romanorum1 At the opening, "Shotgun" by Jr. Walker and the All-Stars is being played in the background as a sloppy police bust at a Chicago car- wash transpires. The two involved policemen wring from one of the captured drug dealers a potential hit; someone wants a Cajun kingpin in New Orleans bumped off. The two policemen – Eddie Jillette (Richard Gere) and Joey Collins (Gary Basaraba) – decide to pose as the hit men. It ends badly as the New Orleans' Cajun kingpin strikes first. Among the dead is Collins in a hotel room; a blonde with a parrot tattoo on her right shoulder may be implicated. Wounded, Eddie is chased in the Chicago Stockyards but somehow escapes. After recovering and obtaining permission from his superior – tough cop Capt. Stemkowski (George Dzundza) – Eddie is off to New Orleans to track down the bad guys who murdered his partner. The Deveneux family is totally non-co-operative; Paul Deveneux had been one of the shady guys killed in Chicago. Eddie's next step is to find a parlor that tattoos blue parrots on people. Next he works his way into a rough club in Algiers, a dangerous section of New Orleans. There he finds the blonde dancing and sweating. He extricates her as his captive with difficulty: There is a car chase as Eddie and the blonde, Michel Duval (Kim Basinger), wind up underwater with the Cajun kingpin Losado (Jeroen Krabbe) and his gang desperately shooting at them. Eddie and his bait Michel escape for the moment. He soon learns that she was given to Losado by her mother when she was just thirteen years old; she has never been with another man. So she is a victim, not a hooker. Eventually Eddie is captured and escapes again, Michel is left to Losado. Eddie did figure out that Losado smuggles in cheap labor, which he sells to the Deveneux clique. In the denouement Eddie is alone in the Algiers Point Hotel waiting for the confrontation with Losado and his gang of thugs. Only a cat hangs there. Michel arrives as she has fallen in love with him. But one does wonder how an out-of-state cop can set everything up without police help. And during the shootout no one seems to hear anything: No alarm appears to sound, no fire trucks arrive despite the large fire, no police arrive to stop anything. Nope, not until the absolute end! And then the crowd finally congregates as various rescue vehicles arrive. There are some nice sets, as when Stemkowski shows up at the NOPD and is appalled at Eddie's treatment. There is also the steamy love scene between Michel and Eddie. Then again, it is strange that Eddie uses a rifle shot to break the handcuff chain tying Michel to him, an action that easily alerts his captors. He could have used heavy stones or tools in the house where he and Michel stayed alone. Gere seems to take control of the movie and is believable as a sufficiently tough cop. Basinger finds her niche, playing a sympathetic and abused woman. The two have genuine chemistry together, and filming on location is always a plus.

jonmiller820 I gave it a five because its cooler than Relative Strangers but not as funny. its better than moon 44 and extraordinary gentlemen. this movie was more like internal affairs. No Mercy is similar to Rambo 2&3 with the badly acted foreign phrases. No Mercy is not bad. the dialog keeps the plot moving and the character development gaining acceptance with the audience. Which is more than I can say for death sentence. extraordinary gentlemen also has interesting characters and dialog. lord of the rings 1 also had these attributes and was more boring. than no mercy by far. No Mercy did a good job of exploring ca jun culture. the antagonist was complex and antagonistic. he is one of the most interesting characters.

John Jennings This is not one of my top 10 films of all times, but it is a solid genre piece with some interesting variations and local color.After Katrina, a film about New Orleans has a special interest that adds a certain sauce.If there are any weaknesses, some of Bassinger's line deliveries are a bit weak. Otherwise, superb acting all around. I have always thought Gere was something of a lightweight, but very solid work here.Unlike many films, they get the weapons handling VERY right.I am a bit confused as to why this film has been rated so low on average. I have the video, and watch it about once a year.

bigdgun Kim Basinger is young and gorgeous. Richard Gere is, well Richard Gere. He's dapper, sexy semi-nude and the good guy. What else is new? He's a Chicago cop who's partner gets murdered and he thinks Basinger, can lead him to the killer. Beautiful scenes of Louisiana bayou and attention-grabbing chase scenes make this an enjoyable movie for all. And don't forget the love scenes for the women and the fighting and torching of New Orleans for the men. A fun couple of hours.