NO MERCY

(director: Richard Pearce; screenwriters: Jim Carabatsos; cinematographer: Michel Brault; editors: Jerry Greenberg/Bill Yahraus; music: Alan Silvestri; cast: Richard Gere(Eddie Jillette), Gary Basaraba (Joe Collins), Jeroen Krabbe (Losado), Terry Kinney ( Paul Deveneux), Kim Basinger (Michel Duval ), William Atherton (Allan Deveneux), George Dzundza (Captain Stemkowski), Aleta Mitchell (Cara); Runtime: 106; MPAA Rating: R; producer: D. Constantine Conte; Tri-Star Pictures; 1986)

“Gere is convincing and makes it watchable.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

A routine but violent crime thriller directed by Richard Pearce (“Leap of Faith”/”Sessions”/”A Family Thing”) without distinction. The screenplay is by Jim Carabatsos, who also wrote ”Heartbreak Ridge”.

Tough Chicago cop Eddie Jillette (Gere) visits New Orleans with his partner Joe Collins (Gary Basaraba) and go undercover to act on a tip Joe received about a Bayou crime boss being set-up for a hit. But Joe is brutally knocked-off and an angry Eddie remains there to get the killer by any means possible. Eddie’s only chance of getting the killer, the ruthless Cajun kingpinLosado (Jeroen Krabbé), is through the kidnapping of the mysterious blonde pouting sole witness Michal Duval (Kim Basinger). She happens to be the mobster’s kept gal. The cop uses her as bait, after cuffing her.

Things are too predictable and the set-up is too clichéd to make this standard cop drama stand-out, but Gere is convincing and makes it watchable. Also the set-pieces are effective and the atmosphere is authentic, as it visits both the French Quarters of New Orleans and the backwater swamps of the Bayou.

REVIEWED ON 6/7/2015 GRADE: B-