no way out was billed as a suspense thriller along the lines of hitchcock . let's take a look at the dramatic elements : action ? yes , there's plenty of action : chase scenes in cars , trains , and on foot and one that is predominantly horizontal . acting ? ! ? ! forget it ! there are so * many * actors involved and so much action ( i guess simple movement qualifies ) that there isn't any time for acting . although there are a few exceptions : will patton plays the part of gene hackman's aide . his character appears to be the most rounded , or at least the most intense . his performance will get some hollywood heads turning . he may ( should ) get an oscar nomination . kevin costner plays the lead as a naval officer who performs a heroic deed and subsequently gets involved with the secretary of defense . the only segment of his acting that was valuable was when he found out about his girlfriend's death . costner's performance in the untouchables was far more dynamic . we will no doubt be seeing more of him . we hope he will be screening any future scripts more carefully . sean young delivers interesting insight to the term " washington socialite . " a very provocative role . unfortunately , susan appears to have majored in " vaginal gymnastics " at junior college . gene hackman has taken on a role that hardly suits his capabilities . his horror of killing susan was the only portion of his role that stands out . howard duff had a very insignificant role . his was almost as empty as gene hackman's except gene had 10 times as much camera time . the problem here is that writing has failed some very capable actors . action ( movement ) has taken over the movie . there was a lot of role-playing , but very little in character development . plot has suffered due to logistical error . here are some examples : a door-to-door search for the elusive bad guy in the largest building in the world . oh . . . that ought to take a few weeks . how about this ? the secretary's aide ( who is gay and is in love with the secretary ) hears the secretary ( right in front of him ) decide to betray the aide as the murderer of the secretary's girlfriend . what does the aide do ? he shoots himself ! it seems to me that if one is about to be betrayed by someone as omnipotent as the secretary of defense , has a gun in possession , and is within range that he would shoot the secretary . worst of all , why is it that a man who is paid cash for the use of a boat is found as a witness and yet they never question the secretary's limo driver ? the limo driver would have ended the movie before the first 60 boring minutes would have ended . i give this one 1 + 1/2 * 
