Profanity runs very high in this engrossing army thriller of unrealistic, over the top violence (not frequent though) impressive, out there dialogue, and partial sleaze thrown in, of course that discredits it a little. It also has good acting from our leads, and everyone else too. The much missed and loved Hines, proves here, he was much an underrated acting talent. Scott Glenn who makes a guest appearance is short and sweetly effective as a kinky and suicidal colonel. We have a whack job, who's doing prostitutes who have had babies, all fathered by army servicemen. The killer points towards a high ranking army official, that I didn't pick, though I know a few people who have, like the answer was staring them, straight in the face. Though I was eighteen, when I saw it, and I was less smarter, probably today I'd be much quicker off the bad. The photography is fantastic, truly capturing the period, you really believe it's 1968, this film released twenty years later. We even have old radio excerpts as well. But the problem with Saigon, is it does give too much away, in it's intelligent but self conscious script. We have great action, well shot, some of it quite thrilling, and scary. Fred Ward is totally unlike Fred Ward here, as a colonel who has his own demons. It's the best stuff I've ever seen from this guy. Explosions and violence, run amok, in Saigon, this city of madness, where several people, witnesses, who can finger this guy are eliminated, while attempts are made on the relentless duo, Dafoe and Hines, who won't stop until they get their man. Model, Pays is great as a sympathetic nun, who proves she can do other things, besides the latter. The opening for me, is one of a few cool openings in movies, it had a dangerous and riveting aura, right from the start. I still recommend this flick to people, especially being a Dafoe fan, like me.
Review of Off Limits
