Good concept, poorly executed.

Fresh and Exciting

Beautiful, moving film.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Off Limits is a sweaty, grimy piece set in Saigon during the Vietnam war, and has little to do with the actual conflict itself. In the filthy whorehouses of the district, someone is viciously murdering prostitutes, sparking an investigation by the U.S. Military. They bring two plainclothes detectives, tough, idealistic, violent Buck Mcgriff (Willem Dafoe) and flippant, goofball Albaby Perkins (Gregory Hines, superb), who hides his cunning intuition behind the sarcasm. They are law enforcement in a land without a soul, let alone law. The chaos and confusion of the war puts a sheen of distraction over their efforts to find and stop this monster. Their commanding officer (Fred Ward) has few answers for them, and they are led on hunches into some sordid realms of investigation, from unruly potential suspects in the core (David Alan Grier, Keith David), and a demented, sadomasochistic Army Colonel with some truly strange ideas of a good time (Scott Glenn, bugfuck crazy). They are lead here and there on a wild goose chase, until it becomes apparent that the answer may be a little closer to home than they thought. Dafoe and Hines hold the whole pile of scummy intrigue together with their well oiled performances, and even when it threatens to go off the rails, their committed work steers it back on track. Its like a buddy cop flick with none of the laughs, set in a hell half a world away where there's no protocol, no backup, and no one speaks English. Enough to make a tense, unnerving thriller in my books.

Tough Sgt. Buck McGriff (the always excellent Willem Dafoe) and his equally hard-nosed partner Sgt. Albaby Perkins (a sound and convincing performance by Gregory Hines) find themselves in tremendous jeopardy as they investigate a series of vicious Vietnamese prostitute murders in 1968 Saigon. Director Christopher Crowe, who also co-wrote the coarse and engrossing script with Jack Tibeau, relates the gripping story at a steady pace, creates and maintains an uncompromisingly harsh and gritty tone, builds a good deal of tension, and stages the rousing action set pieces with real crackling aplomb. The strong chemistry between Dafoe and Hines really keeps the picture humming; they receive sturdy support from Amanda Pays as streetwise nun Nicole, Fred Ward as their easygoing superior Dix, Scott Glenn as the fearsome and unhinged Colonel Dexter Armstrong, Keith David as surly uncooperative witness Maurice, David Alan Grier as the helpful Rogers, Kay Tong Lim as meddlesome Vietnamese cop Lime Green, and Raymond O'Connor as the paranoid Elgin Flowers. The seedy exotic location, unsparingly profane dialogue, sordid subject matter, startling outbursts of raw brutal violence, and a sizable smattering of nudity give this movie an extra tart'n'tangy kick. David Gribble's glittery cinematography and James Newton Howard's pulsating score are both up to par. A most worthwhile film.

Off Limits (AKA: Saigon) is the missing Vietnam film, a film I feel not many have actually seen since I never see it mentioned on the message boards out there in net land. While I have certainly never heard it spoken about when talk of Vietnam films crops up. The film is in essence a who done it police drama, two cops on the streets of Saigon during the war are searching for a high ranking officer who is, erm, offing prostitutes.It is the backdrop of the war that gives the film added substance and lifts it way above average, because we see not only the problems a murder investigation brings, but also the horror of war getting in the way as well. Some damn fine and tidy performances flesh out the characters, with both Gregory Hines & Willem Dafoe as our two stoic and battle weary coppers engaging us from the off, whilst the supporting cast of Fred Ward, Keith David (look out for his dance man!) & Scott Glenn are interestingly watchable; the latter of which who leaves the lasting impression with what has to be the best 5 minutes work he ever did during a brilliant interrogation sequence during a mid-air flight.It's gritty and interesting and deserves to be better known and sought out. It doesn't pull up any trees as regards formula, and it certainly isn't one you will want to go back to time and time again for thrills and spills, but it hits the spot and as the mystery and stifling heat of Vietnam pervades the mood, you will remember watching it long after the credits have rolled. 7/10

It`s obvious that by 1988 the Vietnam war film had nothing more to say . From the pondering self pity of THE DEER HUNTER to the cruel humour of FULL METAL JACKET the sub genre had burnt itself out in a similar manner as napalm had burnt out the jungles of South East Asia . SAIGON ( As it`s known in Britain ) doesn`t make any pretence at bringing anything new to Hollywood`s love affair to the `Nam and tells us nothing we didn`t already know:War is hell - Check The South Vietnamese regime wasn`t worth the life of one GI - CheckAll US colonels are crazy - Check SAIGON doesn`t really feel more than a gimmick film, the gimmick being that it`s a murder mystery set during the war in Vietnam . I should also point that the murder plot is very unconvincing , especially so in the last ten minutes where the murderer is revealed and it becomes a race against time to save his victim . If you want to see either Willam Defoe or Scott Glenn in a movie masterpiece rent PLATOON or APOCALYPSE NOW instead