Shoot to Kill (1988)

• Year: 1988
• Released: 12 Feb 1988
• Country: United States
• Adwords: 2 nominations
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096098/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/shoot_to_kill
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/shoot-to-kill
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: R
• Genre: Action, Adventure, Crime
• Runtime: 110 min
• Writer: Harv Zimmel, Michael Burton, Daniel Petrie Jr.
• Director: Roger Spottiswoode
• Cast: Sidney Poitier, Tom Berenger, Kirstie Alley
• Keywords: murder, police, kidnapping, fbi, horse,

	6.8/10
	56/100

Shoot to Kill Storyline

Sidney Poitier returned to the big screen in this action-thriller, after a decade-long absence. When a cunning murderer vanishes into the rugged mountains of the Pacific Northwest, pursuing FBI agent Warren Stantin (Poitier) must exchange familiar city streets for unknown wilderness trails. Completely out of his element, Stantin is forced to enlist the aid of expert tracker Jonathan Knox (PLATOON’S Tom Berenger). The killer has infiltrated a guided hiking trip led by Knox’s girlfriend Sarah (Kirstie Alley, at the height of her Cheers fame). Viewers don’t know which of the hikers is the killer, and the tension lasts well into the movie.

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Shoot to Kill Movie Reviews

The way that action movies should be made.

Shoot To Kill (GB title: Deadly Pursuit) is a lively, fairly intelligent action film which benefits from good character development. Many post-1980 action films suffer because they are empty spectacles, full of boring stock characters and visually impressive/emotionally redundant stunts. However, this one is different. There are eight main characters (all of them well-realized) as well as a fundamentally exciting plot, sharp dialogue, and a spectacular mountain setting.

FBI agent Warren Stanton (Sidney Poitier) is desperate to track down a dangerous jewel thief following a botched hostage situation. He suspects that the thief has joined a five-man hiking party in the rugged wilderness near Spokane. Unfortunately, there is no way of contacting the hiking guide Sarah (Kirstie Alley) to warn her that a dangerous killer is among her group. Instead, Stanton has to put his trust in another mountain guide, rough and tough Jonathan Knox (Tom Berenger). The unlikely pair pursue the hiking group, hoping to reach them before the killer strikes again.

The film moves at a good pace. Interest is generated on several different fronts: the volatile relationship between Stanton and Knox; the intriguing guessing-game as to which member of the hiking party is actually the jewel thief/killer; the “race-against-time” tension (as soon as the hikers have entered Canada, the killer could dispose of them at any time). There is spectacular action, but it is not emphasised to such an overwhelming degree that other story threads are lost. Shoot To Kill is a very commendable action film and it is a pity that more films in the genre are not up to the same standard.

Some Inconvenient Allies

After an eleven year absence from the screen, Sidney Poitier chose to return in an action/adventure film where he plays an FBI agent in search of a killer.

He’s got good reason to want this guy bad. His quarry is ruthless and kills without mercy. Poitier loses a hostage and the ransom he’s asked for. But some good detective work has traced the man to a remote part of the Pacific Northwest.

Where the perpetrator has killed again and joined a party of dry fly fishermen being guided by Kirstie Alley into the rugged mountains. No place for a city kid like Poitier, says mountaineer/hermit Tom Berenger who has the prerequisite skills to get the job done. These two are forced into an alliance of inconvenience.

The best thing I liked about Shoot To Kill is the guessing game we play for the identity of the perpetrator. Any one of the five men in Kirstie Alley’s party could have been the killer. Look at the cast list and you’ll recognize a few names who’ve played some pretty loathsome villains in the past. The identity is revealed suddenly and quite shockingly.

What I didn’t like with Shoot To Kill is the fact that the final confrontation with the perpetrator is in big city Vancouver where he’s escaped with Alley. He needed her in the woods, not any longer, she should have wound up dead. And Berenger and Poitier should have confronted him in the woods.

That script decision made the climax a rather ordinary one that you see in a whole lot of police chase films. Still all the players do fine here, my favorite being Kirstie Alley as the woods smart guide.

The trek in the mountains

After a diamond dealer’s home is attacked by a man who wants the precious stones, the robber takes the dealer’s wife hostage in a violent confrontation with the police and FBI in San Francisco. The agent in charge, Warren Stantin, gives the diamonds to the, almost invisible, man, who flees by boat taking the loot with him. The only way to beat the FBI and the people that are following him is to head north to Canada.

Thus begins this action thriller that uses the Canadian Rockies as the backdrop for setting this story about a determined FBI enforcer following a deadly assassin who has left a trail of killings as he goes into the mountains. Stantin is told the only way to find his man is by engaging Jonathan Knox, a man who knows the area, to guide him. Knox, who is reluctant, at first, realizes the man might be part of a group his girlfriend, Sarah, is taking on an extended trek of the mountains.

Stantin and Knox begin to fight as they have different ideas about what to do, but they end up bonding, as they understand what is at stake. This pair endures some of the worst weather conditions in their quest for the assassin, and in finding the diamonds that the outlaw wants to sell to an unscrupulous man in Vancouver.

Roger Spottiswoode directed this action filled movie with sure hand. The screen play is by Harv Zimmel and Daniel Petrie, two men who know how to involve the viewer. Michael Chapman photographed the great outdoors with an eye on the dangerous aspects of the chase.

Sidney Poitier is seen as Warren Stantin, an FBI agent that is restless in his pursue of the killer. This was Mr. Poitier’s return to the movies after quite a number of years not being in front of a camera. Tom Berenger plays Knox, an outdoors man who is more at home in the mountains than among people.

The surprise of the story is that we don’t have a clue up to the middle of the film about who the real killer is. By positioning him among the group that Sarah is taking on a mountain expedition, adds a great deal of suspense to the story. The ending leaves a lot to be desired, but that’s only a minor complaint about this action packed film.