few guys for, like, a rescue mission. So, like, like get a and a bomb back. Like, it just seems like they're going on, like, a beer run.
00:22:05
Zach Sheets
Yeah, it's like it's like it's like five guys just showing up like, oh, we yeah we got missing new weapons. We gotta find the tracker, turn the tracker on.
00:22:14
Chris Prime
It's five guys, plus one of them is the, like, secret financier of the whole operation, which is like, why does he need to be here?
00:22:23
Zach Sheets
Oh, i was I was talking about like the like the how Howie Long's team that shows up.
00:22:27
Chris Prime
Oh, no, yeah, no, but that, that we'll get to that a little bit later, because I want to talk about, like, that extraction team that, like, they're just super unprepared.
00:22:27
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Yeah.
00:22:36
Zach Sheets
And also, like, but also it kind of seems like that was part that that was part of the plan because it's it's it's crazy.
00:22:36
Chris Prime
But, like...
00:22:43
Zach Sheets
like Like, every step is like, oh, I planned that. Like, this is all part i plan. Like, I wanted to go there.
00:22:48
Chris Prime
Yeah.
00:22:48
Zach Sheets
i wanted this to happen.
00:22:50
Chris Prime
Yeah, so... Later on, when, like, the extraction team, which is a real, like, Air Force team, like, they they are no they're supposed to go and fetch, like, things that fall out of planes and, like, other they
Role of Rescue and Recovery Teams
00:23:03
Chris Prime
kind of...
00:23:04
Chris Prime
I think they're also in that same thing, same realm where, I think, like, Sam Wilson is a pararescue man from, like, Marvel.
00:23:12
Zach Sheets
Yeah, it's like, it's like, is it, like SRT, they say? Like, you know it's like Search and Rescue Team.
00:23:17
Chris Prime
Yep, yep. So they're supposed to be dropped and just do like very they're supposed to be dropped in like grueling places. So they're supposed to be like veterans and like very aware of their surroundings.
00:23:29
Zach Sheets
Yeah, get, you get to, get to the wreck, get the pilots out, you know, fight, fight, if they're in, like, enemy territory, like, you know defend the plane or blow up the plane if they need to, or blow up the helicopter, because,
00:23:37
Chris Prime
ye Yep. So like it's it's weird that like they seem very unprepared for the next part of their mission, which is to get the second bomb.
00:23:48
Chris Prime
Like, even the helicopter person, they're just like, i don't know, I guess i'll turn it off my machine, have a snack, like, greet the locals, you know what I mean? and i was like, what? They're not part of the plan.
00:23:58
Zach Sheets
Well, one one thing I love about this movie is that, like, like goons just keep showing up. like Like, Travolta goons just keep showing up. Like, he just keeps, like, getting new guys to, like, appear. Yeah.
00:24:10
Chris Prime
Well, I think they're also all ex-military, so they just want the money, they're all mercenaries, so...
00:24:16
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:24:17
Chris Prime
They don't need a lot of army, but I feel like John Travolta should have paid for the extra men to all be there.
00:24:22
Zach Sheets
Well, I guess, i guess is that is that what Bob Gunton paid for? like Because he's like the money guy. like He paid like everyone to like be mercenaries.
00:24:30
Chris Prime
Yeah, so it he's the one that I guess paid for the team, but he didn't pay enough because he's only like 30 henchmen.
00:24:39
Zach Sheets
Well, it's it's yeah it's it's Travolta, and then it's like the guy who pretends to be the like the army or the park ranger. And then there's the two guys who fly the helicopter in beginning. That's that's like the tea that's like the the main team.
00:24:52
Zach Sheets
And they all, within like a span of like five, 10 minutes, they all get killed.
00:24:56
Chris Prime
Yeah, and then Travolta has to wait until he meets up with like the boat team.
00:25:01
Zach Sheets
It's like, Oh, Hey, by the way, here here's like, here's like eight more guys that were just hanging out.
00:25:06
Chris Prime
And then that team meets the train team.
00:25:08
Zach Sheets
yeah
00:25:10
Chris Prime
So it's like 20 people, and then they're they're go of split like 40 million eight ways.
00:25:11
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:25:15
Zach Sheets
I think, I think it 250 million was like the ransom. Yeah.
00:25:19
Chris Prime
Hire more people.
00:25:22
Chris Prime
like I get they want more money, but it's also like, this game goes south so fast, and you only have, what, Howie Long is the extra guy?
00:25:32
Zach Sheets
Yup. he your Use your main muscle.
00:25:35
Chris Prime
Yeah, he's your heavy, but he's not really the heavy.
00:25:36
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:25:40
Zach Sheets
It's also it doesnt weird that your money like you the money guy is like there on the ground getting his hands dirty. But he's also like because just like you're complaining about the entire time.
00:25:45
Chris Prime
That's what saying. like He's just overseeing it.
00:25:47
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:25:48
Chris Prime
And I'm like, is is that necessary? That could be like a valuable seat in the car or something else.
00:25:54
Zach Sheets
For like a guy who knows how to use like a gun.
00:25:57
Chris Prime
and That isn't just bitching to like a psychotic team.
00:25:58
Zach Sheets
Yeah. who yeah
00:26:00
Chris Prime
And also, for a guy that's like, oh, my money, blah, blah, blah. Usually that guy isn't on the field with them. And if he is, he's not like with them during this time.
00:26:13
Chris Prime
He should be like, he should have been on the train waiting.
00:26:17
Zach Sheets
Like wait. Yeah. Yeah. Like, oh, if you finally got here, you delivered my weapons finally to me. Cause I've been waiting here the entire time.
00:26:23
Chris Prime
Yeah, that would make sense. Not like, cause then it's like, oh, they would have revealed that like, there's a whole buyer and then it's like, he's the middleman he's like, oh, got I've got like connections in the black market, blah, blah, blah.
00:26:36
Chris Prime
It's sort of like implied that the bomb's going to go like, be sold for the highest bidder. So it's not even, guaranteed? Because...
00:26:45
Zach Sheets
i think i think they what like I think their plan... i mean, we we should we we go back to like they kind of like the plan is like sort of vague.
Travolta's Ransom Plan and Military Response
00:26:53
Zach Sheets
that we we We get these like little like tidbits of information about it, but i think that I think they want to ransom the bomb back to the government. and force like It's like, you want your bomb back? Pay us $250 million. Yeah. Yeah.
00:27:05
Chris Prime
Yeah, see, it would have been better off doing the the true lies method where it's like... we we're just going to black market this. So we have like more we have a baseline of how much they're willing to pay.
00:27:13
Zach Sheets
yeah
00:27:17
Chris Prime
Now it's like, what about like everyone else that wants this weapon?
00:27:23
Zach Sheets
also part but like Part of it too is also like, if you don't pay us, we're going nuke city, like an American city.
00:27:27
Chris Prime
Yeah, it's making good on your demand, which they kind of do and don't. And I'll get into that in a moment.
00:27:37
Chris Prime
if you use the weapon and it's like you didn't use it anywhere like major, i feel like that just ups the ante to send more people out into like Utah, like just calling everybody, just like start looking at every possible like public transport and route.
00:27:51
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
00:27:55
Chris Prime
Like I'm surprised the response for this, like they were able to find Christian Slater before they were able to find John Travolta's team.
00:28:08
Chris Prime
Because, the movie has, like, a break where just Christian Slater sort of, like, not doing anything off screen for a while. I mean, the first two acts, the first, like, first act and then halfway to the second, like, he is, like, there. But after the after they blow up that bomb, you think there's going to be like, way more, like, chaos or whatever, like, scrambling. But the military just sort of, like, takes a break. They're like, oh, that sucks.
00:28:35
Zach Sheets
Yeah, like, Chris Slater and Samantha Madness just kind of like, they just hike off from that lake and just like, oh, here, here's this, like, well well, I guess i guess Samantha Madness, she like hides in the boat and then she ends like, with the trees up.
00:28:49
Zach Sheets
But yeah, Chris Slater just gets picked up like, oh, hey, you guys picked me up. All right.
00:28:53
Chris Prime
Yeah, picked off off screen.
00:28:55
Zach Sheets
Yep.
00:28:56
Chris Prime
But... There should have been scene where Delroy Ray like goes out and then like picks him up personally. Like if Delroy Lindo like actually like went out, got him, and then they did the little like, okay, we need to go back because we're like we're so we're the we're fastest to get there.
00:29:20
Chris Prime
But before that, they spent a lot of time in like the the like war room scenes. like Way more than you think. And then... I forget Kurt Wood Smith was in this movie.
