Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Captivating movie !

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

The first 16 minutes of this brilliant chase movie are so intense that it's hard to imagine that what follows could be anything but an anti-climax. The fact that it isn't comes as quite a surprise and testifies to the sheer quality of this highly entertaining adventure thriller. With its combination of well executed stunts, chases and action sequences as well as suspense, humour and stunning locations, it's perfectly understandable why "Shoot To Kill" (aka "Deadly Pursuit") achieved so much critical and commercial success at the time of its release and also why it still remains so enjoyable to watch many years later.After a San Francisco jeweller breaks into his own store in the middle of the night and removes a collection of diamonds, the FBI discover that his wife is being held hostage and that the diamonds are the ransom that the kidnapper has demanded. Tense negotiations follow but eventually the kidnapper escapes with the diamonds after shooting the jeweller's wife and housemaid. Experienced FBI agent Warren Stantin (Sidney Poitier), who'd been in charge of the negotiations, blames himself for what happened and so becomes determined to hunt down the mysterious killer.The killer's trail leads to Washington State where it becomes clear that he'd killed a tourist and using his victim's identity, had joined a small group of men who'd set off on a fishing trip. Their trek across some exceptionally hazardous mountains and woods was being led by a local guide called Sarah Renell (Kirstie Alley) and Stantin quickly recognises that the only way he'll be able to continue his mission will be to have his own guide and the obvious choice for the role is Sarah's boyfriend and skilled mountain guide, Jon Knox (Tom Berenger). Knox is a surly tough-guy who only accepts the job very reluctantly because he doubts the ability of the older city-dweller to cope with the conditions or keep up the pace needed to have a reasonable chance of rescuing Sarah from the attentions of the dangerous psychopath.Predictably, Stantin and Knox's partnership becomes very strained on their journey as they're confronted with some very dangerous situations such as having to cross an incredibly deep gorge in a rope-bridge basket, climbing up sheer rock faces and having to set up camp in deep snow. The climax to the men's journey comes when they arrive at Vancouver, where the killer had gone to meet a diamond broker (who's a fence) and also where they find that the dynamic between them changes dramatically.Sidney Poitier is exceptional in his role as a man who's very professional and determined in his work and also copes well with a whole series of challenges. Similarly, Tom Berenger is well cast as the rugged guide who learns during the journey that both men possess different strengths and is also surprised when ultimately, they develop a good deal of mutual respect."Shoot To Kill" is well-directed with the required levels of tension, humour and pace being perfectly balanced to guarantee the best results and the cinematography is magnificent throughout.

Police in every nation have, over the decades accumulated hundreds of stories concerning the chasing of criminals. Sometimes in the city, sometimes in the country and then there are times when the bad guys try to jump jurisdiction by crossing the boarder. This is one such movie called " Shoot to Kill. " The story is of Steve (Clancy Brown) a very intelligent, very crafty diabolic killer who begins with a B & E, armed assault, robbery, kidnapping and graduates to outright Murder. To combat him the F.B.I. assigns a senior and experienced agent named Warren Stantin (Sidney Poitier). The two meet with a robbery, murder where Steve takes his loot and kills his victim and makes good his escape. Stantin vows he will eventually apprehend him. A short time later, Steve emerges by infiltrating a troop of hikers into the U.S. Canadian mountains, where Steve is once again pursued by Stantin who is helped by Jonathan Knox, (Tom Berenger) a stubborned, but very experienced mountain guide who is determined to save his girlfriend (Kirstie Alley) from the clutches of the killer. In it's cast are several well known actors who have also played heavies, like Richard Masur and Andrew Robinson and make it difficult to identify the real killer. The movie is filled with action, adventure and some light moments between the principals. All in all, it's a good film and one is thankful for allowing Mr. Poitier to return to center stage before the camera. ****

There were a host of film's in the 1980s that were once viewed and quickly forgotten. Yet years down the line, and although still quintessentially 1980s, are rather quite entertaining on revisits. One such film is Shoot To Kill, though pretty much everyone in the Western World knows it as Deadly Pursuit. The story basically sees Sidney Poitier's fish out of water cop Warren Stantin forced to track a wanted killer out in the mountains and forests of Washington. Recruiting a reluctant gruff and grumpy Jonathan Knox (Tom Berenger) as guide, they are on the trail of a hiking tour party led by Jonathan's tough girlfriend Sarah Renell (Kirstie Alley);a hiking party that naturally contains the wanted nut case. Cue squabbling and bickering between the two men as they get into various scrapes with Stantin desperate to prove he is up to the task of this arduous and obsessive mountain pursuit.Adding interest to proceedings is the mystery element of just who is the bad guy amongst Sarah's party, something that rightly or wrongly is revealed at the mid-point of the piece. With a roll call that contains Clancy Brown, Andy Robinson, Richard Masur and Frederick Coffin, the makers have cheekily lined up actors previously known for bad guy rolls. Once the film reveals its hand it ups in pace and although the ending is never in doubt, the adventurous fun and tidy set pieces steer it safely home to its above average finale. There's a nice touch with Poitier and Berenger that harks to role reversal racism from our Sidney, and the observant will spot during one of his speeches that he is referencing previous roles he has played. Thoroughly well played {as expected} by the cast and nicely shot up in West Vancouver, Deadly Pursuit, as 80s as it is, is a solid and enjoyable time filler. 6.5/10

The idea behind this film was a good one. Too bad it wasn't written well. Casting Sidney Poitier as the FBI agent was a good idea, and he did an outstanding job. Tom Berenger, on the other hand, only knows one emotion in most of his movies, anger. Kirstie Alley's character could have been a great one, and even showed some possibilities once, but the writer really let us down by making her role mostly a helpless female. This was completely inconsistent with the strongly independent character she was supposed to be. I don't care for Alley's acting anyway. The movie should have ended about fifteen minutes sooner than it did. The director milked the cow dry before the unbelievable final action. I will keep this in my collection only as an example of Poitier's performances.