Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
Director: Wolfgang Petersen, Via Vision Entertainment.
Cast: Clint Eastwood, John Malkovich, Rene Russo, Dylan McDermott.
Academy award-winning director, actor, politician and musician, Clint Eastwood is a man of few words (on screen), but many accomplishments.
His soft-spoken gravelly voice delivers the message with silent concentration. It is worth listening to his dialogues. Eastwood, 85, makes each word count on screen.
He is also known for his many one-liners in films. There is one In the Line of Fire that forcefully drives the point home about having a ‘rendezvous’.
He received the Oscar for Best Director for the 1993 Unforgiven (and Best Picture) and the same for the 2005 Million Dollar Baby. Known more these days for work behind the camera, Eastwood’s acting career saw him getting in harm’s way, on more than one occasion.
For the 1993 In the Line of Fire, Eastwood plays Frank Horrigan, a secret service agent, who tracks down a disillusioned and obsessed former CIA agent who attempts to assassinate the president of the United States.
Horrigan still blames himself as he keeps thinking back to November 22, 1963, when he failed to save President John F. Kennedy from assassination. The would-be killer Mitch Leary (Malkovich) refers to this fact as he plays mind games with his opponents and taunts the agent with detailed information.
Thrillers are as good as their villains, and In the Line of Fire has a great one – a smart, slick rogue who has a sinister way of delving his way into the psyche of the hero.
The storyline maybe familiar, but the tension is palpable and the film is well made. Eastwood’s acting is faultless. Malkovich’s performance is exemplary.
Director Petersen (Air Force One, Das Boot, The Perfect Storm) unwinds the plot, where realism abounds, with precision.
