Movies
Ranking John McTiernan Films: #8 – “Nomads” (1986)
It’s a strange film, not necessarily a good movie. Yet, somehow, Nomads sticks in your crawl.
“A French anthropologist specializing in nomadic groups moves to Los Angeles with his wife, and starts following a group of sinister street punks who seem to live and move around in a black van. But they aren’t what they seem.”
Director: John McTiernan
Writer: John McTiernan
Cast: Lesley-Anne Down, Pierce Brosnan, Anna Maria Monticelli, Adam Ant
Release Date: March 7, 1986
IMDB
It’s a strange film, not necessarily a good movie. Yet, somehow, Nomads sticks in your crawl. It’s not because it’s worthy of recommendation or praise, but aspects stick out like leftover Legos on the floor.
Pierce Brosnan (in his first leading role) plays Jean Charles Pommier, a French anthropologist (with an outrageous accent) returning to Los Angeles after traveling the world studying various nomadic groups. Pomier finds himself following a group of mysterious black-clad street roamers, who naturally don’t turn out to be precisely what they seem. From there, Nomads delves into some mind-switching Freaky Friday aesthetics, which helps showcase the supernatural elements of McTiernan’s script.
For the record, this is the only movie that McTiernan wrote and directed. From here on out, he took on other screenplays.
The most intriguing part of watching Nomads is finding the moments of McTiernan-isms that would perpetuate throughout some of his future films. A shot in Nomads is copied with 100 times the effect in Die Hard, and moments like that make watching the more obscure director starters worth it.
STANKO RATING: D
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