I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

As Good As It Gets

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

"Ricochet" is a movie worth seeing (renting) for its two lead actors; both of whom approach this movie with gusto, not to mention serious talent: Denzel as the righteous crusader attorney, and Lithgow as the bat-guano crazy killer. Lithgow plays the hell out of the psycho here, not the scenery-chewing bad guy you picture from "Cliffhanger", but the unhinged and unpredictable kind. The mindscrew he puts Denzel through in this movie is something else, man. Way out there.Sleazy and over-the-top are both very good descriptors for "Ricochet", which isn't at all what I'd expected. It does have that early '90s violence (you know it when you see it), but a lot of it's shot like a music video; it's kinda surreal. Ice Ti's character/subplot is awkwardly shoved in there, but on the other hand, Kevin Pollack's a reliable presence. I do love that Mary Ellen Trainor's playing the same character she did in "Die Hard") it's so random). This holds your attention, but it's also fairly forgettable.6/10

There are some features that it's best you don't think too much about, but simply go with it and enjoy the over-the-top ride. "Ricochet" is one of those films. It's quite an eye-rolling, but barnstorming action thriller starring Denzel Washington, John Lithgow, Kevin Pollack, Lindsay Wagner and Ice Cube. No cliché is left untouched in the plot developments as the criminal that was put-away goes after the cop, now district attorney that put him there, but his revenge is to see this man become tainted and slowly succumb to a downward spiral. Both were rookies in their chosen profession, but only one could hit stardom. The way it's all orchestrated is contrived in its manipulation, where success and satisfaction is gained from one's failure. It's the two leads that bring it up to par. A classy Washington oozes with confidence as the district attorney, while the icy Lithgow is left off the leash in the villain role. No holding back here… performance, but also the outlandish plot. For most part it sets up building upon the situation, like a dynamite waiting to explode. Director Russell Mulcahy's stylised handling is expansive, noisy and industrious with a real eye for mean-spiritedness and biting humour amongst its stagy set-pieces. Daft, but fun thriller hokum. "I've been following your career, you know."

Nick Styles (Denzel Washington) is an ambitious up and coming policeman studying law with an eye on entering the legal system sooner rather than later.His big break occurs when another similarly ambitious man – albeit in another field of endeavour – transgresses the boundaries of the law directly in front of Nick, and more tellingly a man holding a video camera. The ensuing media coverage makes a minor 80s viral star of Nick, allowing him to rapidly advance into the offices of the District Attorney, while simultaneously ending the fledgling criminal career of one Earl Talbot Blake (John Lithgow).Blake stews in his own juices in prison for years, allowing his grudge against Nick to become an obsession. An obsession that is not helped by the frequent media coverage his more popular nemesis continues to garner.Blake formulates an escape / vengeance combo that is as impossibly convoluted as it is (apparently) embarrassingly easy to pull off. After his daring and bloody escape that leaves many dead – according to the authorities Blake among them – he easily and painlessly infiltrates Nick's family, career and inner circle within mere days, somehow managing to turn Nick from a local law abiding hero into a pariah wanted by the law, hated by the public and mistrusted by his own friends and family.In case you haven't guessed by now Ricochet is unbelievably silly, but unbelievably silly fun, back in the days when R rated movies were still allowed that indulgence.Lithgow has a ball as the profane, violent and intense Earl Talbot Blake, some of his disgusting statements and retorts are blackly quotable, and his over the top mannerisms and facial gestures are so serious they're hilarious. Denzel too allows himself to get a little dirty, he swears up a storm and even though it is not his intention manages to bang a hooker and ingest a powerful cocktail of illicit substances, all in the one scene.Having Ice T around as a smack talking ne'er do well just adds flavour to proceedings, and Kevin Pollack gets to try a couple of his character impressions as Nick's former partner and best buddy.Ricochet is violent, silly, implausible and somehow absurdly entertaining. It is over the top in all the right ways, stopping short of Crank level histrionics, but thankfully going a lot further than many of today's PC influenced sober snoozefests.Final Rating – 6.5 / 10. I can't say that it is that great a movie, but you'll never be bored, and the film pulls out all the stops to hold your attention, even if for much of the time your eyes are bugged and you are mouthing 'Really?' incredulously.I liked Ricochet as a gormless kid in my late teens, I am pleased to say I enjoyed it almost as much today, but perhaps for slightly different reasons.

Aside from being adept flick with so intense elements, it's most of all important. Whereas it's a climax for all the chain of the blockbusters that (Steven E. de Souza) wrote at the whole 1980s : (48 Hrs. - 1982), (Commando - 1985), (The Running Man - 1987), (Die Hard - 1988), (Die Hard 2 - 1990), and further than that it sets, in the same time, a new character for the action, thriller movies in Hollywood during more than 10 years ahead.Look closer. Why the need for seeing (Denzel Washington) stripping to his underwear or setting nude among his buddies at the locker room in the police station (let me put the !! before the ??). The answer is : simply to attract the ladies. Millions of them. Add to that one adventurous noble hero, one so smart so maniac criminal who kills only in uniquely fierce ways (a character that the whole decade will be very fond of), plus the horrible language, the continuous action, the unstoppable killings, and the truly explosive pace, then you'll have the main keys for lots and lots of big and loud movies during the 1990s. It's like a novel (Dirty Harry) of the 1970s, yet Post-(Die Hard) of the 1980s; with endless breathtaking cliffhangers. But this one in specific managed brilliantly to be satirical as well.The smartest point in (de Souza)'s script is that it has among all of this highly commercial goods a commentary about the media that can raise a man or destroy him just like that as a powerful magical mirror that, unfortunately, doesn't always tell the truth. Being an attractive movie and handling a case also is a great formula, it could be the greatest at all; it made (The Running Man) 4 years ago also for the same gifted screenwriter.Director (Russell Mulcahy) who came, naturally, from the music video world mobilizes here all the elements through what seemed eventually like naked electric wire. This raw feel, eerie atmosphere, and bundle of nerves weren't made as chintzy or dully. Actually the acute cuttings with never-immobile camera, plus strong presence for hot colors all the time-made it as so condensed, absorbing and snazzy music video. Good cinematic one, yet not brainless and it didn't lose the actors' performance in the way. This fresh directing and this kind of intelligent scripts will be both missed in (Mulcahy)'s next works during the 1990s, from half bad (The Real McCoy - 1993), to simply bad (Resurrection - 1999) he unfortunately ended up sinking in bottomless TV or V works in the 2000s.As for the character of the evil man; in the same year of (1991) there were some original milestones : a ritual serial killer (The Silence of the Lambs), a genius psycho (Ricochet), or a metallic undefeatable one (Terminator 2: Judgment Day), amazingly the 3 were produced in the same year marking or rather defining a new generation of evil men in the American action movies, as frantic, inhuman, and cartoonish. So ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 1990s, the bloody, showy, crazily violent 1990s. However in a good, somehow enjoyable, way this time. Because (Ricochet) is surely one of the sanest crazy violent movies that stroked the decade.