00:29:31
Zach Sheets
there There's a lot of that guys. There's tons of that guys in this.
00:29:34
Chris Prime
People that look good in like military outfits. But do you feel that there should have been the John Cushack role that they they swapped out for the... Frank Whaley role as Giles.
00:29:49
Zach Sheets
I mean, yeah, he's he's like the know-it-all that's like, hey, I know what's going on. I know exactly what's going on. You got send me out there.
00:29:56
Chris Prime
he's more of the like PR person because he's trying to figure out how to spin this. But for whatever reason, Giles is like he's trying to keep up about the information. He's trying to like he's trying to keep the flow of information like tight.
00:30:12
Chris Prime
That's his role. And then for whatever reason, he's ending up in that like powwow at the end. But that it's it's sort of like later on, like it's the same kind of role that John Huchat would play in in on air.
00:30:21
Zach Sheets
yeah
00:30:27
Zach Sheets
Like hot air, yeah.
00:30:28
Chris Prime
Yeah, right. It's like he's almost wearing the same kind of like outfit. Ooh.
00:30:33
Zach Sheets
But that's weird because like he doesn he's not involved in the final finale. like he's He just like stays behind and is like, oh, bye guys, have fun.
00:30:39
Chris Prime
Well, he he has no experience.
00:30:40
Zach Sheets
He's
00:30:41
Chris Prime
that's sounds like He's just like a PR communication.
00:30:44
Zach Sheets
a bureaucrat guy, yeah.
00:30:46
Chris Prime
Yep.
00:30:48
Chris Prime
But I thought the war room was going to do one of those things where it's like, all right, let's hire like another black ops team. And then if we can't like silence John Travolta, we'll silence like all the witnesses or something.
00:31:00
Chris Prime
But they don't go that route. They keep it very like simple.
00:31:03
Zach Sheets
yes They don't even like pull up like Travolta's like dossier or anything. They're surprised when he shows on the video he says, this guy? Like... this guy like
00:31:14
Chris Prime
Yeah, I think it's big so it kind of speaks to like, I mean, I'm doing some mental gymnastics here, but it kind of speaks to like how Travolta has been so like overlooked. Like they don't even immediately know.
00:31:28
Chris Prime
Because if anything, one of the generals or one of the Air Force representatives should have been like, I hate that guy, you know, or like, oh, I always had a bad feeling about him.
00:31:36
Zach Sheets
Yeah, we there's there's not a scene where someone shows up like, all right, here's like, let me give you the rundown on Colonel Deakins. like this is Like, this is like his, like, history. like history
00:31:48
Chris Prime
Nope, they didn't want to glorify it. Because I think in the end, it was like Deacon, the last whatever time, he just like turned to
Character Backgrounds and Roles
00:31:57
Chris Prime
evil. so I don't mind that, because that's what I'm saying. like They're not trying to humanize him where it makes sense. If anything, they should done the thing where it's like, as soon as they looked into it, it's like, then they open up like the black file or something where it's like oh, he's always been like a bad guy.
00:32:13
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:32:14
Chris Prime
He's just been covering it up, or he knows the right people who
00:32:16
Zach Sheets
you said He has psychiatric issues.
00:32:20
Chris Prime
That and maybe like, you know, there's someone, some mole in the, that room that's sort of feeding de Deacon the like intel or whatever.
00:32:32
Chris Prime
But that's like, but that's not like a John Woo thing.
00:32:32
Zach Sheets
that
00:32:35
Chris Prime
Like he's very like, this is this, this is that, like very simple.
00:32:38
Zach Sheets
Yeah, black and white. like
00:32:40
Chris Prime
Yep.
00:32:40
Zach Sheets
These are the bad guys. These are the good guys.
00:32:42
Chris Prime
ye that's all you need to it i like I don't mind because it's refreshing because in a modern era there might have been a whole political scene where John Travolta is giving a speech so he's sort of right for some parts but it it doesn't need to be complicated where it's like oh he's complex if anything John Travolta being like evil and just trying to figure out how to I don't know pout is like more interesting to me
00:33:11
Zach Sheets
Yeah. and
00:33:12
Chris Prime
Because pouts a lot. Like these like moody dancing pouts he's doing.
00:33:16
Zach Sheets
And like having like wildly swinging accents like he like just like reverts back to like like Saturday Night Fever accent for like or like a welcome back Connor like voice for like a little bit.
00:33:28
Chris Prime
Yes. Yeah, his like almost a Brooklyn accent.
00:33:32
Chris Prime
that That was like a classic Brooklyn accent. At least a lot of like Italian-American Cotter voices and stuff.
00:33:36
Zach Sheets
Mm hmm.
00:33:38
Chris Prime
That that was a thing. it's it's not as prevalent in these days, man, but I grew up in Brooklyn during that time. And some people sound like John Travolta, like in that, and you're like, Jesus.
00:33:51
Chris Prime
But I'm, I like that. Basically, Christian Slater is, as soon as he lands, he's like, all right, now I need to go after Deacon. I need to just do this.
00:34:04
Chris Prime
I just need to find a gun. You know, that's not going to be a nice topic. I'm just going to grab a gun and start walking.
00:34:10
Zach Sheets
Yep.
00:34:12
Zach Sheets
Find him in this national park.
00:34:15
Chris Prime
He doesn't even have like a moment to reflect about like previous conversations or like a flashback. You know, I do appreciate this movie moving quickly like that. Because he's not like, oh man, need to stop my friend.
00:34:28
Chris Prime
He's sort of like, well, Deacon's a bad guy. I need to go stop him.
00:34:31
Zach Sheets
Well, it moves so quickly that the main heroes don't even introduce themselves to each other.
00:34:38
Zach Sheets
Like, Samantha Madness and Chris Slater don't, like, introduce each other. you like might like that's the That's, like, the big thing at the end is, like, oh, by the way, my name is this. And it's, like, oh, my name's this.
00:34:48
Chris Prime
like they don't even They were around each other for so long that I think they didn't even say, like, my name is, like...
00:34:53
Zach Sheets
No, that's, it's like, the last lines like, oh, by the way, my name is, like, Riley Hale. It's, like, oh, my, Terry Carmichael. But they don't
00:34:59
Chris Prime
i think I thought like they were trying to introduce their full name. They don't even know their each other's last name.
00:35:04
Zach Sheets
They didn't even ask each other what their names are or anything. It's just like, hey, like...
00:35:09
Chris Prime
Okay, because I think they're both wearing name tags, so like they just look at the last name, like, alright, your name's Hale.
00:35:11
Zach Sheets
Maybe.
00:35:14
Chris Prime
My name is Carmichael.
00:35:16
Zach Sheets
Yeah, because Samantha Mathis is like, sir, turn around, sir. And then
00:35:21
Chris Prime
Maybe you're right.
00:35:22
Zach Sheets
and then they have like their fight over the
00:35:25
Chris Prime
And then it's like instantly like, oh, I guess I'll stop this nuclear bomb with what's your name again? Like, just.
00:35:30
Zach Sheets
Ma'am? sir ma'am
00:35:33
Chris Prime
Just call me, sir. like All right. I don't mind that. It's pretty hilarious to think that's like. If you point that out, like they never know each other, they're just like that guy.
00:35:43
Zach Sheets
yep Yeah, but
00:35:43
Chris Prime
No, I'm pretty sure he he calls her, like, I need to say, like, that park ranger. She's, like, innocent in all this. Or I need to say...
00:35:51
Zach Sheets
but he doesn't say her name, though. He's just like, oh, that park ranger, that woman I was with, we gotta rescue her.
00:35:57
Chris Prime
oh wow.
00:35:57
Zach Sheets
doesn't even know her name. Because the big moment at the end. They tell each other their names.
00:36:04
Chris Prime
Yeah, I do like how it's not so much, like, a typical, like... I guess... I guess also John Woo didn't want to use the hard target thing where like their sexual chemistry obvious and then like try to play into the whole thing where will they, won't they?
00:36:19
Zach Sheets
Well, they used to i mean he used to date in real life before this movie, like Christopher Slater and Samantha Mathis, and they were like, public volume together.
00:36:27
Chris Prime
forget that they're in Pulp of the Volume. I forgot like most of that movie in the middle. i just remember the end was pretty like cool.
00:36:35
Zach Sheets
A lot of lot of people in this movie are, like, are in other movies with other people in the movie.
00:36:42
Chris Prime
Or Marvel.
00:36:43
Zach Sheets
Or Marvel, yeah.
00:36:45
Zach Sheets
but But it's like yeah like Samantha Madison and Krista Slater were in Pump the Volume and also Ferngully. They were they were in that together.
