Andy Romano

John Kruger (Arnold Schwarzenegger), code named "Eraser", is a U.S. Marshal who works for the Federal Witness Security Protection Program (WITSEC). John specializes in "erasing" high-profile witnesses: faking their deaths and giving them new identities. U.S. Marshal Robert DeGuerin is John's mentor. WITSEC has 14,600 witnesses under their protection program. John erases mobster-turned-informant Johnny Casteleone (Robert Pastorelli) and his wife. In the process, John saves Johnny and his family from being killed by mob agents who wanted revenge against Johnny for turning informant. John is given a new assignment by his superior U.S. Marshal WITSEC Chief Arthur Beller (James Coburn). John is assigned to protect Lee Cullen (Vanessa L. Williams), a senior executive for Cyrez Corporation, a company that creates and manufactures weapons for the military. Lee has come across plans by Cyrez to sell a top-secret electronic pulse rifle to Russian terrorist Sergei Ivanovich Petrofsky (Olek Krupa). The sale of such weapons of unparalleled firepower to the wrong hands would tip the balance of power. To procure evidence, Lee copies critical data onto two discs: one for the FBI, the other as evidence in order to publicize Cyrez's transgressions. She hides the 2nd disc in her compact in her purse. However, William Donahue (James Cromwell), the corrupt CEO of Cyrez, catches wind of Lee's intentions and orders her into his office. Donahue confiscated her camera and aims the gun at Lee but commits suicide in order for him to escape punishment, and Lee barely escapes from Cyrez. Disappointed with the FBI because of failure to guarantee her safety, she delivers the evidence (The first disc) but refuses to submit herself to WITSEC, despite John's advice. The FBI's disc is secretly replaced with a fake on the orders of Under Secretary of Defense Daniel Harper (Andy Romano), the conspiracy's mastermind. Lee goes home and tries to open the 2nd disc on her computer, raising an alarm at Cyrez, who inform somebody named Morehart, that Lee is trying to access the data on the disc. The data is encrypted and can only be opened on specific computers as it requires a hardware Decryption. The same night, Lee is targeted for assassination by a group (led by "J. Scar" (Mark Rolston) the mercenary leader) wielding a couple of the aforementioned pulse rifles. The rifle has extraordinary capabilities such as an X-Ray vision and an ability to shoot through solid walls. John rescues Lee and takes her to New York City to hide her. Lee tells rescue that Cyrez was contracted by the military to scale down the Navy's Rail gun system and make a compact, hyper-velocity pulse weapon. Cyrez took millions in R&D grants from the military, but eventually said that the physics were impossible. It is likely that Cyrez found a higher bidder for the guns and hence wanted to hide them from the military. Morehart reports to Daniel Harper that Lee is alive and has a copy of the disc. Daniel orders Morehart to get the disc back at any cost. Morehart also adds that Lee called a woman named Claire Isaacs (Roma Maffia), a reporter for the Washington Herald. Soon afterwards John learns from his mentor, fellow Marshal Robert DeGuerin (James Caan), that someone, perhaps a mole within the WITSEC, is targeting witnesses in top-level cases, including Lee. They (including Marshals Calderon (Nick Chinlund), Schiff (Michael Papajohn), and new recruit Monroe (Danny Nucci)) proceed to the location of one of the targeted witnesses. DeGuerin and John kill several men inside the witness's cabin, who seem to be there to kill the witness, just like DeGuerin said it was. Turns out the men were working for DeGuerin, and he sacrificed them to lure John into a false sense of danger to the witnesses. But then, DeGuerin kills the witness personally, revealing himself as Donahue's U.S. Marshal mole and a major player in the scam, which includes even Undersecretary of Defense Daniel Harper, the true mastermind. John cannot understand why 5 assassins were sent to eliminate one woman. Schiff "finds" a photo of Lee on one of the assassins and alerts John. John says that Lee is an Atlanta, as he could sense that this was a ruse for DeGuerin to get John to divulge Lee's location. Flying back to Atlanta, DeGuerin drugs John, who manages to warn Lee on phone before losing consciousness. Lee