An exact remake of the 1972 Sam Peckinpah thriller, which essentially reshoots the old Walter Hill script. Roger Donaldson turns out quite an acceptable actioner, though its use of criminal outlaw heroes is more amoral than existential and the ghost of Bloody Sam is impossible to compete with.
It’s at its best in the simple suspense sequences, like the supercriminal hero’s pursuit of an opportunist petty crook who has happened to steal the suitcase with the loot from his wife on a train. Kim Basinger is quite often cast in the decorative‑but‑uninteresting way Ali McGraw was in the 1970s, but delivers a far better performance than Ali did – perhaps because Amy Jones has been brought in to do a light rewrite and punch up the woman’s role. Baldwin is competent in a variation on his Miami Blues criminal role, but doesn't come within a hundred degrees of that special Steve McQueen cool. Even reliables like James Woods and Michael Madsen can't best memories of the readings of their roles given by Ben Johnson and Al Lettieri, though Richard Farnsworth does a nice homage to Slim Pickens.
A good rule of thumb is 'don't remake it if you haven't got anything new to say' and, though this is by no means an atrocious disaster, it's hard not to feel cheated by such a refried movie.