00:36:52
Chris Prime
Was Samantha Mattson the brunette in Ferngaldi? Like the fairy?
00:36:57
Zach Sheets
i think so.
00:36:59
Chris Prime
Wow.
00:37:00
Zach Sheets
Yeah, she was Krista. And Krista Slater was Pips, so they were the main couple in that too.
00:37:07
Chris Prime
Yeah, Samantha Matheson was also in the 2004 Punisher. True,
00:37:11
Zach Sheets
Yeah, but they didn't have any, like, she and Trafalta didn't have any, like, scenes together.
00:37:15
Chris Prime
true true. But I'm just saying, like, huh, it's interesting that, like, some people had other connections.
00:37:15
Zach Sheets
that
00:37:20
Zach Sheets
And then Frank Welle was in Pulp Fiction with John Trafalta. He was in, like, you know, obviously, but like, the big kahuna, the big brain on Brad scene.
00:37:27
Chris Prime
Mm-hmm.
00:37:29
Zach Sheets
So, yeah, lot a lot of people were, like in like, either in it before, with each other before or, like, afterwards.
00:37:36
Chris Prime
i mean, it's a good showcase of all these actors. They play these roles really nicely. There's not like a character that was in here that i was like, what do they do? like Everyone sort of gets typecast for what you want them to be.
Casting Praise and Helicopter Obsession
00:37:49
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:37:50
Chris Prime
Christian Slater is a fast, taught like so like sarcastic, snarky hero.
00:37:54
Zach Sheets
Snarky. Yeah.
00:37:57
Chris Prime
He could have been like the side character and would have been fine, right? But it's like, he has yeah he only has Samantha Madison to play off the funny person, the snarky person, to the serious person, but she sort of falls apart and becomes the like little bit of a damsel at times.
00:38:13
Chris Prime
But she kind of reens it back in the second act. Because remember she was going to the helicopter like waving at it like, hey, hey.
00:38:17
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:38:21
Chris Prime
hey
00:38:22
Zach Sheets
Yeah. And then yeah then, like, that awesome scene where, like, it, like, she shoots the guy through the glass and then, like, it falls, like, vertically onto Samantha Mathis and, like, almost chops her with, like, the tail rotor.
00:38:32
Chris Prime
Yep, that was pretty cool. and But the scale, if you notice that scene, like the scale of the helicopter changes.
00:38:39
Zach Sheets
yeah Yeah. Because it was just, like, whatever they built for, like, the tail rotor part.
00:38:44
Chris Prime
Mm-hmm. So it just it's not like huge, it's like it's like the model of it, so I'm like, ha okay. Yeah.
00:38:52
Zach Sheets
i feel I feel like helicopters was what John Woo got really obsessed with in this movie because there's so much, so many helicopters crashing or like blowing up or like it's so much helicopter stuff.
00:39:04
Zach Sheets
Because there's...
00:39:04
Chris Prime
Yeah, I think he did he didn't use a lot of helicopters in his other movies.
00:39:04
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:39:08
Chris Prime
if in not Not in this sense where like they're used as weapons, they're used as like an opponent. They blow up a lot.
00:39:17
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:39:18
Chris Prime
That's not definitely the American Hollywood budget to have like real explosions. like okay Not real explosions, but like you know more practical model explosions.
00:39:32
Zach Sheets
But yeah, I think there's it's like i think it's like four helicopters that blow up or like and so at some point, at least.
00:39:41
Chris Prime
I'm gonna say...
00:39:43
Zach Sheets
there's it's it's it's the one it Christian Slayer shoots the one and it blows and it blows up and like crashes.
00:39:43
Chris Prime
Well...
00:39:46
Chris Prime
Uh-huh.
00:39:47
Zach Sheets
There's the the Nest team. like Their helicopter gets hit by the EMP and crashes and blows up.
00:39:52
Chris Prime
Yes.
00:39:52
Zach Sheets
Delaware Windows in his helicopter.
00:39:55
Chris Prime
That's three.
00:39:55
Chris Prime
Oh, oh, the train!
00:39:55
Zach Sheets
Christian Slayer...
00:39:57
Zach Sheets
They escape one on the train that Christian Slayer blows up on the train.
00:40:01
Chris Prime
but That was like a small helicopter. gonna fit like eight people in that helicopter?
00:40:06
Zach Sheets
Yeah, it seemed like it was like, I don't know if Chabotl was going pull like a Joker from Dark Knight and just like kill everybody be like, good job, everybody. But it's actually just me and Howie Long. We're the guys.
00:40:18
Zach Sheets
My best bro, my best bro is Howie Long.
00:40:18
Chris Prime
Howie Long looks huge in this movie.
00:40:20
Chris Prime
Yeah. Howie Long is like the size of two people in this movie.
00:40:24
Zach Sheets
Yeah. the The start of Howie Long's short, short run as an actor. Yeah.
00:40:31
Chris Prime
Action actor.
00:40:32
Zach Sheets
Yeah, because he was he was in this, and then he was in the classic Firestorm, and then he was in 3,000 Miles of Graceland.
00:40:35
Chris Prime
Firestorm.
00:40:39
Zach Sheets
was by like the the three, and that was it.
00:40:41
Chris Prime
I forgot.
00:40:41
Zach Sheets
And
00:40:42
Chris Prime
I forgot that he's in that. and He's basically the same role as this.
00:40:47
Zach Sheets
and then he was just like, all right, I'm just going to back to be like a football commentarian commercials.
00:40:53
Chris Prime
I mean, I just think he was trying to be...
00:40:53
Zach Sheets
I'm just going to show for Radio Shack.
00:40:58
Chris Prime
Oh, God. Who's the guy in...
00:41:02
Chris Prime
It was the one that Mr. Science Theater, that like the football star that was in the Space Something movie.
00:41:07
Zach Sheets
Oh, Space Mutiny?
00:41:08
Chris Prime
Yep.
00:41:08
Zach Sheets
i don't Was Reb Brown like a football star? don't think he was.
00:41:14
Chris Prime
Not thinking of him. Or the guy that's in Stone Cold.
00:41:18
Zach Sheets
oh Oh, the Boz?
00:41:19
Chris Prime
The boss, yeah.
00:41:20
Zach Sheets
Okay, yeah, Stone Cold, Brian Bosworth.
00:41:23
Chris Prime
always confuse the two, Red Brown and then the boss, just for certain parts.
00:41:26
Zach Sheets
Yeah, that kind of makes it, like, I guess you have a lot of like trying to be like, I could be the Boz.
00:41:26
Chris Prime
But yeah.
00:41:32
Chris Prime
I could be the new boss. The problem is that, like, the boss was this, like, rough, real-life guy, or, like, the persona-wise, and Howie Long just, he just seems like like a cool guy i want to hang out with.
00:41:44
Chris Prime
You know what I mean?
00:41:44
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:41:45
Chris Prime
Like, So when you watch a movie with him, you're just like, well, you're just a really tall, handsome man. You know, it's just like, do you have bar fighting experience?
00:41:52
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:41:56
Chris Prime
No? All right.
00:41:58
Chris Prime
I feel like the boss is some dude who you like, don't want to like be near when he gets drunk at a bar.
00:42:04
Zach Sheets
but I mean, yeah, I believe it's so cool. I believe he would like go to a biker bar, and like beat everybody up, but like, like, you know, be in that, be in that world.
00:42:13
Chris Prime
But they can't keep putting Howie Long in movies where he's like the strongest fireman. And then he's like, what's the next? The strongest EMT.
00:42:22
Chris Prime
After that, the strongest zookeeper. Like, all right.
00:42:27
Zach Sheets
Wait, yeah, he's he's fine in this. He's a good, he's a good henchman. He's a good, like, you know, like, like, but you know, like second, second banana to john Travolta.
00:42:37
Chris Prime
But the thing is, though, he's not crazy like John Travolta.
00:42:40
Zach Sheets
No.
00:42:41
Chris Prime
So it's this thing where he was he plays such a like straight man to the craziness that it stands out with the rest of the team. Like everyone on that team is sinisterly evil or they are just like my nit role as henchmen. I make jokes like, you know, everyone's sort of like, I know what this is for. But Howie Long just seems like I'll I'll hang out with you guys.
00:43:09
Chris Prime
I'm in it for the money, too. I guess have to fake my death.
00:43:12
Zach Sheets
i'm on I'm on board with this until it affects the money then I'm i'm not on board with it
00:43:16
Chris Prime
Yeah. But then, like... Because remember, Howie Long is supposed to be like, oh, he died in a KIA mission, so...