was instructed to leave the safe-house and wait for John by a pay phone a few blocks away near the city zoo. The warning call is traced to New York City and DeGuerin kills Monroe with John's gun, framing him as the mole. Revealing he, Calderon, and Schiff are corrupt, DeGuerin explains that they are the go-between for a wealthy buyer who plans to purchase the rifle. John escapes from the plane to rescue Lee from the same mercenaries who tried to kill her before. John and Lee flee through New York City Zoo; John releases several alligators to trap and kill the mercenaries. DeGuerin has John and Lee branded as fugitives. With help from Johnny, John and Lee infiltrate Cyrez and use Donohue's terminal to Decrypt Lee's second disc. The disc reveals that a huge shipment of EM rifles has been stashed at the docks in Baltimore. The buyer is Russian Mafia boss Sergei Ivanovich Petrofsky, who plans to resell the weapons to terrorists. The company detects the intrusion, pinpoints their whereabouts, and remotely erases the disc. DeGuerin then kidnaps Lee and takes her to the docks as the shipment is being loaded onto Petrofsky's Russian-flagged freighter. Johnny contacts his mobster cousin, Tony Two-Toes (Joe Viterelli), who controls the docks; angered that he's being cut out of the deal, he has his men assist John. They kill Petrofsky, his henchmen, Calderon, and Schiff. In a struggle atop a shipping container, DeGuerin tries to shoot Lee, but John comes to her aid and destroys the pulley system on the container crane, dropping DeGuerin and the container to the ground and exposing the presence of the EM rifles. John secures DeGuerin, leaving him to be detained by the authorities. This proves John and Lee's innocence. Weeks later, DeGuerin, Harper, and Morehart are indicted for treason. However, it quickly becomes clear that without solid evidence, they will likely be acquitted in court. For their safety, John fakes his and Lee's deaths in an explosion. After being liberated, DeGuerin, Harper and Morehart (Gerry Becker) leave in a limo that stops at a railroad crossing. The driver - a disguised Johnny - locks the doors and exits the vehicle. Seconds later, a massive freight train plows through the car, killing the three men in a staged accident. Lee asks John what happened, to which he responds, "They caught a train". They then drive off for a new life.

Michael and Karen Carr (Kurt Russell) and (Madeleine Stowe) are a couple living in an upscale part of Los Angeles, and their peace of mind is upset by an intruder coming in through their skylight one night. The intruder doesn't take anything except Karen, briefly, as a hostage, before dumping her in the swimming pool and making his escape. The Carrs call in the police, one of whom, Pete Davis (Ray Liotta), takes an interest in the couple's case. Karen wants to sell the house and move as she can't sleep in her bed anymore. Michael convinces her by getting the security system recommended by Pete Pete cuts through department red tape and expedites speedy installation of a security system in the Carrs' house. Michael wants to get a gun for protection, but Pete argues against it. Pete knows the security code word for the system installed in Michael's house. Michael is working on a new deal to open a new club in the locality and is busy gathering investors for it. He has put everything he has into the venture. Roger Graham (Ken Lerner) is Michael's investor. Jerome Lurie (Carmen Argenziano) is Michael's lawyer. When Michael expresses an interest in getting revenge on the intruder, Pete invites him on a "ride-along" with his partner, Roy Cole (Roger E. Mosley). They have dinner together and then the officers attend to a domestic violence case. After dropping Cole off, Pete takes Michael out to arrest the man who broke into the Carrs' house, offering Michael a chance to take some revenge using Pete's nightstick. Michael declines, but Pete administers a vicious beating to the intruder, leaving Michael deeply suspicious of Pete's mental stability. He suggests that Pete get some professional help and, especially, stay far away from him and Karen in the future. Pete comes by and explains his story to Karen. He says the burglar tried to run away and resisted ahead, so things got ugly. Karen thanks Pete for arresting the burglar. Karen even introduces Pete to her friend Penny (Deborah