Endlessly, beautifully committed to loud, nasty violence, never missing a chance to beat the hell out of its hero and leave a bloody mess of his enemies. Lithgow makes a terrific villain, totally having a blast matching Sly's every punch with a terrible quip. Bench-pressing a guy onto a stalactite has to be one of the all-time great action movie kills. No contrivance is omitted in its pursuit of cheap thrills. And then there's the fantastic late-analog spectacle. Literally every trick in the book is deployed here, from (outstanding) matte-paintings to miniatures to rear-screen to good old fashioned practical stunts. It's Bond level, really a superb technical achievement. The plane-to-plane transfer sequence is worth it alone (and essentially remained unequaled until THE DARK KNIGHT RISES). Harlin's best movie in a walk.Edit: Can't believe I forgot to mention Rex Linn's constant, literally frothing-at-the-mouth apoplectic rage.