00:43:26
Zach Sheets
well There's that great scene where like heat they they fake like him dying of radiation. It's just like, the missile! It's open! yeah Yeah, I mean, he could have survived that like fall of that like super tall bridge.
00:43:36
Chris Prime
I mean, they're goingnna find out later when it's like, okay, well, he's obviously not there. So there's still a chance he have survived that train incident happens to him later.
00:43:52
Zach Sheets
it's but Maybe water.
00:43:54
Chris Prime
Maybe water. But before we get to that, so yeah, the The fact that like later on it's throwing more scenarios in an open desert where Christian Slater has to like corner John Travolta.
00:44:13
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
00:44:13
Chris Prime
Because i don't even know how Christian Slater catches up with John Travolta so easily. I kind of forgot that part. Like, into the cave part. where I was alright, well, they're doing some sort of we got to go chase them into this cave that they outran the helicopter that they blew up. And so John Travolta and them go to the cave to go find Christian Slater.
00:44:33
Zach Sheets
Well, they had they had they they had the big Humvee trace where, like, it's kind of I feel like it's kind of like an homage to like Raiders the Lost Ark, because it's like, Christian Slater is like, you know, like, they're trying to ram him, like, he's like, on the back of the Humvee, they're trying to ram it, and then it's like, it's just like, kind of like, you know back and forth, like, they they kick the guy out of the driver's seat and throw him out of the desert and, like, run him over.
00:44:55
Chris Prime
Yeah. You're right.
00:44:56
Zach Sheets
But then,
00:44:57
Chris Prime
It's a very good homage because like it it just takes its own form. Because it's like, okay, what's the plan? Let's just jump on the Humvee and then fucking see what happens.
00:45:06
Zach Sheets
we'll still We'll steal the Humvee that has the nukes in it. Because they put they put both nukes in one Humvee. They didn't split it up between two Humvees. They have two Humvees. They didn't split it up, but they put up both of them in one Humvee.
00:45:13
Chris Prime
It's...
00:45:16
Chris Prime
And then the one with the Humvee all the nukes only has one guy, just the driver.
00:45:19
Zach Sheets
guy Yep. Yep. They cram like they kind of like five five guys in one Humvee, and it's just like...
00:45:25
Chris Prime
like a dude sitting on the financier's lap.
00:45:29
Zach Sheets
Yeah, pretty much. It's like Howie Long's the back seat with like the other two other guys. They crammed Howie Long and two other guys the back seat and like one guy's in the front seat. Yeah.
00:45:39
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:45:41
Chris Prime
Just put Howie along with the bomb. i
00:45:42
Zach Sheets
yeah
00:45:43
Chris Prime
Howie along looks like the heavy. He should have been in there. And maybe he he falls off and then he gets into the other van. You know, like it. It's very like weird that like the plans always have like these logical setups at John Travolta. like It's not even like an eagle thing. At this point, he's just sort of like, oh shit.
00:46:02
Chris Prime
I probably should have that driver a gun.
00:46:05
Zach Sheets
Well, Christian Slayer surprises them by like, he he brings up that that bomb with like a gas, it's like a gas tech can and like a flare and he throws it at their hubby and blows it up. Which apparently he learned in, that's his New Jersey thing he learned.
00:46:19
Chris Prime
That's actually not far from my neighborhood.
00:46:22
Zach Sheets
He's like, where'd you learn that? Trent, New Jersey.
00:46:25
Chris Prime
No explanation. It's like, are you from New Jersey? is that No one in Jersey has the Christian Slater accent.
00:46:32
Zach Sheets
Was there like a secret like black op in tre New Jersey where you had like you like rig up like explosives?
Improvised Explosives and Fight Scene in the Mine
00:46:39
Chris Prime
Nope. Again, saw those movies as a kid. Never thought I'll be near Treden later on in life. would Treden like, so is this like a thing where people throw gasoline and road flares together?
00:46:50
Zach Sheets
for
00:46:50
Chris Prime
that just a thing here?
00:46:52
Zach Sheets
Improvise explosives?
00:46:54
Chris Prime
I mean, it's an improvised Molotov cocktail, sort of, but it's expensive to do that now.
00:47:01
Zach Sheets
But that gives them like the... theyre they're able They delayed Travolta, but then they go to the mine that Travolta was going to go to anyway.
00:47:10
Chris Prime
like convenient mine.
00:47:11
Zach Sheets
Yeah. yeah it Because it's like the only thing on that road is like this like old copper mine. like And then I guess Travolta also was going to detonate a bomb in there anyway.
00:47:22
Chris Prime
See, I don't know why he would do that.
00:47:25
Zach Sheets
to I guess the like to show the government that he's serious, like he will detonate a nuclear bomb, and so then he's got the other one. It's like,
00:47:33
Chris Prime
But like i did I thought he did it to shield the bomb because then if the next the NES team's out there looking for it, because they're just going to just follow the radiation to see where the bomb eight where the bomb went off and then be like, you know, where they would hide it
00:47:49
Zach Sheets
Well, I think part part of the part of the thing with like, Howie Long, like, pretending he died of radiation is so that they would, like, think there's, like, a leak and then send the Nest team out. That, they that like, delayed, like, the government response more. it gave them more time to, like, you know, move the bombs.
00:48:08
Chris Prime
Okay. So, mean, that's clever.
00:48:12
Zach Sheets
Yeah, so much of this stuff is clever and some of it's, like, more, it's convenient. And then he makes it seem like he thought of it or, like, It's like, oh this is all part of the plan.
00:48:22
Chris Prime
Meanwhile, he's just sort of like, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.
00:48:26
Zach Sheets
but yeah, the the fight in the mine, i feel like, is like probably the most, like, John Woo-ed, like, thing in the movie.
00:48:34
Zach Sheets
As far as, like, that that's when, like, Christian Slayer gets, like, dual guns and he's, like, doing, like, crazy flips diving and...
00:48:41
Chris Prime
Yeah, because you can't have an open fight that doesn't have like walls to bounce off of and coverage. Because then it just comes a Western. They're just like popping out of cover, taking pop shots at each other.
00:48:53
Zach Sheets
because okay Because like Chris Slater just like uses like two guns like he's just like alright two guns I'm just going to use them. It's not really like a so like not good joke. It's like is two completely different guns like a revolver and a pistol that like have like clear fire rates.
00:49:07
Chris Prime
Well, it's Samantha Madison's revolver.
00:49:08
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
00:49:09
Chris Prime
Samantha Madison's revolver is just like unlimited ammo.
00:49:09
Zach Sheets
yeah
00:49:12
Zach Sheets
Pretty much yeah.
00:49:13
Chris Prime
don't know how much ammo she carried into like her day, but it's...
00:49:17
Zach Sheets
She's got like a pocket full.
00:49:18
Chris Prime
a
00:49:18
Zach Sheets
She's like, she's like here, here's some more bullets. He like just pulls out from her pocket.
00:49:22
Chris Prime
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:49:26
Zach Sheets
And then, the yeah, the Travolta's got like the like machine gun. And then there's the whole thing with it the guy with like the the grenades. And the Travolta shoots him and then just like catches the grenade and throws it at Travolta. And then like calls like the cave-in.
00:49:41
Chris Prime
So the the interesting thing about the Copper Cave is that it's very like pointed out that, hey, like it's got copper, so that'll absorb radiation.
00:49:52
Zach Sheets
Yeah, it'll melt it, and then... like yeah It's it's like's like 2,000 feet underground, so that'll make... The radiation will leak out of it.
00:50:02
Chris Prime
But there's also like a nearby body of water that I'm pretty sure is going to leach into the water.
00:50:08
Zach Sheets
but feed That feeds into like Lake Mead, or like Lake Powell.
00:50:11
Chris Prime
Yeah, so I'm like, hmm, that's like a new problem.
00:50:17
Zach Sheets
Yeah. There's like a giant blast of radiation like very, very close to like like a source of water that probably feeds into that lake that like... i don't know if it's used for drinking, but like people like...
00:50:28
Zach Sheets
Lake Powell is like a very popular tourist like boating and swimming and like that kind of thing.
00:50:35
Chris Prime
Now it's got Chernobyl water.
00:50:35
Zach Sheets
I'm sure there's like fish... Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure there's like look of the fish and stuff in it.
00:50:40
Chris Prime
yeah they also This is another movie. like I think this is the movie where like I understood what EMP is. and In any kind of rule, there's an EMP, someone has to explain what an EMP is.
00:50:46
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Yeah.
