A rookie cop becomes a media sensation after a video camera captures him shooting and capturing a psycho killer. The handsome, smooth talking cop becomes a celebrated district attorney and even potential political candidate. He now has a beautiful wife and two great kids.
Meanwhile the psycho killer follows his career from prison, seething with hatred, eventually to make a bloody break from prison, fake his own death, then begin a systematic attempt to ruin the D.A.'s life by a series of incidents in which people, including his own wife, will question his sanity. The D.A. will soon be on the run from the law, having to team with old street gang members in order to clear himself.
Denzel Washington is the cop/D.A. and John Lithgow, incredibly, the psycho killer who seemingly can't be stopped. Lithgow even has a mortal combat sequence with Jesse "The Body" Ventura in which he is the quite easy victor. Really? Lithgow besting Ventura mano a mano? Ice T plays the chief gang member.
This film starts well enough but becomes increasingly over the top as it proceeds and then, well, just plain dumb. Action fans who just want to go on a free wheeling ride and don't care about logic may enjoy it while others may be turned off by a film that becomes pretty hysterical in its presentation, particularly the climax with television cameras there to record all the action.
In the prison Lithgow has a cell wall covered with photos of Washington, a reflection of his clear obsession with him. But prison authorities don't seem to care. What kind of prison is this? His combat scene with Ventura, with all inmates cheering them on, continues for three or four minutes. No prison guards around to stop them? What kind of prison is this? When a prison break is made power tools are used as weapons, including a power saw for one spectacular way for a uniformed guard to die. What kind of prison is this? Washington's power as an actor comes through sporadically but he can't make the material seem any better. There are a couple of scenes in which he is stripped down to show how semi beef cakey he was at the time. There is also a moment, to show what kind of film Ricochet is, in which one character has a spectacular fall, landing on a spike which rips through his body.
Washington's deadpan response, "You get the point now, don't you?" It's a cheap jokey cringe worthy moment, reminiscent of Sean Connery's 007.
