Despite magic moments, this is so lop-sided in conception it's really only worth seeking out as a folly.

As Lowe systematically dismantles Spader's antiseptic existence, Hanson and writer David Koepp handle the thriller plot well, with Lowe effective as the plastically beautiful but deeply dangerous bad influence of the title.

Comes across as a TV movie and overall, a disappointment - a high calibre cast and concept completely squandered.

Director John McTiernan rigorously avoids anything that might conceivably be exciting.

Every bit as enchanting as you remember. Molto, molto bene.

The background is more intriguing than the stumbling up-front story, and monster watchers will get full use of the freeze-frame facility.

Exceptionally well-rendered and emotive war drama.

It's not just the saturated ultra-violence which make this film difficult to watch - there is something just not convincing about this vehicle for Costner's darker side. One thing is for sure though, driving a Jeep will never be the same again.

Gauged on a count of wit or originality this doesn't even register.

One for fans only.

Erman could have made a movie that left the Bette Midler stereotype in the eighties where it belonged, but he didn't. Great if you're a Bette fan, somewhat trying if you're not, though thankfully some of the sheer hamminess has been dulled with time.

The plot unravels in unwieldy dollops, and, despite some adequate special effects (for the time), the whole thing is really a bit of a bore.

It has grown a little thin with age, especially Gere’s yuppie baiting speeches, but there’s a hardness here, an aversion to the dumb action thrills of the genre, that keeps it respectably high up the scale.

A spare and authentic screenplay unfolds in an almost documentary-like enviroment, there are no histrionics and the acting is of the highest order, but the film shocks and disturbs as much for its morally questionable purpose as in its ugly subject.

As befits a distillation of 1,318 pages of the story so far, Akira the film is teeming with incident and detail.

Stallone and Russell play well off each other, and with Palance lurking in the background, this buddy-breakout never loses its way.

Some will find it overly long, but with such a pivotal performance by Cruise and a veritable platoon of Hollywood elite supporting, who can begrudge a bit more screen time?

An affecting, impressive debut from a filmmaker with an innate taste for modern America's clashes of conscience. An important document.

It gets to its hugely emotional destination without ever having to put the foot down; a poignant and provocative road movie.

Unexpectedly raucous comedy which trades off a few laughs for an interesting religious spin. Jordan can thank his lucky stars, but give himself a massive, stubborn pat on the back while he's at it.

The three lead characters end the film as isolated as they began it. As with the plot, there isn't quite enough in the throwaway humour to hold them together.

An all-star lineup with some kookie moments, but a bit limp overall.

Quite shocking, almost avant-garde in the way it constantly confounds expectations built up over years of formula pictures.

If it doesn't make you at least giggle, then you clearly don't understand the true meaning of the festive season.

Directed and played with terrific verve, this moves so fast from one special effects set-piece to the next that there's no time at all to reflect on the basic ridiculousness of its Chinese box of a plot.

It may be unfair to compare a film with its stage source, but the fact remains that the film, while retaining a great deal of both humour and pathos, is a less persuasive work and more obviously a vehicle for a starry ensemble.