No Mercy

No Brains is more like it. Richard Gere stars in this slick action thriller as your basic tough-but-dedicated cop who goes to New Orleans to avenge the death of his partner. On the way, he becomes involved with an illiterate Cajun beauty (Kim Basinger in the kind of role that unkind critics would call her typecast in before Ready to Wear and, of course, L.A. Confidential) who's the property of a ruthless killer. It's paint-by-numbers nonsense with lines (such as "we come from a society where it is very pleasurable to be a man") that play as high camp--unfortunately, that's not intended. Gere and Basinger's relationship--they'd try again, equally unconvincingly, with Final Analysis--is patently silly. They spend the first half of the movie exchanging hilariously sultry meaningful glances, until they're on the lam together, where the burning question is which actor's hair will be more stylishly mussed. --David Kronke