Ricochet

Mulcahy's slasher-thriller manages to be as entertaining as it is improbable and violent. Washington, in a refreshingly unpolitical role, plays Nick Styles, a cop who becomes a hero when he pulls down his pants in order to arrest a street psycho. The event, recorded on amateur video, catapults Styles into the big time as an assistant district attorney and role model, but also makes him an implacable enemy in the shape of the demonic psycho (Lithgow). He is the stuff of which nightmares are made, and Washington's mental and physical destruction is the driving force behind his escape from prison and assumption of a new identity. Ricochet has some dodgy moments - a scene where Washington is doped and then infected with VD by a hired prostitute leaves a nasty taste in the mouth - but it runs a fascinating line between cartoon fantasy and big city chiller. If you don't take it seriously, it's a lot of fun.