No Way Out (1987)

Kevin Costner vehicle released the same year as the far superior The Untouchables. No Way Out concerns a navy commander (Costner) who enters into a romantic relationship with the mistress (a young Sean Young) of the Secretary of Defense (Gene Hackman). Needless to say this doesn't end well for those involved, Young is killed accidently and Costner finds himself in the unenviable position of being tasked by Hackman with "finding the killer", or rather finding a patsy to take the fall for Hackman. As the investigation continues evidence slowly starts to accumulate that will point to Costner as the mysterious man that Young was seeing behind Hackman's back. Costner then must scramble both to protect himself as well as others like Young's friend Iman who might get caught up in Hackman's chief of staff Will Patton's desperate efforts to save his boss (and secrete gay crush) from ruin. There is also a subplot involving a pork barrel navy sub program and a twist at the end that's either brilliant or stupid, either way it certainly felt tacked on, probably worked better in the book. I found most of this film off putting and derivative, but it coalesced just enough at the end to keep it out of hate territory. **