There is some history between this film and I. It was the first movie I ever saw in an aeroplane, on a flight to Detroit to visit relatives for Christmas. The problem is, it was immediately followed by the Jerry Bruckheimer action flick "The Rock" and if you've seen both of these movies then you'll know which is the better. In which case, you may as well toddle off right now. If you haven't seen either of them then pay attention because "Broken Arrow" is a shocking effort from arguably Hong Kong's finest director John Woo. Lacking much of the Woo style and polish that propelled him into Hollywood, this is little more than a brainless, trigger-happy waste of a film that quickly runs out of steam and descends into farce.<br /><br />John Travolta and Christian Slater play a couple of US Air Force pilots on a routine training exercise over Utah. Whilst testing a stealth plane's abilities, Major Deakins (Travolta) takes the opportunity to steal two nuclear warheads that happen to be on board the plane (despite the fact it's a mere training exercise) by ejecting Captain Hale (Slater) out of the plane and crashing it near others in on the plan. It is soon left to Hale and an impossibly cute Park Ranger by the name of Terry Carmichael (Samantha Mathis)to recover the warheads and make them safe, while Travolta's evil plan begins to take shape. Not exactly rocket science but there you go.<br /><br />It's safe to say that this is one of the simplest action films I've ever seen, with a relatively small cast and a plot so basic that only the most moronic of viewers will struggle to keep up. Despite this, there are some truly awe-inspiring lapses of logic such as the hilarious scene where Travolta, seemingly having planned everything down to the last detail, can't find someone hidden beneath a blanket in a small boat. It almost takes your breath away how clichéd the whole thing is and without the usual stylistic tricks of action-master Woo (seen in stuff like "M:I 2"), it feels like a cheap and nasty TV movie. Slater is probably the best of the performances alongside Delroy Lindo as an Air Force support guy but Travolta is in standard pantomime-bad-guy mode. For further examples, see rubbish like "The Punisher" or "Swordfish" but only if you wanted a laugh.<br /><br />It's such a shame that Woo's American career got off to such a dodgy start (this is the second US film he made, after the Van Damme film "Hard Target"). The plot and genre are hardly taxing and yet this is a real dog's dinner. Compared to something like "The Rock" which is not the best example of an action movie (and one I was forced to compare this to by the airline), this is an absolute waste of time, money and effort. Indeed, I'm struggling to see what attracted Woo to the project in the first place unless he was straining at the leash to work with a resurgent Travolta. Assuming you switch your brain to just above comatose levels of activity, you might enjoy the whole silliness of it all but honestly, I can't recommend anything about this picture to anyone. My advice is to stick with Woo's later material such as "Face/Off" or his earlier Hong Kong career such as the gritty cop film "Lashou Shentan" ("Hard Boiled"). Or you can watch another action film altogether because the chances are, it'll be better than this.