tsmith417
I watched this last night since there was absolutely nothing else of interest on. While I made it thru the whole movie, I was bored.A man (Rutger Hauer) spends 15 years in prison for the murder of his wife and then is released and meets up with his social worker (Natasha Richardson) so that she can find him a job.They fall in love and she spends a lot of time trying to find out the details of the murder that he was accused of and for the next half-hour it's a matter of is he or isn't he guilty. The movie takes place in Washington state so it rains. A lot. I guess that's supposed to add to the suspense but all it did for me was make me feel cold and damp. The ending came out of nowhere and the viewer is left wondering why nobody in the last 15 years, not the people living in the town, not the man's lawyer, and especially not the police, ever knew anything about any of it.If you're desperate for something to watch and find a copy of this film in the bargain bin at WalMart you can give it a try, but don't go out of your way to get it.
ccthemovieman-1
This turned out to be more of a women's romance-soap-suspense film than what I hoped it was....simply a tense thriller. Yes, the final 20 minutes were suspenseful but much of the previous 75 bordered on being just plain tedious.Ruter Hauer was a little too subdued, not playing his normal intense character. Natasha Richardson sports somewhat of a dumb look most of the time and her character was very unappealing.The story is so-so. It's not as bad as I'm making out, but it sure isn't anything I'd watch again, and the back of the VHS describing this movie was misleading.
kirk_bones
If a film looks like a B movie and smells like a B movie then in my opinion it usually is a B movie but this film while definitely not an A movie it isn't far off being one. Ben Jordan(Rutger Hauer) is found guilty of stabbing his pregnant wife and spends 15 years in jail. The film begins when he is released from jail ,moves to a small town to start again and is assigned a social worker Laura Matthews (Natsha Richardson).the two form an unlikely friendship and become lovers.While everyone,including the towns chief of police, think he was guilty,Laura has her doubts and after a spot of investigation comes to the conclusion that he is actually innocent. Now we have probably sen this done before and no doubt better but the chemistry of the two main stars carries the film along nicely and the final scenes of the film are very gripping,almost edge of the seat stuff. After the "The hitcher" and "Blade runner" i would have liked Rutger Hauer to have been a bigger star in Hollywood but his career like that of Lou Diamond Philips,another actor I think should be a bigger star,seems to have been relegated to straight to video movies.. Natasha Richardson is a very pretty English actress that hasn't really been a movie trailblazer but she handles her role,including a quite steamy sex scene,very well and as I said her on screen chemistry with Rutger Hauer carries the film along nicely. Don't watch this film and expect any Oscar winning performances but if you want a neat compact thriller then with this film you can't go far wrong.Past Midnight i give a very commendable 8/10
somf
Natasha Richardson is always fun to watch and I've also enjoyed Rutger Hauer also, so when this appeared on my cable the other day I was kind of curious. Since no one had written a comment on it, I decided to do so. It's a suspense film with a lot of suspects. I really don't want to comment at all on the plot, because to do so even in the least would constitute a spoiler. I only gave it a six, but perhaps if I were feeling generous I would have given it a seven. If you are a big fan of grade-B suspense then check this out. There are worse ways to spend 90 minutes.
AD