Offner). Pete ignores Michael's suggestions and instead, begins to stalk the couple particularly Karen, with whom he's obsessed. Pete tries to get over Karen by having sex with a prostitute, but his mind is only on Karen. Pete meets Penny and gives a police talk to her teaching class at school. He meets Karen there and takes her out to lunch. Pete gets Michael's credit cards canceled and his car jacked with fake parking tickets. Pete even appears in the couple's bedroom one night while they are having sex, just to "check that everything's OK." Pete claims he was there since the alarm went off earlier in the night and this was just an innocent mistake. Michael thinks that Pete set off the first alarm and is responsible for the parking tickets and the canceled credit cards. Karen finds that Michael got the gun, despite her being against it. When Michael files a complaint against Pete's unwanted attentions to Capt. Russell Hayes (Andy Romano), Pete uses his police connections to destroy Michael's business reputation (Pete sends cops to Michael's investors asking them all kinds of questions about Michael, sending a signal that he might be under investigation). Michael's lawyer advises him to bribe Pete off, but Pete says he will go after Karen who doesn't deserve to be with Michael. Pete also threatens that he can kill Michael anytime he wants. Encountering bemused apathy from Pete's superiors in the LAPD (Michael has no evidence or witnesses), Michael turns to Cole, who orders his partner to cease his obsessing, see a shrink or face suspension (he threatens to report Pete to the department superiors). Pete then murders Cole, blaming it on a known criminal (during a drug bust in the criminal's home). Pete then frames Michael on drug charges by planting a supply of cocaine (half a pound) in the Carrs' house, enabling him to move in on Karen. Michael learns that Cole is dead as well. Jeopardizing his attorney's finances (the bail was set at $250K), Michael gets out on bail and takes matters into his own hands. Back at the Carr house, after finding that he has brutally murdered her friend Penny (as she won't let Pete into Karen's house while she was taking care of Karen), Karen rejects Pete, and Karen's rejection, plus her making an attempt to shoot him with Pete's gun, causes Pete to go berserk, dismissing her as worthless and attempting to sexually assault her. Michael returns home and an enraged Pete attacks him and Karen, attempting to kill them both. Pete and Michael fight, during which Pete accidentally causes the police to start heading over to the house after attempting to answer a phone call while acting as Michael (Michael had changed the password and hence Pete got caught out). Pete holds Michael at gunpoint outside of their bathroom where Karen is, and Pete demands that Karen open the door and escape with him or he'll kill Michael, while Michael begs Karen not to, saying Pete will kill him anyway. Karen ultimately bursts out of the room and uses an ornament to strike Pete in the face, allowing Michael to gain the upper hand, punching Pete and knocking him down the stairs. As Karen and Michael, who has Pete's now-loaded gun, wait for the police to arrive, Pete regains consciousness as Michael holds him at gunpoint. Pete tauntingly asks Michael if he'll arrest him as a citizen, but much to Pete's shock, Michael instead shoots Pete to death. A relieved Michael and Karen then go outside and watch as the police arrive at the scene.

From start to finish, this is a story of friendship between four street-wise mates who don't mind using violence to achieve the lives that they want. They trust no one but each other, which is vital to their success as mobsters. The story of a group of friends in turn of the century New York City, from their early days as street hoods to their rise in the world of organized crime. As their crime empire expands, they have to deal with many problems, including their own differing opinions on how to run their business, the local Godfather, Don Faranzano (Sir Michael Gambon), and the psychotic Mad Dog Coll (Nicholas Sadler). —Murray Chapman <muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au>

A young man returning home to attend a wedding hooks up with a drifter who turns out to be a violent bank robber. Before he knows it, the man finds himself involved in the robber's plans.