Blown Away
Jeff Bridges and Tommy Lee Jones are good friends in real life. Also, they were both considered to play Snake Plissken in "Escape from New York (1981)" before Kurt Russell got the part.,In one of the shots of the Boston Pops playing the 1812 Overture you can see very clearly Pops conductor and Star Wars composer John Williams conducting the orchestra, then when the music ends the conductor is his successor Keith Lockhart.,Ryan Gaerity: I've come here to create a new country for you called chaos, and a new government called anarchy.,This film is dedicated to the memory of Officer Jeremiah J. Hurley of the Boston Bomb Squad, and to the more than Three Thousand Certified Bomb Technicians throughout the world who risk their lives for our safety every day.,In addition to your normal dialogue and language cuts, the TV version also edits the computer sequence so that the display does not cycle text on part of the monitor, whereas in the original version, there is text in that section, including a b-word used in a context that network TV likely would not have tolerated. Some parts of this sequence are also cropped so that just the typing is visible.,Edited into Stealth Fighter (1999),With or Without You
Written by U2 (Bono (as Paul Hewson), The Edge (as Dave Evans), Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. (as Larry Mullen))
Performed by U2
Courtesy of Island Records Ltd.,How did "Speed" ever get better reviews than this? Whilst De Bont's runaway bus is certainly good, "Blown Away" is by far the better bomb movie as it relies on suspense driven thrills rather than big budget stunts to deliver the kicks. Admittedly the film starts slowly but the pace steadily keeps increasing until the final half-hour where things (literally) explode in one of the best fight scenes ever put on celluloid. Stephen Hopkins plays every scene for as much tension as he can (I defy you to watch the kitchen scene without cringing at every slomo) and displays a De Palma like understanding of virtuoso camerawork. Jones menaces away as his usual psychotic prankster (think Two-Face with an Irish accent) and J Bridges is good but never truly called on to do anything special. Amis, Whitaker and the rest of the support are perhaps a little under-used but the film is never about them. This is about Jones and Bridges in a deadly, vengeful face-off and the final showdown is everything you could ever want from an action thriller. Watch it and enjoy.,