loading...
U-Turn
1997
Oliver Stone shelved his social conscience while making this vicious nest-of-vipers noir. Sean Penn stars as Bobby Cooper, a gambler on the run who is forced to lay up in a desolate Arizona whistlestop with car trouble. Desperate and broke, he receives an offer from the middle-aged Jake McKenna (Nick Nolte) to kill his .. Read more
| Starring | Sean Penn, Jennifer Lopez, Nick Nolte, Joaquin Phoenix |
|---|---|
| Director | Oliver Stone |
| Genres | Drama |
loading...
U-Turn
Oliver Stone shelved his social conscience while making this vicious nest-of-vipers noir. Sean Penn stars as Bobby Cooper, a gambler on the run who is forced to lay up in a desolate Arizona whistlestop with car trouble. Desperate and broke, he receives an offer from the middle-aged Jake McKenna (Nick Nolte) to kill his beautiful young wife, Grace (Jennifer Lopez). Initially reluctant, he's finally forced to contemplate the deal. But the fun doesn't really begin until Grace hires Bobby to kill Jake. The film is based on the modern noir novel STRAY DOGS by John Ridley.
| Starring | Sean Penn, Jennifer Lopez, Nick Nolte, Joaquin Phoenix, Claire Danes, Billy Bob Thornton, Liv Tyler, Jon Voight, Powers Boothe, Julie Hagerty, Bo Hopkins, Abraham Benrubi, Laurie Metcalf, Valeri Nikolayev |
|---|---|
| Director | Oliver Stone |
| Studio | COLUMBIA TRI-STAR HOME VIDEO |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 59 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Drama |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Dubbed | German |
| Subtitles | DVD: Czech, Danish, English, Finnish, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Swedish |
| Released | DVD: 14 Dec 1998 Production year: 1997 |
| Format | DVD |
-
Critics' reviews (4)
View all -
"...A raucously joke-filled black comedy....Stone's new wild style converts U TURN into a roaring broadside of colliding images..."
-
"...U-Turn becomes a showcase for the filmmaker's terrific arsenal of visual mannerisms and free-association imagery..."
-
Most helpful member's review
View all -
14 out of 16 people found this review helpful
A magnificent turn
U turn is a lost masterpiece. Ignored on its release, undiscovered on dvd, it remains to be hailed as the modern classic it so rightly is. Hopefully the interest surrounding Sean Penn at the moment will encourage people to hunt down his back catalogue. Fans of penn will not be disappointed as he is just so spiffingly cool in this film you can't imagine anyone else being able to pull it off. He has such edge, intelligence and depth; qualities that are so rare in modern actors.
The story is the classic set-up of stranger breaks down in hicksville in the middle of nowhere and then things start to go wrong. However, of this type of genre, it is probably the finest, due to the simplicity, humour and slickness of the script and the tour de force ensemble cast. Nick Nolte, Jon Voight, Billy Bob Thorton and Joaquin Phoenix are all brilliant. Even j-lo is great as the red-dresssed vixen.
Oliver stone adds in his usual flair and style to enhance the tension and drama. Using edgy composition and flash-frame cuts stone also manages to perfectly convey the beauty and brutality of the desert plains of arizona.
The film keeps you on edge to the very end as you try to work out whose double cross will ultimately win out and you are not disappointed by the corker of an end.
Please encourage as many people as you can to watch this largely unknown beauty -
Most recent members' review
View all -
8 out of 8 people found this review helpful
A change from Corrie
Bit of a culture shock for a middle-class, middle-aged couple in middle England who'd just been watching Coronation Street. But after a settling-in period (when we found the music annoying) we were drawn in to this tale of assorted losers, liars, bullies and cheats flung together by fate in a nowhere town in mid-America. Strong performances right across the cast kept us watching with a mixture of horror, fascination and increasing amusement as Sean Penn and J-Lo battled against husbands, partners, each other and their own damaged selves to be 'free'. The message seemed to be that in the end the only certain survivors are the vultures. We were glad we made the effort, and incidentally enjoyed spotting unexpected co-stars with walk-on parts or hiding behind amazing make-up.
-
Image gallery
View all -
More like this
View allShowing 1 to 4 of 20
Related user collection
All time favourites (26)
82.8% from 7 members
Buy from the LOVEFiLM shop
-
-
-
U-Turn
Oliver Stone shelved his social conscience while making this vicious nest-of-vipers noir. Sean Penn stars as Bobby Cooper, a gambler on the run who is forced to lay up in a desolate Arizona whistlestop with car trouble. Desperate and broke, he receives an offer from the middle-aged Jake McKenna (...
-