The Sunchaser -

The Sunchaser is a rather incoherent buddy picture that strives for deep meaning, but misses it badly. Woody Harrelson is Dr. Michael Reynolds, a workaholic doctor with a rocketing career and a beautiful wife. Yet, he is still haunted by the memory of his cancer-stricken brother. These memories haunt him as he treats a young, violent inmate, Brandon “Blue” Monroe (Jon Seda). Blue is dying from an inoperable tumor, and he believes that only a trip to a sacred Navajo mountain can cure him. So, he manages to escape police custody, kidnap Dr. Reynolds and makes tracks to Arizona. Director Michael Cimino searches for poignancy but finds none. The character of Blue is so utterly unsympathetic that you couldn’t care less if he made it to the sacred mountain or not. Dr. Reynolds is cocky and arrogant, but at least he’s civilized. The only bright spot in the film is a brief cameo from Anne Bancroft. Plotwise, The Sunchaser stumbles through nearly every buddy-movie cliche, and makes little sense while doing so. The characters seem to take actions contrary to their character or even common sense in order to arbitrarily advance the movie along its preconceived plotline. If you’re forced to watch this one, at least there’s some nice scenery later on, but if you don’t have to…don’t bother.