NateWatchesCoolMovies
Off Limits is a sweaty, grimy piece set in Saigon during the Vietnam war, and has little to do with the actual conflict itself. In the filthy whorehouses of the district, someone is viciously murdering prostitutes, sparking an investigation by the U.S. Military. They bring two plainclothes detectives, tough, idealistic, violent Buck Mcgriff (Willem Dafoe) and flippant, goofball Albaby Perkins (Gregory Hines, superb), who hides his cunning intuition behind the sarcasm. They are law enforcement in a land without a soul, let alone law. The chaos and confusion of the war puts a sheen of distraction over their efforts to find and stop this monster. Their commanding officer (Fred Ward) has few answers for them, and they are led on hunches into some sordid realms of investigation, from unruly potential suspects in the core (David Alan Grier, Keith David), and a demented, sadomasochistic Army Colonel with some truly strange ideas of a good time (Scott Glenn, bugfuck crazy). They are lead here and there on a wild goose chase, until it becomes apparent that the answer may be a little closer to home than they thought. Dafoe and Hines hold the whole pile of scummy intrigue together with their well oiled performances, and even when it threatens to go off the rails, their committed work steers it back on track. Its like a buddy cop flick with none of the laughs, set in a hell half a world away where there's no protocol, no backup, and no one speaks English. Enough to make a tense, unnerving thriller in my books.
lost-in-limbo
William Dafoe and Gregory Hines are two jaded, plain-clothing army police officers whose beat happens to be Saigon. Where they find themselves up against the locals and their police force, but to make matters worse one of their very own top brass officers could be a suspect for the brutal deaths of some Vietnamese prostitutes. "Off Limits" aka "Saigon" is a pulpy, but excitingly sweaty and grippingly searing little thriller made the even more relentless by its choice of exotic setting. The essence of the period is captured (some great, fitting soundtrack choices), everything moves at a cracking pace and danger seems to lurk around every corner. Dafoe and Hines perfectly pitch out their broodingly tough persons, spitting out lean, mean and raw dialogues (sometimes darkly humorous) and encountering many heated exchanges. Director Christopher Crowe paints a hard-bitten environment, consisting of live-wire chase scenes, aggressive violence and a paranoid air. The plot moodily unfolds, as it's not much of a mystery but the simple investigation of trying to put the pieces together from scratch, while dealing with constant barriers and cover-ups stopping that from happening. However it does have some unbalanced moments of pure insanity
mainly when Glenn's character enters the frame. The revelation to who's behind the murders doesn't come as a surprise due to one sequence midway through that's a bit too convenient in the scheme of things not to be overly suspicious. Still it's one hell of a ride. Along for it also is potent performances by Fred Ward, Amanda Pays, David Alan Grier, Keith David, Raymond O'Connor and an excellently edgy Scott Glenn ("I walk it, like I talk it").
lastliberal
If you like mindless violence, then this is your movie.Think Jack the Ripper in Saigon. Murders of prostitutes and the trail leads to a higher up.Gregory Hines and Willem Dafoe are plainclothes MPs trying to solve one murder when they find more. They end up working with a nun (Amanda Pays)who knows the dead girls who have been murdered over the past year. There is even a nunsploitation angle as the sexual tension between Dafoe and Pays is always present.Their efforts are complicated by the fact that the local Vietnamese cop (Kay Tong Lim) doesn't like them.There are some good supporting players like Fred Ward, David Alan Grier, and Scott Glenn.The killer is not reveled until the end, but I bet you guessed who it was.
Spikeopath
Off Limits (AKA: Saigon) is the missing Vietnam film, a film I feel not many have actually seen since I never see it mentioned on the message boards out there in net land. While I have certainly never heard it spoken about when talk of Vietnam films crops up. The film is in essence a who done it police drama, two cops on the streets of Saigon during the war are searching for a high ranking officer who is, erm, offing prostitutes.It is the backdrop of the war that gives the film added substance and lifts it way above average, because we see not only the problems a murder investigation brings, but also the horror of war getting in the way as well. Some damn fine and tidy performances flesh out the characters, with both Gregory Hines & Willem Dafoe as our two stoic and battle weary coppers engaging us from the off, whilst the supporting cast of Fred Ward, Keith David (look out for his dance man!) & Scott Glenn are interestingly watchable; the latter of which who leaves the lasting impression with what has to be the best 5 minutes work he ever did during a brilliant interrogation sequence during a mid-air flight.It's gritty and interesting and deserves to be better known and sought out. It doesn't pull up any trees as regards formula, and it certainly isn't one you will want to go back to time and time again for thrills and spills, but it hits the spot and as the mystery and stifling heat of Vietnam pervades the mood, you will remember watching it long after the credits have rolled. 7/10
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