00:50:51
Zach Sheets
Which, would that, I mean, I guess, would that, if the blast didn't, like, go up above ground, like, would the EMP go above ground?
00:50:57
Chris Prime
Yeah. It's just the electronic wave.
00:50:59
Zach Sheets
i yeah I guess, yeah.
00:51:01
Chris Prime
It's not like physical. like It is, but it goes through like the rock atoms. but it also, like, I don't know how strong it is to go, like, a certain mileage, but, like, if there's a plane flying overhead, I'm pretty sure that's gonna be like, oh, shit.
00:51:07
Zach Sheets
we
00:51:19
Zach Sheets
I mean, if it it was, like, an actual, like, full-on, like, surface-level blast, I think, like, planes with me going down stuff, but... Well, I guess the NES team is, like, is flying, like, extremely low what when, like, the blast goes off, so then, like, their helicopter blows up.
00:51:28
Chris Prime
Okay, that's true.
00:51:34
Chris Prime
See, it would have been cool if this also did a thing where it's like, oh, the the thing about this bomb that makes it very special is that like it has... It's one of those nukes that, I don't know, it's like a pocket-sized nuke, not a full-blown mushroom cloud nuke.
00:51:51
Chris Prime
But we never get like a test footage or anything that's like real to show you the severity of the bomb. where i'm thinking I'm going back to The Rock, where they show you like one scene of how bad the weapon is.
00:52:03
Zach Sheets
but well there's There's a scene when they think Travolta is taking it to Salt Lake City and the one guy's just like, alright, here's a like it's like a graphic of like how many like what the like radius is going to be of this bomb.
00:52:18
Zach Sheets
And then it's we're predicting 250,000 dead or something.
00:52:23
Zach Sheets
Or so so so some they give some number numbers, it's like, oh my god.
00:52:27
Chris Prime
Okay, so it's a crazy bomb, and then they're like, yep, but we blew one in a cave. and Right by the water.
00:52:35
Zach Sheets
Well, i think, like like, I think you said before, like, they specifically mentioned that it's like, the two it's like two of the biggest bombs that they could possibly carry. and Like the bomber. was like, oh, yeah i think they gave us the big boys this time.
00:52:45
Chris Prime
Yeah, that's true.
00:52:48
Chris Prime
but Again, it's so weird that like the bomb is shaped like this arrow, so it's like it's meant to just pierce and then explode to be more of a comical weapon.
00:52:58
Chris Prime
you know like It's just like overkill. Because as soon as that happens, as soon after the cave, like the movie like really jumps quick to be like, alright, well, here's like how they're moving from the cave to a boat to a train.
00:53:12
Chris Prime
like a you know This movie has a lot of transportation for this bomb.
00:53:12
Zach Sheets
Yes.
00:53:16
Zach Sheets
Yeah, using all all all the forms of transportation. John Woo got yeah yeah yeah all the all the vehicles.
00:53:24
Chris Prime
And for whatever reason, the cave transportation part thing, like as soon as it goes from the cave situation, the bomb has a smooth
Bomb Transportation and Climax on Train
00:53:31
Chris Prime
transportation. I mean, granted, the without Christian Slater interfering.
00:53:36
Chris Prime
If John Travolta's plan was exactly what it is, he didn't think there'd be another like team just driving a car like without radio equipment, just driving towards him and stuff like they wouldn't catch him on the road or the lake or the train.
00:53:52
Chris Prime
Because it disrupts the the nearby military base that is miles away.
00:53:56
Zach Sheets
Yeah, it's like they it's like they get hit. They have to say it was like an earthquake that happened, because like people for like felt the blast like miles away.
00:54:05
Chris Prime
And somehow, later on, they're able to shake off the the bomb to then find Christian Slater like wandering around the lake.
00:54:16
Chris Prime
That's where I'm like, oh, oh it's the MacGuffin scene. and it's like It's not even like Christian Slater like started a fire. He flagged down a passing car. He stole an extra boat.
00:54:28
Chris Prime
It's sort of like he just, oh shit, but don't get on the boat. fuck.
00:54:32
Zach Sheets
Which, i'm i don't know how Samantha Mathis hides in that boat and like no one notices that there's a person under like i a tarp for the entire trip to the the train.
00:54:42
Chris Prime
Yeah, very... very, like, simple. She, like, the boat, then from the boat to the truck, she's able to just get onto the train really easily.
00:54:53
Zach Sheets
but Like we said, for like there's like there's like five new guys that show up with a Travolta. Like, hey, here's but but but my boat guys. And like, they're all in the boat and like, no one knows. It's like, what's this big like tarp in the middle? I was like, what's that one under this thing?
00:55:08
Chris Prime
Do you guys smell Park Ranger?
00:55:09
Zach Sheets
yeah
00:55:12
Chris Prime
If anything, it should been, like, Oh, I'm not sure if nuclear explosions have a certain smell, but her being so close would have been like, hey, why is my Geiger meter like off the chart?
00:55:23
Chris Prime
Because you figure like they're handling nuclear weapons.
00:55:23
Zach Sheets
yeah
00:55:28
Chris Prime
like they They would have an extra Geiger meter in case like there actually is a leak through this rocky transportation.
00:55:35
Zach Sheets
Oh, yeah, don't have any sort of, like, safeguards at all. if like no No, like, hazmat suits in case they need it or anything that It's just like, eh, if it blows up, we we're like, it blows up, or whatever.
00:55:46
Zach Sheets
i'm I'm good with it.
00:55:47
Chris Prime
Yeah, like, i'll you know, you would figure, okay, maybe we should have, like, a special container to move these bombs in, but they really love showing the bomb.
00:55:56
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Hmm?
00:55:58
Chris Prime
Like, it's, like, presented perfectly on this, like, display in the in the train, like, open, like a model.
00:56:06
Zach Sheets
yeah It's got those like heavy convenient like like carry like rings that you can just like you know heave it around.
00:56:13
Chris Prime
it's It's such a a fantasy weapon because I guess you wouldn't have all the gears and wires exposed like that because I feel like anyone could just pour water in that thing and that thing just disable.
00:56:25
Zach Sheets
just smashes the the the keypad on the one they blow up in the mine. It's like, yeah, no one can stop it now.
00:56:31
Chris Prime
also feel like it has a failsafe device on a bomb. Having manual key press and then someone breaks the keypad, that's it? You can't stop
00:56:41
Zach Sheets
It seems like a massive flaw.
00:56:44
Chris Prime
There's no like kill button that's like, okay, you gotta like take this apart. Hopefully you did it time to like unwire something. But I guess they wouldn't teach the pilot that because they're like, why would you be opening the bomb?
00:56:51
Zach Sheets
Well, then,
00:56:56
Zach Sheets
Well, don't they mention it's like, but They go back to like the like situation room scene, and they're like, there's a failsafe of these bombs, right? like It's like, yeah, only the president and... forget, like it's like there's like two people. It's like, the pilots don't know the codes, right?
00:57:11
Zach Sheets
Right? And the guy's like, he just basically just like shrugs like, baby
00:57:19
Chris Prime
So I think that's what the... Okay, it's it's weird to think that the keypad, I guess he needs to memorize the code for each bomb, because it can't be the same password for both bombs, right?
00:57:34
Zach Sheets
Well, I think Travolta reprogrammed the first one because Christian Slater probably put in the code that he had for like that he knew.
00:57:42
Zach Sheets
when he put it in, it started to count down from like 30 minutes for the one in mine. And then Deke's like, oh yeah, I reprogrammed it. Ha ha ha.
00:57:53
Zach Sheets
I got you.
00:57:55
Chris Prime
I guess it's the same thing as like a hotel locker safe. You just like as long as you hit zero zero you can reset it.
00:58:01
Zach Sheets
yep
00:58:02
Chris Prime
Because here's the crazy thing. and but And later on they also reprogrammed the bomb to have a remote just so they can have a remote fight.
00:58:11
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Yeah.
00:58:13
Chris Prime
So it's like that guy was able to I guess disassemble the wires and like add a new feature. Like a better feature.
00:58:23
Zach Sheets
Yeah, yeah i guess I guess that's why they need like the guy, that like the the scientist guy, who's also like a Navy SEAL. like it what When like Samantha mathha's like is sneaking up on him, and then he's like, oh, you but you just thought I was like a scientist?
00:58:37
Zach Sheets
like I'm a Navy SEAL, bitch!
00:58:40
Chris Prime
Also, that guy plays Yosef in Marvel.
00:58:42
Zach Sheets
yeah
00:58:43
Chris Prime
it' says I was like, wait. that's like I looked that up. i was like, why does this guy look familiar?
