The Screen Addict | Ricochet
The other day, I felt like revisiting the early Nineties Action-Thriller Ricochet (1991).
In this largely forgotten gem, a fresh-faced Denzel Washington stars as a cop who desperately fights to clear his name after a psychopath who he put away escapes from prison with a mission to destroy him.
It had been a while, so I had completely forgotten the awesome, nerve-assaulting score by Alan Silvestri over the opening credits. Quite noticeably a thematic counterpart to Silvestri’s Predator (1987) theme, it has the same heart-pounding cues and beats. What a great way to suck your audience into the story.
Ricochet had a couple of proper heavyweights on script duty, too. The Color Purple (1985) screenwriter Menno Meyjes, RoboCop 3 (1993) scribe Fred Dekker, and Steven E. De Souza of Die Hard (1988) fame, all contributed to the story under the watchful eye of uber-producer Joel “Without-Helicopters-It-Is-Not-An-Action-Film” Silver.
John Lithgow plays a superior baddie – I mean a true psychopath. Nobody does crazy quite like Lithgow. Ice-T, Kevin Pollak, Jesse Ventura and John Amos all shine in juicy supporting roles.
Directing all this is Russell Mulcahy, who we unfortunately don’t hear a lot from anymore. The Australian filmmaker who helped bring The Highlander to popular culture, is working almost exclusively for the small screen these days.
Ricochet is just an excellent Nineties thrill-ride, they don’t make ‘em like that anymore. Unfortunately, it is quite difficult to actually watch the film somewhere today. Financed largely by HBO, Ricochet was subsequently released independently across the globe, leaving distribution rights scattered. I am not sure whether or not it is currently available on HBO Max, but it damn well should be.
Furthermore – this film is long overdue for a High-Definition remastering and a snazzy collector’s edition for physical media. I’ve managed to pick up a couple of DVD releases over the years, but I’d gladly shell out a couple of bucks for an upgrade.
To whomever owns the rights – please make this happen.
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Twitter (X): Robin Logjes | The Screen Addict