In the Line of Fire (1993, R)

Honestly, the best thing about In the Line of Fire just may well be John Malkovich’s performance as Mitch Leary, a brilliant criminal mastermind who plans to assassinate the President of the United States, and in the process drawing a US Secret Service Agent, Frank Horrigan (Clint Eastwood), who is still haunted by his failure to protect John F. Kennedy in 1963, into a deadly game of cat-and-mouse.

            I have already explained how I think that Malkovich very arguably and possibly should have deserved the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 1993, having lost it to Tommy Lee Jones for his role in the Fugitive.  Ah, well, I won’t get into that now.  I think I spent two paragraphs about that in my review of the Fugitive anyway.

            One thing that is quite noticeable about in the Line of Fire is that it’s one of the few Eastwood pics to not be directed by Eastwood!  In the Line of Fire is directed by Wolfgang Petersen, but truthfully, throughout the movie, I couldn’t tell if Petersen directed it anymore then Eastwood would have.

            For any reason, in the Line of Fire is a heck of a thriller, despite not being a great movie.  Eastwood is typical but aging Eastwood, a 60-something Secret Service Agent still trying to do his job, panting and wheezing along all the way, though still showing his badge and drawing his gun when necessary.

            I guess I should also mention that in the Line of Fire is substantially more convincing then quite a few other action films, largely due to the fact that it’s a rare action pic that doesn’t rely all too much upon action and special effects, but maybe more so upon the fact that it relies on superior acting, an engaging plot, and also for having a sense of intelligence.

                                            ****/5