00:58:49
Zach Sheets
And then gets killed by a hammer to the forehead.
00:58:52
Chris Prime
Like a ball pin hammer.
00:58:53
Zach Sheets
but Yeah, Smith-Messler throws a hammer his face.
00:58:58
Zach Sheets
But she was...
00:58:58
Chris Prime
But it's funny, he's dead, but like his body disappears during the movie.
00:59:03
Zach Sheets
Yep. Well, think i think that I think they might have thrown out the door. i think there's like you kind of like see off to the side of like one scene like when Travolta and Howie Long like show up and they they like they capture Samantha.
00:59:13
Zach Sheets
I think you see him throwing a body out the like the side door.
00:59:16
Chris Prime
Oh, okay.
00:59:18
Zach Sheets
But she was she was undetected until that moment. like She was like but from on the boat, got on the train, no one no one knew she was like anywhere on but either of those vehicles. Yeah.
00:59:28
Chris Prime
It's amazing the park ranger training that they get. they They teach you basically how to avoid detection in like, I don't know, like transportation situations, but not in the wild because, i mean, she technically got the drop on Christian Slater, so she's just got really good stealth.
00:59:49
Zach Sheets
just use your training like it's like just do what you do for like bears but like for terrorists or wolves I don't know what kind of like Predators are out in like the and Utah, in like whatever park that is.
01:00:04
Zach Sheets
but yeah But then like but Christian Slater manages like, hey, we gotta we gotta to go out there and attack the train. They fly a helicopter up there. And their plan is like, it's like one guy. We're gonna drop Christmas later on the plane on on the train. And that's it. Like, and then we'll, we'll cover him for the helicopter. That's all, all we're going to Like get these this nuclear missile back.
01:00:29
Zach Sheets
We're assemble like an entire team of like, like.
01:00:32
Chris Prime
well okay they They wanted to do this under the tape, so they just wanted to just like go.
01:00:32
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
01:00:37
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
01:00:38
Chris Prime
Which is funny, because this is what put them in the butt, because they they their whole plan hinges on three people. Three like military people trying to fly. like what The pilot, Delroy, and Christian Slater.
01:00:52
Zach Sheets
Well, I guess their original option, I guess they were probably going to try to blow up the train, and but then, like, Crusoe are like, hey, there's a civilian on that train. We've got to rescue her. And they're like, you're right. All right. We'll we'll do it your way.
01:01:04
Zach Sheets
Even though, like, Salt Lake City is is at risk. Like, the entire city of Salt Lake City.
01:01:09
Chris Prime
I mean, they could just blow up the bridge and then hopefully the train would break because they wouldn't just careen the train, right?
01:01:14
Zach Sheets
I got, yeah. yeah Mm-hmm.
01:01:21
Zach Sheets
I guess the nuke would survive because they mentioned how resilient they are. They armed to go off and then they can survive certain situations. So maybe maybe they thought they'd blow up the train up and then they'd recover the nuke.
01:01:36
Zach Sheets
Well, Christian Slayer, yeah.
01:01:36
Chris Prime
But I also like, where so before that, I also like that they're like, okay, what's a really cool sequence? Let's use the helicopter as a weapon for like one time.
01:01:46
Zach Sheets
Oh my god, yeah. there was thats Another, like, helicopter thing. yeah know they cut They cut that guy in the chest with, like, the the rotor blade. which Yeah. just so much So much, like, ridiculous, like, helicopter stuff in this movie.
01:01:59
Zach Sheets
but then But then they go into a tunnel, and then i think Delroy Lindos gets shot, and then, like, his pallet, like, they they can't pull up at times, so they say crash a blow up in the tunnel, like, outside the tunnel.
01:02:11
Chris Prime
But, like, they're two separate things. It wasn't like the pilot got shot, too, and then he did it. He just wasn't paying attention.
01:02:17
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
01:02:18
Chris Prime
It wasn't like the mountain moved closer. It was just like the pilot was just like, do, do, do. Oh, shit. And then, oh, no. Like,
01:02:26
Chris Prime
it seems very, it was, and it wasn't like Delray also, like, shot the pilot at by accident, too.
01:02:31
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
01:02:33
Zach Sheets
I feel like, I feel like Tori got, he just got, like, shot like, the arm. He's just like, oh, man, oh. But then, like, the pilot's just like, he's, like, looking back and then, like, didn't see, the like, the mountain coming up.
01:02:37
Chris Prime
Yeah, yeah.
01:02:43
Zach Sheets
He's like, you okay back there? oh shit! It blows up.
01:02:47
Chris Prime
Yeah, so it's even like... I don't know. Like, I get it. It's like dramatic. had to show you that like anyone could die, I guess, but like that makes me go like, oh, Daoru is awesome.
01:03:02
Zach Sheets
I think we we also ask got to mention before like the final off of like battle between Troult and Slater, we got to mention like the the crazy like shoot between Samantha Mendes' leg shot. Where like like they get quartered on the top of the train by one of the other guys, which like another random goon that Troult has.
01:03:21
Zach Sheets
But then Samantha Mendes has like a gun like it tucked in your back like and her back. So then Christian Slater grabs it and drops it from her legs and like shoots between her legs and kills that guy.
01:03:32
Zach Sheets
i love like his His reaction just is just like, wow.
01:03:37
Zach Sheets
That a first for me too.
01:03:40
Zach Sheets
But then we get the payoff to like the opening scene, which is like them like boxing each other again, but for real this time.
01:03:48
Zach Sheets
<unk>s like now now that Now we're fighting for real.
01:03:50
Chris Prime
Yeah, yeah. the The fact that like they're like replaying the opening and it's like this this like this like upgraded version of Christian Slater now now that he's like, well, I'll fight with everything I got to like defeat you, not hold him back.
01:03:58
Zach Sheets
pretty much yeah
01:04:10
Zach Sheets
i'm trying to was this is this when we get like the or was it the mind i'm trying to like where christian slater's like you lost your mind man and then he's like yeah ain't it cool
01:04:19
Chris Prime
No, he says that here. But for every reason in this fight, it brings back that like Christian Slater is using like more martial art and yeah more like martial art kickboxing.
01:04:26
Zach Sheets
kickboxing.
01:04:30
Chris Prime
i mean, more like, I guess, Asian-inspired moves.
01:04:34
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Because he kind of hits it like, oh, like what if I use my feet in like the boxing match? and But then, it's like, Josh is like totally like thrown off like, wait, you use your feet?
01:04:47
Chris Prime
Well, and then like there's that scene where k Christian Slater like gets the upper hand and now he has tiger moves.
01:04:52
Zach Sheets
yeah
01:04:54
Chris Prime
i It's a point like like in the early part, Christian Slater's more of a Bruce Lee guy, so that's why he's able to fight like more nimbly, I guess, instead of the strict boxing form.
01:05:04
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
01:05:05
Chris Prime
Just free form, which... I mean... I get it. Boxing, you want to do boxing rules because you're supposed to be like, that's the sport of it. but like like The technical sport.
01:05:17
Chris Prime
But like when it's full on like an MMA fight, it's just sort of like, I'll keep throwing limbs until you black out.
01:05:28
Chris Prime
But I like they go back to the boxing thing and it's all metaphors about like being knocked out and John Travolta has time to like kind of rant about like boxing things like that's your brain going against your head.
01:05:35
Zach Sheets
Yeah, it's like... this yeah sweat This is what happens when you get a concussion, like when you're getting punched in the head, like your your brain is slamming against your skull.
01:05:45
Chris Prime
It's charming. You know, it's like very sinister because he has time for this. Meanwhile, there's like a nuclear bomb like kicking down.
01:05:55
Zach Sheets
But then but then the the the ending is just, like, insane because the the train is blowing. Like, Samantha Madness makes her way to the front of the train, and the guy shoots at her, and then he shoots, like, this like these like barrels of, like, gasoline that were just, like, on the train for some reason.
01:06:10
Chris Prime
Just in case the train needs more gas.
01:06:12
Zach Sheets
More fuel, even though, like, the trains use gasoline.
01:06:15
Chris Prime
I think the trains use like diesel.
01:06:17
Zach Sheets
coal? Yeah. But, that, the so that, like, blows up, the like, the front of the train, and so, like, and then it's, like, the whole, like, everything is, like, crashing into each other, and then we get, the like, the crazy, like, Christopher gets the, the remote detonator, jumps out the side, and he, like, as he's jumping out the train, like, he presses the button to turn off the nuke,
01:06:37
Chris Prime
I like how he gambled on that throat like jump and press the button.
