Three pasty, unshaven U-boat mates, Harrison Ford, and Clint Eastwood walk into a bar…

 

Cast: Clint Eastwood, John Malkovich, Renee Russo, Dylan McDermott, Gary Cole, and John Mahoney.

Writer: Jeff Maguire

Director: Wolfgang Petersen

Running Time: 135 min.

1993

 

Is it me, or is Wolfgang Petersen kind of a parody of himself?

 

I couldn’t help but laugh, watching the fictional president of Petersen’s political thriller exit a fake Air Force One; one of Petersen’s two fake prez-planes.  My mind kept seeing Harrison Ford coming down the steps instead…

 

The tone of this film is so overtly serious in some places that it makes a hollow sound in the room.  In the Line of Fire is a perfect example of a bad Hollywood action movie masquerading as deep character study.  The presence of weighty actors, however, is not a cure for a thin script, full of clichéd dialogue and buddy sub-plots.

 

The pain Malkovich must have felt delivering those “gritty” one-liners.  “I see you standing over the body of another dead president,” he grumbled with a harsh passion, knowing full well how silly he had to sound.  The man is a credit to his species…actors that is.

 

Clint is Clint, as always, only he really delivers the charm here.  The gruff, “Do ya, PUNK?” kind of Clint gives way.  A nice soft side appears in his scenes with Renee Russo, where the two share some real chemistry.  Those are perhaps the best scenes in the film, certainly lending it a good majority of the weight it does have.

 

Russo gives one of her best performances, (Get Shorty to name another,) coming off, for some reason, far more believably than her Lethal Weapon outings.  (Then again, she entered that series later in the game, in an episode that was a shadow of it’s predecessors.)  Seeing her with a gun here seems to be far more natural.

 

Dylan McDermott deserves credit for his very human performance, (maybe that’s why they gave him a show,) despite being stuck with what I would call a “red shirt” role. (Red shirt clad ensigns in Star trek were doomed the minute they were assigned to an away team.  To this day it is one of the most feared positions in Starfleet}:) He pulls off a scene stealing turn as the agent who just isn’t cut out for the job, partnered then, perhaps inconveniently, with the hard-boiled Eastwood.

 

Malkovich, as mentioned, earned his oscar nomination by selling his role to the rafters; by chewing on ye olde scenery.  His work is well layered also, helping the realism of the film tremendously.

 

Realism, in technical aspects, works in some places for this film, but is what detracts most from it at crucial points.  Nobody can tell me a killer, former assassin for the CIA, obsessed with killing the president for years, would not know a secret service agent has a mic in his hand and a earpiece, allowing him to communicate with snipers all along.  That’s just ludicrous.  The cat, sitting next to me right now knows that. 

 

Petersen again, like in Das Boot, Air Force One, and most recently Troy, takes himself so seriously that his dialogue comes off stilted and clichéd.  His characters, whom he hopes to make larger than life, come off as silly.  A heavy hand cannot a delicate flower tend.

 

It isn’t all Petersen’s fault, however, it’s the script and it’s over-done cat-and-mouseness, as well as it’ good cop/bad cop, police captain and top cop who don’t get along, (only it’s Presidential Chief of Staff and top Secret Service agent,) cliché nonsense that really handicaps this picture.  I mean, maybe I just suffer under the detriment of hindsight, being influenced by all the films that have come since, but, c’mon, this film wasn’t made in the sixties, it’s not so old it’s the first.  This dialogue was a frightful cliché the first time it was uttered, and will be forever hence.  The structure and story are certainly a stab at something interesting, but those who have seen lots of films will find the dialogue undeniably clichéd and silly, and the characters not much different than many others that have come before and since.

 

Overall, the film is not a horror to watch, it’s coif fable enough, if you are willing to leave your brain at the door and join Clint for yet another ride.

 

Three stars, count ‘em, ***

 

 A much better political thriller, not needing the veil of action, but far more intense, is “The Contender,” with Joan Allen, Jeff Bridges, Gary Oldman, and William Petersen.  Truly it is one of the best thrillers out there, and no cheap tricks within.  Full of solid performances, especially Oldman, (wow,) and Allen, as well as a packed supporting cast.  Well worth your two hours.

 

K