In a planned escape, Sam (Jean-Claude Van Damme) makes it on down the road. Unfortunately the prison guard knows how to use a scope and his partner in crime (Anthony Starke) dies. Sam makes his way to the widow Anderson (Rosanna Arquette) farm who is being foreclosed upon by the evil banker to make room for a development. Sam helps her out.This is the Rosanna Arquette in her prime and is about two table dances away from paying off her farm and that of her neighbor. The film had about as half as many stuntmen as actors, for the short amount of time they were needed. Our protagonist is a gentleman criminal. This movie appears to be the inspiration for the chick flick "Labor Day." Guide: No F-words. Sex and nudity (Rosanna Arquette)

I've always been a great fan of this film, I really think is underrated just because is starred by the the action star Jean Claude Van Damme,who had proved that he can be a competent actor.NOWHERE TO RUN IS ONE OF HIS BEST WORKS, a very well done film, with great performances, very good story and a really good soundtrack..it has action scenes that are all really good made,but in this film are different than other Van Damme movies, I would say that here the fights are more realistic according with the story but some jean claude fans can be disappointed, I am a big Van Damme fan and I was not disappointed at all, I really believe Van Damme needs more movies like this or the legionarie, JCVD,in hell to silence his critics...A GREAT FILM

Clydie (Arquette) is an attractive widow trying to raise her two kids, Mookie (Culkin) and Bree (Tiffany Taubman) on their family farm. Sam (Van Damme) is a mysterious prison escapee living on their land in a tent. Over time, Sam endears himself to the family, especially because the young Mookie is desperately searching for a father figure after the death of his own dad. Sam couldn't have come along at a better time, because classic evil land baron Franklin Hale (Ackland) wants to take Clydie's land and build a multi-million dollar development. So naturally he sends out his goons of various stripes to muscle the farm away. But not on Sam's watch. Will Sam join Clydie's fam? Or will yet another megalomaniacal land developer develop a way to keep them apart?Ah yes, let's take a trip down memory lane...it wasn't so long ago that every Van Damme (and even Seagal movie, as hard as that is to believe now) went to the movie theater. JCVD had yet to become synonymous with DTV, and this film is quite mainstream. It has a highly polished, theater-ready look and feel. But because, after all, it's still a Van Damme action movie, it's still dumb and Van Damme has a ton of silly one liners that really don't even make any sense. Really, he just seems confused. In just about every scene, whether he be peeping into Rosanna Arquette's window as she takes a bath, cooks a steak in the rural wilderness while wearing a suit, or just chillin' in his pup tent with the latest issue of Top Heavy magazine, Van Damme seems oddly off-kilter in his performance. But that doesn't stop him from showing his (presumably male) audience his time-honored unnecessary and un-asked for nudity. Rather than yet another eyeball-rolling shot of his naked butt, what this movie really needed was more goons for him to fight, more action scenes, and just more fight scenes in general. This is Van Damme here, after all.Nowhere To Run also needed more verve and a streamlined plot. And what goons there are happen to be not evil enough. They should have done something REALLY evil and then Sam could go after them on a no-holds-barred revenge mission. That would have been awesome. Unfortunately however, this is run-of-the-mill Van Damme with few surprises. (Although what surprises remain are pretty good). The plot of the mysterious stranger that comes to a ranch to protect a family from the no-good-niks in town is ground well-covered since the days of the earliest Westerns, and Van Damme playing Monopoly with 2 kids and a song by Damn Yankees tacked on the soundtrack doesn't really add much new to the old formula. One more thing: Without any spoiler, let us just say this: the ending is UNBELIEVABLY lame. It's one of the lamest - if not THE lamest ending to an action movie we've ever seen. The movie itself isn't nearly good enough to justify or counterbalance such a disappointing ending. It's not like "whoa, that movie was awesome, so, okay, we forgive how much the ending sucks." No. The ending just sucks, period. It drags the whole movie - everything we've just seen and invested in - down.Nowhere To Run is standard (actually, probably below-standard) Van Damme fare and despite a few bright spots, it's really nothing to get too excited about.

On the surface, it looks like Van Damme is starring as another one of his formula based action hero. But his Sam Gillen character is an escaped convict. He hides out and eventually helps a widow named Clydie (Rosanna Arquette) ward of land grabbers during his "free" time. He bonds with Clydie and her two kids Bree and Mike (Culkin).It's a groundbreaking role for Jean Claude. Especially for this part hero, and pseudo bad guy role. How many people remembers, knows or cares that he was a villain named Andrei in the less notable "Black Eagle"? Credit is deserved for not making this completely run-of-the-mill with a predictable character and outcome.The film perfectly pulls of the task of putting viewers in a somewhat psychological dilemma. Sam's crime(s) are never revealed, leaving an incomplete picture. Although Gillen is likable throughout, he has baggage. Not all good inside, the character is a complex one, which, for me, adds to the film. Sam could have saved the world, yet he's still guilty.