gridoon2024 Review of The Osterman Weekend

The Osterman Weekend (1983)

Increasingly compelling, but also muddled spy thriller

[6/10 · 15 April 2015]

For the first 30 minutes or so, "The Osterman Weekend" is a talky affair that looks and sounds almost like a TV movie, which made me wonder what had happened to the famous director Sam Peckinpah. Then a GREAT car chase sequence occurs, and the old Peckinpah (complete with trademark ritualistic slow motion) is back. From that point on, the action moves inside Rutger Hauer's house, and the film turns into a claustrophobic, psychological cat-and-mouse game. In the last 15 minutes, there is an outbreak of action directed with characteristic Peckinpah flair, but there are also more plot twists than you can shake a stick at, not all of them plausible. The ultimate result is a film both compelling and muddled. One thing you can not deny is the terrific cast - if you can buy Craig T. Nelson as a martial arts master! **1/2 out of 4.