Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Roxie The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

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

Leofwine_draca A slick and efficient wilderness thriller utilising a few great actors to strong effect, DEADLY PURSUIT is one of my favourite crime films of the 1980s. The story is simplicity in itself, a classic odd-couple pairing as inner-city FBI agent Sidney Poitier is forced to team up with a survivalist type to track down a ruthless murderer. This is the type of film that you don't really watch for the intricacies of the storyline, as it's kept very simple and straightforward, but to enjoy great outdoor photography, a sharp script and commanding performances.Poitier returned from a decade-long break from acting for his role here, and he couldn't have picked a better part: he plays a commendable guy, extremely hard-bitten and intelligent and yet not without humour too – witness the very funny scenes involving a moose and a horse. Tom Berenger, in comparison, is taciturn and unfriendly and watching the two butt heads makes for a lot of fun.As the villain of the piece, Clancy Brown gives a towering performance that builds on his breakout part as the Kurgan in HIGHLANDER. He's hulking and frightening, a vicious psychopath who leaves a trail of bodies in his wake and doesn't think twice about bumping off defenceless old women. It's truly an intimidating turn, delivered in classic Brown style, and adds to the film immeasurably. Kirstie Alley is thrown into the mix to equalise the gender balance a little and doesn't have a lot to work with, but to be fair the film isn't about her.For a thriller, there are plenty of suspense scenes, some of them truly nail-biting – witness the set-piece involving the cable car. Okay, so the film does lose points slightly for moving away from the wilderness locations for the climax – it would have done a lot better by staying in the mountains – but such things are merely minor detractions and don't spoil the flow too much. This no-frills adventure/thriller hybrid is right on the money.

Sandcooler "Shoot To Kill" is a movie that's just always walking tightrope above a swamp of grey mediocrity but never falls in. The plot is completely generic, but at least there's one interesting element to it: finding out the identity of the killer. It's not handled all that well, you don't exactly get to puzzle it together, but it does keep you interested for a while. The actors are mostly chosen from the boring half of the B-list (Kirstie Alley, Tom Berenger, sigh), but at least they had the decency to put them in the shadow of the great Sidney Poitier. Even the misplaced comedy scenes make sense when he's around, what a screen presence. The best part of this movie is inarguably the part that takes place in the woods, which is lucky because that's more than half of the movie. Why do they ever leave anyway, how do you make a movie with scenery this great end around a freakin' harbour? "Shoot To Kill" is flawed at best, but it did entertain me I guess.

Paul Andrews Shoot to Kill starts late one night in San Francisco as diamond merchant Mr. Berger (Milton Selzer) sets the alarm off in his jewellery shop & the police show up, still in his pyjama's with a couple of pounds of diamonds it's clear that he's being forced to act against his will & when questioned by special FBI agent Warren Stantin (Sidney Poitier) he admits that an armed man has his wife as a hostage. The local police & Stantin try to negotiate the release of Mrs. Berger (Janet Rotblatt) but the plan only ends up getting her killed & the killer escaping with the diamonds. The next day & the killer is trying to cross the border into Canada through a small town called Bishop Falls but is spooked when he sees a large police presence & decides to kill a member of a hiking group & take his place so he can cross the border on foot. Meanwhile Stantin learns of the man's death which was in the same unique manner Mrs. Berger was killed & sets off after his man through the tricky & rough mountainous terrain...Directed by Roger Spottiswoode & known under the better title of Deadly Pursuit here in the UK I thought this was a great action thriller which doesn't often get mentioned. The script by Harv Zimmel, Michael Burton & Daniel Petrie Jr. takes itself pretty seriously although there are one or two light hearted moments surrounding agent Stantin's 'fish out of water' type situation even if the scene where he confronts a Grizzly Bear & scares it off by flapping his arms in the air is a little too silly. The film moves along at a nice pace & mixes the genres of thriller, action & whodunit very effectively. The character's are good & I liked the way that despite working together agent Stantin & his guide didn't suddenly become the best of friends & have long deep, meaningful conversations about their lives as in say Lethal Weapon (1987) because that's just so clichéd. In fact there isn't that much dialogue spoken in the film & poor Kirstie Alley barely says a word! Shoot to Kill starts off as a whodunit mystery but about half way through it reveals the killer & it changes in tone & becomes a taught thriller & I actually rather liked this abrupt & unexpected change in direction it took. A good solid throughly entertaining thriller with a decent cast that's worth a look but won't have much replay value as once you know the killer the films twist won't have any impact & the entire first half will lose it's effectiveness.Director Spottiswoode does a good job here, the isolated forest locations are well used & the film has a nice tension to it especially during it's first half when we don't know who the killer is. There are some good action scenes including chases, a car chase, some shoot outs & people hanging over cliffs on rope although when John hits that cliff face the force & impact would have broken just about every bone in his body. The violence & body count are relatively low as is the profanity but that makes a nice chance.Technically the film is fine with nice location shooting, it was shot largely in Canada with the opening sequence shot in San Fransico. It's well made & I would have imagined it had a decent budget coming from the Disney owned Touchstone Pictures. The acting is good & there's a pretty impressive cast here.Shoot to Kill, I much prefer the title Deadly Pursuit, is a neat little action thriller with a good concept that's not predictable has unusual relationships between the character's & is well worth a watch.