Would You Get "In The Line Of Fire" Between A Bullet And A President?

In The Line Of Fire (1993)

Rated R for language and violence

Starring Clint Eastwood, John Malkovich, Rene Russo, Dylan McDermott, John Mahoney

Directed by Wolfgang Petersen

The Story:

Secret Service Agents Frank Horrigan (Eastwood) and D'Andrea (McDermott) are working the counterfeiting portion of the Secret Service.  Then one night, Horrigan answers a phone call from a stranger (Malkovich) who informs him that he is going to assassinate the President.  This doesn't sit well with Horrigan, as he has already lost a President once: Kennedy.  He vows he's not going to lose another one.  He lobbies to get back on the Presidential detail, but he's old, cranky, and with the President facing re-election, the Chief of Staff (Fred Thompson) wants Horrigan nowhere near the President.  Will Frank be able to take a bullet to save a President this time, or is he doomed to fail again?

I think this is my favorite Eastwood movie.

Doing a quick rundown of titles, yeah, this and Kelly's Heroes are my two favorite films by Eastwood of all time.

The movie is extremely well written, there are excellent actors in every role, and the tension continues to build as the movie rolls along.

Eastwood plays the aging Agent perfectly.  Still with a love and drive for the job, he plays Horrigan perfectly.  The scene in the break room after his return to the Presidential detail is hysterically funny.

The attempted romance between Russo and Eastwood is handled well and does not overly complicate nor bog down the action and tension that is building in the movie.  It works to give the audience a chance to catch our breath as we prepare for the next stage of the game of cat and mouse.

Naturally, if you're going to give Eastwood a competent adversary, you want one of the best.

Cue John Malkovich as the quietly explosive assassin.  He wants the challenge of beating Horrigan at the game.  Bitter adversaries, yet with equal amounts of respect for what each other does and each work to not underestimate the other, because it will be costly to do so.

I would say it's been over a decade since I watched this one, and that's a shame because it really is an excellent film.

Final Grade: A

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I do own it, and I'll have to put a sticky note to remind me not to wait over a decade to watch this one again.

A Step by Step Guide to Overthrowing DC... "Olympus Has Fallen"

It's like Die Hard...

In the White House!

The Story:

Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) is a Secret Service agent on the President's (Aaron Eckhart) detail.  After a disastrous event, he removes himself off the detail and goes to push a desk at the Treasury Department.  Ah, but fate is a fickle mistress, and 18 months later, terrorists take over the White House, and only one man can save the day.

But since John McClane is a different franchise, Mike Banning will have to do!

:)

Directed by competent action-helmer Antoine Fuqua, this was the first of 2 big budget "White House attacked by terrorists" films.  Much like Armageddon and Deep Impact from a few years ago, sometimes studios have great minds thinking alike at the same time.

Sometimes it pays to be first, sometimes it simply pays to be better.

I'll let you know how the two Secret Service to the Rescue films fare head-to-head after I've seen the other, but for now...

Olympus Has Fallen is pretty decent action fare.

Much as I had hoped, Gerard Butler returns to his roots in all his butt-kicking glory.  Again, pigeon-holing this as a "Die Hard" rip-off is both fair and critical at the same time.  The setup begs for the comparison, so if you're going down that road, you have got to make your lead character likeable, believable, and a bit humourous doesn't hurt.

Well, the screenplay lets Butler down, as he's got the first 2 down, but really doesn't get to unleash any McClane-isms at the bad guy until the film is well into the third act.

The terrorists, hands-down, are quite brutal and believable.  Again, take the destruction of DC as you will, the plot is only as far-fetched as you want it to be.

The assembled cast is pretty impressive, it was nice to see Angela Bassett again, and Ashley Judd's extended cameo is thankless, yet necessary to the overall plot.  It's nice to see them both in a box-office hit again.

Plus, this film has the Morgan Freeman factor, so that makes it automatically better just by including him.  He does a great job as the President who's not the President.

It falls in the long line of Die Hard-ish movies that cannot escape the shadow of the original.

That said, it's a good attempt, and extremely watchable.

Final Grade: B-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I'd watch it again, and for a decent price, I'd pick it up and add it to the action pile.