01:06:39
Zach Sheets
yeah Like, he's like, I'm cool enough to pull this off. Like, I can pull this off with, like, enough. There's, like, ten seconds left, or, like, a a second left to, like, turn it off.
01:06:48
Chris Prime
Yeah, yeah. That and just like... It's like he practiced that before.
01:06:54
Zach Sheets
Or, like, he'd, like, instantly know what button to press. He's like, hopefully it's this button. Like, jumps out the train.
01:07:00
Chris Prime
Yeah, that's not a standard issue remote. It's not like something that... he he's familiar with. For all he knows, the buttons can be in a different language.
01:07:12
Chris Prime
It's funny, it's just like he said instead of aren like disabled, it's just like, blow up now.
01:07:16
Zach Sheets
Yeah, or Travolta has another like head spin thing. like I made all the buttons different, so only I know what the buttons do.
01:07:23
Chris Prime
Yeah, everything is switched. It's like, secret.
01:07:25
Zach Sheets
Arm is cancel.
01:07:26
Chris Prime
Cancel is faster.
01:07:29
Zach Sheets
But then we also get one of the best... but but like The crazy death where the force of like the train like crashing and blowing up like shoots the like like the mis like the nuclear missile casing into Travolta and like slams him the back of the train.
01:07:45
Zach Sheets
So he gets impaled...
01:07:46
Chris Prime
Oh, no, that yeah it becomes an arrow. Like, now the thing becomes like a bow.
01:07:49
Zach Sheets
<unk>s Yeah, he's impaled by the point. He's impaled by the point and then the force of that like shoots him out the back of the train and then the whole everything blows up. Everything just explodes.
01:07:57
Chris Prime
Let me tell you, it's still, like, 1996 everything. So, when they cut to the... When they cut to the the difference in in the...
01:08:11
Chris Prime
the shot to set it up, you see a rough mannequin of John Travolta.
01:08:18
Zach Sheets
i do I love his like his face where he just like accepts it. He's just like, all right, bring it. Yeah, kill me.
01:08:25
Chris Prime
That is like, I'm so cool. Like, this can't kill me.
01:08:28
Zach Sheets
Yeah, I'll catch it. I'll grab it and catch on the air. Yeah.
01:08:31
Chris Prime
He didn't catch it. He was just like, yeah, yeah, this is cool. This is this is what I want. Until it hits him. I think he regrets it. They should have been like oh, shit.
01:08:39
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
01:08:41
Zach Sheets
There's a similar thing. don't think you've have you seen like the new Sisu yet, Chris.
01:08:47
Chris Prime
No.
01:08:48
Zach Sheets
There's like a similar thing that happens to that.
01:08:50
Zach Sheets
but like
01:08:50
Chris Prime
Oh, no.
01:08:50
Chris Prime
like Someone stares at the thing that kills them?
01:08:51
Zach Sheets
keep awake quick Compared to this, yeah. There's a missile that gets used to impale somebody.
01:08:57
Chris Prime
Is it like a standard where it's like, okay, we're doing like a movie on a train, so the train has to explode, and then if there's a bad guy still alive, the explosion doesn't kill him, some projectile kills him?
01:09:10
Chris Prime
Because that's like under siege to the train explodes. The main villain doesn't die by the explosion. And then it's like. I don't know. What's another like cliche train thing?
01:09:25
Chris Prime
It always takes place in like a cargo hold.
01:09:29
Zach Sheets
falls off like a bridge explodes and it falls off the bridge like and then like the bad guy gets killed by like the train collapsing on him.
01:09:37
Chris Prime
Well, technically the train just sort of like collides and doesn't fall off the bridge. It like fell sideways.
01:09:42
Zach Sheets
Yeah, in this movie yeah this it kind of like explodes and kind of like just like derails and falls off the side of the the tracks. Yeah.
01:09:49
Chris Prime
Which is funny, because then like does that mean John Travolta's body didn't blow up in the explosion? Because I feel like it shoved him aside. So the impact definitely killed him.
01:09:58
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
01:09:58
Chris Prime
And then have been like his body right next to the bomb.
01:10:01
Zach Sheets
Well, mean, Christian Slater finds the bomb and he and with, like, no no body, and he finds, like, the the the burned $20 bill with, like, the no body next to it. So it's like, do you vaporize?
01:10:13
Chris Prime
He's back in the sequel where he shrugs that off.
01:10:17
Zach Sheets
He became an FBI agent named Sean Archer. Yeah.
01:10:23
Zach Sheets
i do I do love that like the nuclear bomb is just like absolutely charred. It's just like it's fine. like It's just like another thing of like, oh yeah, this nuke can just throw around and explode. It's fine.
01:10:35
Zach Sheets
like it's It's just like blackened. And the Christians are like, that's good. Alright.
01:10:40
Chris Prime
Yeah, that means it's off. like At that point, that's when it should be like leaking.
01:10:46
Zach Sheets
Yeah. It rocks
01:10:46
Chris Prime
In fact, the end sequence is actually them like sort of hallucinating.
01:10:51
Zach Sheets
Yeah, it rocketed out of an exploding train and then like crashed on the side of like the the railway. and It's like, oh yeah, it's it's it's perfectly intact.
Music Contributions: Hans Zimmer and Dwayne Eddy
01:11:04
Zach Sheets
And then like we mentioned, they fought like Chris Slater and Sam at the Memphis finally introduced themselves to each other after this entire ordeal. Yeah.
01:11:12
Zach Sheets
And then, you know, cut to Hans Zimmer music.
01:11:16
Zach Sheets
Which we haven't we haven't mentioned, but,
01:11:16
Chris Prime
Which, yeah, we didn't talk about that.
01:11:18
Chris Prime
Let's let's really get into that real quick.
01:11:21
Zach Sheets
like... I do appreciate... it's it's it's It's not the, you know, the rock, like, his, like... da du that du da dan that dua Like, it's the it's, like, at least different from that.
01:11:32
Zach Sheets
i do i do love Travolta.
01:11:32
Chris Prime
Yep.
01:11:34
Zach Sheets
Like, every time Travolta does something, like, sinister, like, he gets, like, this, like, western kind of, like, guitar lick thing.
01:11:40
Chris Prime
Yeah, the riff that they get, which I think is also called Rope-a-Dope, at least according to Wikipedia.
01:11:46
Zach Sheets
Is it? Yeah.
01:11:49
Chris Prime
That guitar combination, that that riff that they got, it's used in other movies that I didn't know at the time. cause i I swore, i was like, is this Broken an Arrow theme? like What's this doing here?
01:12:01
Zach Sheets
Yeah, it was used in Scream 2 and Speed 2.
01:12:06
Chris Prime
I don't remember where in Speed 2. Yeah. It's like a William Dafoe.
01:12:10
Zach Sheets
Did do they use it for when the phone does something they play it
01:12:15
Chris Prime
And it's not like John Woo directed those. It's not like, oh man, I love that riff. It's just sort of like Hans Zimmer going, or like someone's like, there's a homage to that.
01:12:23
Zach Sheets
yeah yeah they got He got Dwayne Eddy, who's like this like super famous like guitarist, to to do like that like riff.
01:12:32
Chris Prime
Cool. I mean...
01:12:33
Zach Sheets
you He did like the... Dwayne Eddy played like like the Peter Gunn theme.
01:12:41
Chris Prime
What's the Peter Gunn theme?
01:12:43
Zach Sheets
like you like the well the It's the theme from the show Peter Gunn, but it's also like it's Spy Hunter. The Spy Hunter theme.
01:12:51
Chris Prime
Oh.
01:12:52
Zach Sheets
Like bam, bam, bam, bam
01:12:52
Chris Prime
Okay.
01:12:55
Chris Prime
That's his riff?
01:12:56
Zach Sheets
yeah
01:12:56
Chris Prime
Oh, that makes sense why that combination sounds cool.
01:13:02
Zach Sheets
yeah i miss it it must yeah he like this one must been right before hot zier just like wait to like cause like for a while like it was the rock started it and then or like when wasryptson tie withrypto tie before this cause that also had like the Oh, that was the year before, so I guess maybe he like took a break from his...
01:13:16
Zach Sheets
like He he kind of like he so you settled into like that main theme he did for like a while.
01:13:17
Chris Prime
Orchestral themes.
01:13:23
Zach Sheets
Pirates of the Caribbean, the rock, the same like riff going on.
01:13:27
Chris Prime
Did he also do- wait, did he also score the Dragon the Bruce Lee movie?
01:13:32
Zach Sheets
Did that have a similar theme?
01:13:34
Chris Prime
It had an orchestral theme that gets reused a couple times.
