In the Line of Fire

1/23/2022

I wish it was paced better, but <em>'In the Line of Fire'</em> still makes for a good time. Clint Eastwood and John Malkovich is a great line-up and both are entertaining in this, the latter is just terrific at playing a loopy bad guy. There's a fair few well known peeps behind them, including John Heard and Gary Cole - it's a fairly strong cast. The story is an interesting one, though given that you'd expect the film to move along at a better pace but it kinda just walks through its 128 minute run time. It's not a drag or anything, but I definitely wasn't on the edge of my seat unfortunately. It's still a film I'd recommend, though.

11/24/2022

**Action, entertainment and verisimilitude together in a film that is better than many others, more regularly remembered.** This is a conventional American-style action film, where everything revolves around the unassailable and sacrosanct figure of the President. There are loads of films like this, such as “Air Force One” or “Olympus Has Fallen”, which may help to explain why it ended up so forgotten, despite being nominated for three Oscars (Best Editing, Best Supporting Actor and Best Original Screenplay). It's not a new film, but it guarantees action and entertainment, and looks very appealing to televisions and home market. In this case, the script focuses on the threat of a madman who is willing to do anything to assassinate the American president, and on the attempts of a veteran

1/1/2026

A veteran of the Kennedy assassination, US Secret Service agent “Horrigan” (Clint Eastwood) now finds himself in contact with the menacing “Leary” (John Malkovich) who has made it clear he has an axe to grind with the current incumbent of the Oval Office. Of course, “Horrigan” alerts his bosses but with a knife-edge election looming, nobody is interested in hunkering down and hoping the threat goes away. It doesn’t help that the would-be killer is an ex-CIA man who is a master of disguise and skilled in plotting and planning covert schemes, so the agent and his colleagues “Lilly” (Rene Russo) and “Al” (Dylan McDermott) - whom his nemesis will have no problem disposing of should they get in his way, have their work cut out for them. Much of this is fairly processional at the start, but once