Most Wanted (1997)

16% of critics liked it
(25 reviews)
39% of users liked it
(6,073 ratings)

Actor-comedian-talk show host Keenen Ivory Wayans stars in his own action thriller screenplay about a war hero who becomes the fall guy in a frame-up. During the Persian Gulf War, U.S. Marine Sgt. James Dunn (Wayans) refuses to shoot a young shepherd, struggles with a superior officer, and winds up… More Actor-comedian-talk show host Keenen Ivory Wayans stars in his own action thriller screenplay about a war hero who becomes the fall guy in a frame-up. During the Persian Gulf War, U.S. Marine Sgt. James Dunn (Wayans) refuses to shoot a young shepherd, struggles with a superior officer, and winds up with a murder conviction. Sentenced to death in a military prison, Dunn is rescued from a prisoner-transport bus and selected for a special covert "Black Sheep" unit commanded by Lt. Col. Grant Casey (Jon Voight). Casey offers Dunn freedom if he will aid their battle against corrupt industrialist Donald Bickhart (Robert Culp). During the dedication of a Los Angeles medical research building, the First Lady is assassinated, and Dunn discovers that he has been set up as the trigger-man. Caught in a conspiracy, Dunn relies on his own survival skills and expert military training to elude those in pursuit, including corrupt Army superiors plus police and government agents. To clear his name and expose the real killers, Dunn kidnaps Dr. Victoria Constantini (Jill Hennessy), an eyewitness who made a videotape of the assassination. Now he has the evidence he needs and an uncooperative hostage, but after a $10 million bounty is announced, his situation gets even more desperate as he finds himself chased through the streets of Los Angeles by an immense money-hungry crowd hoping to collect the reward. The freeway filming of this chase featured an unprecedented stunt -- 16 stunt people simultaneously hit by 20 cars. Another stunt required a leap from a 45-story building. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 39 min.
Directed By: David Hogan
Written By: Keenen Ivory Wayans
Genres: Mystery & Suspense, Action & Adventure

In Theaters: Oct 10, 1997 Wide
On DVD: Sep 4, 2001
Studio: New Line Home Entertainment

Critic Reviews

Jack Mathews, Los Angeles Times
Keenen Ivory Wayans ... is said to have done some of the research for his story on the Internet, which is just one more reason to fear the influence of this technological monster.
Joe Leydon, Variety
Blandly generic and transparently derivative, pic appears to have been cobbled together from bits and pieces of earlier, better thrillers.
Rita Kempley, Washington Post
Wayans ... has the physique for action heroics, but he has the soul of a comedian.
John Hartl, Film.com
Aside from a quirky performance by Jon Voight and a couple of well-executed action sequences, there's little to distinguish this Keenen Ivory Wayans production from dozens of other assassination-conspiracy thrillers.
Joe Baltake, Sacramento Bee
Not Bad.
James Berardinelli, ReelViews
Not only is the screenplay for Most Wanted laughably absurd, but it contains line after line of the worst dialogue available in any film currently on a multiplex screen.
Michael Dequina, TheMovieReport.com
Wayans looks the action hero: buff, cool, and stoic, but in straying from his normal comedic persona he also strips himself of any charm and personality.
Fred Topel, About.com
Weak action movie. Not enough thrills to elevate the totally average story.
Bridget Byrne, Boxoffice Magazine
The result is an all-around competence that seems more than the sum of its parts.
, E! Online
The good news is that he infuses the potentially dry, formulaic plot with comedy. The bad news is that it's a by-the-numbers production.
Liz Braun, Jam! Movies
The movie is a conspiracy thriller with plenty of action scenes but not much in the way of tension or excitement.
Jack Garner, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
Most Wanted is an overly familiar B-grade action flick...

Read all 12 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Dean !

This is a pretty decent action film, not heard of it before but it's pretty good if it was a straight to DVD release. The first 10 minutes are almost identical to Shooter released this year and the story is very similar. If you enjoyed that you should like this......any film with… More
This is a pretty decent action film, not heard of it before but it's pretty good if it was a straight to DVD release. The first 10 minutes are almost identical to Shooter released this year and the story is very similar. If you enjoyed that you should like this......any film with Jon Voight as the bad guy is worth watching!!
danny d

decent flick
Steven V

This is a pretty decent action film. As an action movie it wasn't exciting enough. It also failed in an attempt to be a thriller. It really only succeeded in showing that dog food bags can be potential bombs.