01:13:34
Zach Sheets
need
01:13:38
Zach Sheets
I was supposed to talk about like like the... Okay. Okay.
01:13:41
Chris Prime
No, no, no. It's the escalating, like, music. Nope, nope. Bruce Lee won as Randy Elderman.
01:13:47
Zach Sheets
okay
01:13:48
Chris Prime
Who also did the theme for, like, Triple X.
Graham Yost's Career and 'Broken Arrow' Ranking
01:13:51
Chris Prime
So... I mean, yeah, the i totally forgot Hans Zimmer did the music. And this is be before, like, Hans Zimmer became more known for, like, epics. So he was just like, is that a cool action movie? Fucking Hans Zimmer!
01:14:05
Zach Sheets
what if he play I'm sure i'm sure you probably play he's got to play Rope-a-Dope at like his concerts, right? It's got to be like one of his classic ZZ plays.
01:14:12
Chris Prime
I imagine.
01:14:14
Chris Prime
I mean, he's known to be like an amazing musician, but people widely known him for his music soundtrack. So, yeah, I think also the Broken Arrow had a soundtrack that just like the Hans Zimmer score.
01:14:22
Zach Sheets
Hmm.
01:14:28
Zach Sheets
Yeah, there definitely was like a soundtrack album, there was like the the novelization, too. Because, of course, like every every movie had novelization back in the day. they I think they still do.
01:14:36
Chris Prime
Mm-hmm.
01:14:37
Zach Sheets
They don't really talk about it today, but like every movie that comes out today still has like a novelization.
01:14:44
Chris Prime
Which is crazy because it's like media gets mass consumed so much that someone decided, hey, hey, let's slow it down and write about this movie instead of people watching it. But I do appreciate that they still make novelizations.
01:14:56
Zach Sheets
but guess I guess I was reading like some of the INDB trivia is like, i guess it's based on like a, the novel is based on like an earlier script. So like, like Deakins is like way older and then Christian Slater is like, is like way younger.
01:15:08
Zach Sheets
And so it's like just the characters when they actually like cast like John Travolta and Christian Slater, like, oh, we got to change their ages a little bit. But like, like I guess the age difference like was like drastically different in the original script.
01:15:22
Chris Prime
kind of makes sense. it' like the young guy and then the old guy. and it's like, this is is John Travolta's like last mission, maybe. And and Christian Slater's like first or second big mission.
01:15:31
Zach Sheets
which actually the the the probably should do like this movie was written by Graham Yost who uh before this wrote Speed but then he's gone on to like make yeah well he also he wrote Hard Rain which I think was the Chris Slater movie after this one and then uh Korea Justified is like one of his like you recent things and so the and the the show Silo on Apple TV Plus
01:15:55
Chris Prime
Wow, he wrote all that? He can write wide variety.
01:16:00
Chris Prime
It's funny to think that like John Woo didn't make Hard Rain because I feel like that's a perfect follow-up from like his Hard movies.
01:16:07
Zach Sheets
Yes.
01:16:07
Chris Prime
Hard target. Hard rain. Hard to kill.
01:16:11
Zach Sheets
Yep.
01:16:12
Chris Prime
Walk hard. It's the quadrilogy that it makes no sense.
01:16:19
Zach Sheets
Well, i mean, it's it's funny because like he went from hard-boiled to hard-target. So yeah, you could he you could have like continued like the trend of everything is hard in it.
01:16:27
Chris Prime
Yeah, hard mode.
01:16:28
Zach Sheets
Yep.
01:16:29
Chris Prime
Hard woo.
01:16:30
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm.
01:16:31
Zach Sheets
But yeah, Broken Arrow. It's it's it's super fun. It's super hard.
01:16:34
Chris Prime
It's super hard.
01:16:38
Zach Sheets
Like I said, like i don't i don't I would rank it like below the like the like the other two. like of like John Woo's main American movies. After Face Off, I feel like he like we're kind downhill for John Woo.
01:16:53
Zach Sheets
It's really American movies.
01:16:54
Chris Prime
But yeah, I still haven't...
01:16:54
Zach Sheets
it's like Mission Impossible 2, Windtalker's Paycheck.
01:16:57
Chris Prime
Well, Mission Impossible 2 isn't bad. just not a John Woo movie fully until the third act, I guess.
01:17:04
Chris Prime
Like, you need him to have a gun.
01:17:06
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
01:17:07
Chris Prime
I mean, he has really good, like, the Battle Redcliffe was pretty good in China. But... Yeah, like...
01:17:15
Zach Sheets
Silent Night was weird read for recent was and the And the remake of The Killer was fine.
01:17:17
Chris Prime
I have to know.
01:17:23
Chris Prime
I just didn't like it as a the killer fan because it just did not do what I want.
01:17:26
Zach Sheets
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
01:17:30
Chris Prime
the man knows like simple, easy stories. like It doesn't need to be a big message. If anything, it's like you know good guy, bad guy. That's it. Very simple.
01:17:40
Chris Prime
and And even then, like even if the bad guy at one point was a good guy or had some points, it's lost in the moment where it's like, I need to stop this guy. Right?
01:17:52
Chris Prime
Like, John Travolta, he could have, like, he could have just been like, oh, crap, I don't want to do this anymore.
01:17:52
Zach Sheets
miss
01:17:59
Chris Prime
But it's like, no, I got to commit to being crazy all the way.
01:18:02
Zach Sheets
Yeah.
John Woo's Hong Kong Classics and New Projects
01:18:05
Zach Sheets
And it's it's also, it's great to like, like, like a bunch of John Woo's like Hong Kong classics are like out, like in like 4K now because of like that Shout Factory deal. So like, you you go back and like watch like, you know, a bunch of like Hard Target hard-boiled and like uh think both both in the head is in the killer also and like back tomorrow are all they're all like out there now and like digital and 4k and in theaters like you you like you do i think it was like last month like they were all in like theaters
01:18:36
Chris Prime
Yeah. They had, like, special screenings.
01:18:39
Zach Sheets
so we're yeah we're in we're in like a hopefully we're in like a john wuasad's
01:18:46
Zach Sheets
I don't i't know if he has anything like new coming up after like the killer, but...
01:18:51
Chris Prime
He might. I feel like it's one of those things where he's not done.
01:18:55
Chris Prime
But, yeah.
Meaning and Use of 'Broken Arrow'
01:18:57
Chris Prime
Broken Arrow, like, Eventually, like they stop using Broken Arrow as a word in the movie. It's running theme.
01:19:03
Zach Sheets
Mm-hmm. They say well they it once, just like explain, like, it's like, we got a broken arrow.
01:19:12
Zach Sheets
Which, but like, that Frank Welle quote was just like, i don't know, it's scarier that this happens often enough be a term for It happens often enough that
01:19:21
Zach Sheets
habit happens like often enough that we have a term term for it.
01:19:25
Chris Prime
Yep.
01:19:26
Chris Prime
And it's not like a message. It's like, oh no, we gotta stop this like losing nuke weapons. It's like, nope, that's just something we do.
01:19:33
Zach Sheets
They have like a... there's a whole There's a whole Wikipedia page about like terms that they use for like nuclear... Like different scenarios for nuclear weapons.
01:19:41
Zach Sheets
They have like a bunch of different like euphemisms for like... If it gets lost. If it blows... If it's like a non-nuclear war like threat.
01:19:50
Chris Prime
If someone accidentally drops it.
01:19:53
Chris Prime
Wait, wait, let me just say something. Christian Slater was also in another movie called Hard Cash.
01:19:58
Zach Sheets
Hard cash. Okay.
01:20:02
Chris Prime
He was in Hard Rain and then Hard Cash.
01:20:02
Zach Sheets
You like hard. Yeah, hard.
01:20:06
Chris Prime
and Just letting you know.
Wrap-up and Teaser for Next Episode
01:20:10
Zach Sheets
But yeah, so that'll will wrap it up this week. Come back next week, we're going to be catching a ride with The Hitcher, the Rutger Hauer cult classic, because that's celebrating its 40th anniversary next week, so we'll dive into that.
01:20:23
Zach Sheets
And head over to all our new stuff there. We got news, reviews, trailers. No reviews this week. I didn't get a chance to like watch it. There wasn't really anything new to check out. But we got a bunch trailers out.
01:20:34
Zach Sheets
spider Spider Noir, that trailer came out. if you're Speaking of Nicolas Cage.
01:20:41
Zach Sheets
And yeah, all all our stuff is out. So check all our stuff out. And yes, for Chris, I'm Zach. And we will see you next week.