broken arrow start a pilot captain riley hale ( christian slater ) and major vic deakins ( john travolta ) board a stealth bomber equip with two nuclear missile and they fly the stealth over the utah desert in what be suppose to be a routine mission to monitor radiation level but deakins try to kill hale in an attempt to steal the nuclear weapon . hale manage to eject from the stealth before deakins kill him and deakins then drop the unarmed bomb and eject himself leave the plane to crash . have witness the crash park ranger terry carmichael ( samantha mathis ) go to investigate and find hale and meanwhile deakins have manage to trick the army into think the nuclear weapon have be breach and therefore rescue team can not be send in . with easy access to the bomb he intend to bribe the government into pay a ransom or he will use them to wipe out half of the country and that be unless hale and the park ranger can stop him and his men . direct by john woo broken arrow be his second american action film after the fabulous hard target ( 1993 ) and i personally rate broken arrow and and hard target for that matter and a one of my favourite over the top action flick from the 90 and for that i apologise to no one . the script by graham yost be a action pack a they come and there load of shoot out and fight and explosion and crash and vehicular mayhem and near miss . most people seem to think the basic story be pretty far fetched and i have to agree but it by no mean silly than a lot of 90 action flick like speed ( 1994 ) for instance . what i like about it be that it move along like a rocket and there isn not enough time between all the fight and explosion for small thing like plot hole to make any huge difference . i also like the character here and the relationship between hale and the sexy park ranger and between hale and deakins in particular and i just think the character and the way they be write and develop be good than the average action flick with theme like friendship and betrayed . i like it and a lot . director woo know how to turn in a decent action flick and he doesn not disappoint here and while the unmistakable style of his early hong kong film may have be slightly sterilise by hollywood the set piece in his film still remain very impressive . break arrow probably have more helicopter be blow up and crash than any other single film i think i have ever see . some of the explosion be huge and the fight be vary and well stag and most of the action be do the good old fashion way on set in camera with real stunt men and real explosion rather than awful cgi computer effect which have become commonplace . the only scene which really make me cringe be when hale fall off the back of the truck and he then pick himself up and run after it and catch it up and jump on the back . i do not think so and the truck itself have at least a 10 second head start before we even discuss how slow it would have to have be go for hale to physically run after it and catch it up . the violence isn not too excessive and there not much blood in it and the violence isn not sadistic or gloat a in say a lot of steven seagal film . with a supposed budget of about $ 65 and 000 and 000 broken arrow be well make with that hollywood polish about it and the special effect be good and there plenty of big bang and explosion for the money . the acting be alright and i like travolta ( who be apparently pay $ 7 and 000 and 000 for this ) a the villain in particular but he do come across a a bit theatrical at time and i think mathis be fine a the love interest although i think slater be a bit bland and forgettable a the hero . broken arrow be a great action film and it have a good cast and great action scene and load of explosion and good than usual character and it move along at a good pace . i think it be great and it as simple and straight forward a that .