Underwhelming, yes, but Matty finds a little gold in the final flick writer/director Charles T. Kanganis tackled for PM Entertainment.

Hong Kong licks to the gunplay and a scene-chewing appearance from regular Robert Miano aside, Charles T. Kanganis’ NO ESCAPE NO RETURN is, for much of its duration, a gritty character piece about crime, police corruption, and three very damaged people.

A perpetually welcome sight across the ‘90s DTV landscape, Maxwell Caulfield submits an expectedly compelling performance despite bluntly describing the film as a paycheque movie:

“One would like the fortitude to say ‘no’ to certain material but, in reality, you’ve got to keep working,” the actor told Psychotronic Video. “The object in this game is to keep the ball in the air because if it drops, it’s a bitch to find it and kick it back up again… [No Escape No Return’s producers, PM Entertainment,] hired me twice so I can’t complain.” [1][2]

Sadly, co-stars Dustin Nguyen and Denise Loveday fall short and lack Caulfield’s ability to elevate Kanganis’ haphazardly sketched script. Typified by a protracted blast of clumsy exposition — wherein the maverick behaviour of Caulfield, Nguyen, and Loveday’s job-obsessed coppers is shown, told, and generally just hammered home with all the subtlety of a punch to the gonads — No Escape No Return is a messily written caper that takes an age to get going.

Though structure and pace have never been the strongest attributes of Kanganis’ plentiful PM assignments, here things seem slacker than usual; an especially deflating point considering No Escape No Return came off the back of the helmer’s finest offering for the company, Intent to Kill (1992). Still, irrespective of the flaws present in this and the bulk of his other Pepin-Merhi pictures (a run that includes penning L.A. Heat (1989), L.A. Vice (1989), Midnight Warrior (1989), Night of the Wilding (1990), and Fist of Honor (1993); and writing and directing Deadly Breed (1989), Sinners (1990), Chance (1990), and A Time to Die (1991)), Kanganis ranks among the most interesting auteur’s to have graced the action outfit’s roster. The arty and experimental touches he infuses No Escape No Return with are overegged on occasion, but his obvious love for the likes of Sidney Lumet and Martin Scorsese results in a number of striking images and moments, such as a brilliantly visceral nightclub shootout and a powerful montage when Caulfield et al start coming to terms with the shady situation that a bent DEA agent (Michael Nouri) has maneouvred them into.

Lensed September through October 1993, No Escape No Return debuted on U.S. PPV in May ‘94 and screened on Cinemax four months later. It was released on U.K. cassette by Imperial Entertainment and was the last PM flick Kanganis would tackle — supposedly, if several unverifiable behind-the-scenes murmurs are to be believed, because his more high-falutin aspirations were beginning to irk the shingle’s top brass.

A shame.

Even at their worst, a PM joint shepherded by Kanganis always exhibits vision.

USA ● 1993 ● Thriller ● 95mins

Maxwell Caulfield, Dustin Nguyen, Denise Loveday, John Saxon, and Michael Nouri ● Wri./Dir. Charles T. Kanganis

[1] Interview with Maxwell Caulfield by Craig Edwards, Psychotronic Video, No. 35, 2001.
[2] Caulfield’s first PM gig was Alien Intruder (1993).