VIP Viewpoint | You Can Only Ever Really Watch Kevin Costner’s Best Neo-Noir Once @VIP_Viewpoint | Uploaded April 2024 | Updated October 2024, 10 hours ago.
You Can Only Ever Really Watch Kevin Costner’s Best Neo-Noir Once
Thanks to the enormous success of Yellowstone and his neo-Western thriller Let Him Go, Kevin Costner is now mostly recognized as an icon of the Western genre; but, throughout the early part of his career, he supported a number of overlooked genres. It sometimes takes a big star's passion to get regular moviegoers interested in a certain genre, and Costner most definitely contributed to modernizing the espionage genre with a string of hits in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Though his economic success with political thrillers like JFK and The Bodyguard was much greater, the underappreciated neo-noir thriller No Way Out is undoubtedly one of his greatest works. No Way Out is a very rare classic that should only be seen once, despite the fact that it turns out to be a far more nuanced statement on patriotism than it initially appears to be.
What Is the Subject of Kevin Costner's "No Way Out"?
The political conspiracy thriller No Way Out explores corruption at the top echelons of US intelligence and is set and published during the height of the Cold War between the US and the USSR. Lieutenant Commander Tom Farrell, played by Costner, is a Naval Intelligence officer who is incredibly patriotic and earnest. Despite his rigid habit of keeping his personal and professional commitments separate, Farrell starts to develop feelings for the mysterious Susan Atwell (Sean Young) after they cross paths at a work function. As he gets ready to travel to the Philippines, Farrell begins to carefully consider where he wants to spend his future after their brief but passionate romance.
Sadly, Farrell's bright future is dashed when he goes home to discover that Brice is having an extramarital affair with Secretary of Defense David Brice (Gene Hackman), his job. Atwell forbids Farrell from going near the affair out of concern for the repercussions she may suffer if it became public, but he discovers that she has photographic proof suggesting the Secretary of Defense might be connected to a surreptitious KGB operative. No Way Out points to a different villain in order to hide its eventual revelation. It's simple to believe that Brice is selling federal secrets to the Soviet Union when he strikes out in anger and accidentally murders Atwell.
Following Atwell's passing, the audience is able to fully commit to Farrell's investigation into the conspiracy; not only is he trying to establish his boss's treasonous involvement, but he's also trying to help honor the memory of the lady he loved. In the end scene, it is revealed that Costner's character was the genuine KGB agent the entire time, even if Brice is able to evade justice by fabricating a story that implicates his general counsel Scott Pritchard (Will Patton). Since he was a young boy, Farrell had been raised in a deep cover program with the goal of infiltrating the highest levels of the US administration. He went by the moniker "Yuri," a mysterious Russian spy. The film closes on a decidedly unclear tone, leaving the viewer to make their own interpretation, even though it is implied that Farrell will return to the Soviet Union following the conspiracy's revelation.
You Can Only Ever Really Watch Kevin Costner’s Best Neo-Noir Once
Thanks to the enormous success of Yellowstone and his neo-Western thriller Let Him Go, Kevin Costner is now mostly recognized as an icon of the Western genre; but, throughout the early part of his career, he supported a number of overlooked genres. It sometimes takes a big star's passion to get regular moviegoers interested in a certain genre, and Costner most definitely contributed to modernizing the espionage genre with a string of hits in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Though his economic success with political thrillers like JFK and The Bodyguard was much greater, the underappreciated neo-noir thriller No Way Out is undoubtedly one of his greatest works. No Way Out is a very rare classic that should only be seen once, despite the fact that it turns out to be a far more nuanced statement on patriotism than it initially appears to be.
What Is the Subject of Kevin Costner's "No Way Out"?
The political conspiracy thriller No Way Out explores corruption at the top echelons of US intelligence and is set and published during the height of the Cold War between the US and the USSR. Lieutenant Commander Tom Farrell, played by Costner, is a Naval Intelligence officer who is incredibly patriotic and earnest. Despite his rigid habit of keeping his personal and professional commitments separate, Farrell starts to develop feelings for the mysterious Susan Atwell (Sean Young) after they cross paths at a work function. As he gets ready to travel to the Philippines, Farrell begins to carefully consider where he wants to spend his future after their brief but passionate romance.
Sadly, Farrell's bright future is dashed when he goes home to discover that Brice is having an extramarital affair with Secretary of Defense David Brice (Gene Hackman), his job. Atwell forbids Farrell from going near the affair out of concern for the repercussions she may suffer if it became public, but he discovers that she has photographic proof suggesting the Secretary of Defense might be connected to a surreptitious KGB operative. No Way Out points to a different villain in order to hide its eventual revelation. It's simple to believe that Brice is selling federal secrets to the Soviet Union when he strikes out in anger and accidentally murders Atwell.
Following Atwell's passing, the audience is able to fully commit to Farrell's investigation into the conspiracy; not only is he trying to establish his boss's treasonous involvement, but he's also trying to help honor the memory of the lady he loved. In the end scene, it is revealed that Costner's character was the genuine KGB agent the entire time, even if Brice is able to evade justice by fabricating a story that implicates his general counsel Scott Pritchard (Will Patton). Since he was a young boy, Farrell had been raised in a deep cover program with the goal of infiltrating the highest levels of the US administration. He went by the moniker "Yuri," a mysterious Russian spy. The film closes on a decidedly unclear tone, leaving the viewer to make their own interpretation, even though it is implied that Farrell will return to the Soviet Union following the conspiracy's revelation.
