The Package (1989)

Johnny Gallagher is sent from Germany with a prisoner. The prisoner escapes from the men's room at National Airport and Hackman begins his search for his man.Enlisting the help of his ex-wife and various old friends, he finds that the prisoner is part of a plot by senior military personnel on both sides.Their aim is to kill a very high-ranking world figure in order to sabotage arms control talks....For a film directed by a seasoned action auteur, and staring behemoths like Hackman and Jones, the film is really boring and mundane in places.Made in a time when film makers thought that audiences would be enthralled by stuffy men in rooms talking a lot, a lot of the cast are wasted, and the action scenes are just a montage of men with moustaches chasing Hackman and co.Hackman and Jones are great though, and when they share the screen, the film blisters in entertainment, but it isn't long enough.The last ten minutes are interesting and Davis does an amazing job of the climax, but we have to trawl through a mundane set up before the end.A waste.

This is a taut political thriller about the Cold War made and released just at the last moment, in 1989, after which these stories became passé. Gene Hackman plays a U.S. Army sergeant who becomes enmeshed in an international political and military conspiracy to prevent a peace treaty between the USA and the Soviet Union, and he and his wife, a U.S. Army Lieutenant-Colonel (played by Joanna Cassidy), have to run for their lives. On the one hand, they are trying to solve the conspiracy, but on the other hand they are trying to dodge all the nasty assassins who want to kill them. The film is well directed by Andrew Davis, who has directed numerous thriller and action films, such as the remake of the old TV series, the Harrison Ford version of THE FUGITIVE (1993). John Heard is icy cold as a scheming colonel who really works for the CIA. There is much attention given in this film to the CIA special ops people who are 'plants' inside the police, inside the Army, deeply throated and everywhere. Tommy Lee Jones plays the action villain, an expert sniper who doesn't care whom he kills as long as the pay is good. Dennis Franz plays Hackman's old chum from the Chicago Police who helps try to solve the conspiracy. The film is mostly set in Chicago, and the plan is to assassinate both the American president and the Russian leader who looks like Gorbachev. It is a nail-biting thriller, just the thing not to help you relax.

Well, yet another conspiracy movie. Gene Hackman is a sergeant who must escort a court-marshalled soldier (Tommy Lee-Jones) back to the US from Germany. Jones escapes however and Hackman races against time to prevent an assassination blah blah blah. I'm a great fan of both Gene Hackman and Tommy Lee-Jones and their acting in this movie does not disappoint. What does disappoint is the script. It has the most clichéd ending in Hollywood movies and it grated my cheese beyond belief! Why are Hollywood scriptwriters and directors so afraid of letting the bad guy win once in a while; especially when the bad guy is as likable as Tommy Lee-Jones! You can't cast a lovable actor like him as the villain, have the audience rooting for him and then kill him. It's why I loved Secret Window so much because the bad guy WON. The Jackal is another example where I wanted Bruce Willis to win yet, alas, he didn't.Overall, the clichéd ending is the only reason I give it 4/10. The acting is good and up until the end, the story was intriguing to a degree. It's a good watch and if you enjoy a happy ending, you won't be disappointed, if like me you are tired of the usual last-minute-good-guy-victory, give it a miss, chances are you've seen a movie the same as this one but with different actors.

Complex, intelligent, but at times possibly implausible Cold War thriller with brass at the top of US government, General Hopkins(Chelcie Ross)and his second Col. Glen Whitacre(John Heard), along with renegade Soviets, who have forged a plan to assassinate Soviet Press Secretary so that a Nuclear Arms Disarmament Treaty will be terminated between United States and the Soviet Union. They set up Sgt Gallagher(Gene Hackman, who could play this kind of charismatic hero in his sleep)to take the fall regarding the accidental release of a Walter Henke. In actuality, it isn't Walter but an expert sniper, Thomas Boyette(Tommy Lee Jones)taking his identity with the real man playing a patsy in Chicago supposedly running an operation against allowing Commies to come over here dictating policy. Unfortunately, Gallagher needs some info regarding the identity of Boyette(he does go to the wife's home and realizes the "package" he was suppose to carry across to the US wasn't the man in his custody;in a tragic turn of events some of Hopkins' goons kill Walter's wife setting up Gallagher as the murderer)and goes to his wife Eileen(Joanna Cassidy)who has recently made it up the ranks in the Army. In lending assistance, Eileen will be put in danger as evident by the murder of her confident Ruth(Pam Grier)who had the info she needed regarding Boyette. So Sgt. Johnny and ex-wife Eileen hit the road to Chicago to bust the assassination sting operation wide open with help by a Chicago cop named Lt. Milan(Dennis Franz).