This smart, tautly directed thriller from Wolfgang Petersen is about the cat-and-mouse games between a Secret Service agent named Horrigan (Clint Eastwood) and the brilliant, psychopathic assassin (John Malkovich) who's itching to get the President in his cross hairs. In the Line of Fire's back-story--Horrigan is haunted by his inability to prevent John Kennedy's assassination (Eastwood is computer-generated into archival footage)--is more than a little hokey, but the plotting itself is smartly, even ingeniously, constructed. Petersen manages a vice-like grip on the tension and Eastwood even gets to deliver an ever-more-timely lecture on the diminished nature of the office of President. Eastwood's as gruff and as infuriating to the by-the-book Powers That Be as ever and Malkovich oozes delightful menace. Rene Russo capably co-stars as a colleague with whom Horrigan gets friendly. --David Kronke
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Magnificent Malkovich in cool crime thriller Police inspector Frank Horrigan (Eastwood) is set an assignment to track down a man who claims he will assassinate the President of the United States. Wolfgang Peterson (Air Force one) directs a fine established crime thriller in a year where a certain John Malkovich starred as a certain Mitch Leary. The main watching point for this film is Malkovich. The silence and emotion behind this character is a reflection on how the past can change a person. Malkovich's sophisticated attitude towards the... more info
First class thriller John Malkovich is convincingly creepy and vicious in his role as an assassin turned maniac who wants to kill the president. Next to him, Clint Eastwood is a secret service man who failed to protect JFK. Their demons drive this excellent film, which is convincing and very involving. It's an excellent movie and first class entertainment.
Clint kicks more butt in this 90's thriller In The Line of Fire is another fantastic film from Clints 'latter years', though it's always nice to see by this time he still had a full voice and wasn't so creaky. The storyline is good enough to keep you hooked, while the plot, though has been done quite a few times before, is given a 'Presidential' makeover when looney-assasin John Malkovich plans to kill the President before the end of the current elections. It's also funny in its own way that he still has this amazing ability to attract even... more info
"All we have is the game. I'm on offence, you're on defence." Warner Bros.' favourite son's first film outside the studio since the mid-seventies (also the first scored by Morricone in even longer) resulted in one of the best thrillers of the Nineties. The premise is simple, offering Eastwood's ageing secret service agent, who failed to save JFK, the chance for redemption by stopping Malkovich's assassin, who latches on to his guilt in an engrossing cat-and-mouse game. The idea of the criminal and his pursuer forging a bond has been done many times before, but seldom... more info
![In The Line Of Fire [1993]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51XMC5S3R6L._SL160_.jpg)
