Blu-ray Review: In the Line of Fire

Eastwood vs. Malkovich

By: Brad Brevet
Published: Sunday, June 22nd 2008 at 5:11 PM

It had been a very long time since I had last watched In the Line of Fire, but this is a movie that I really, really like. Eastwood almost seems to be playing himself as Frank Horrigan, the jazz loving Secret Service agent, but there is a side to him that he hides due to the emptiness in his life caused by his job. A job he places more priority in than anything else in his life.

There is a little bit of Harry Callahan in Eastwood's performance, especially in the opening minutes of the film when he doesn't hesitate to blow away the bad guys, but the difference is in the way he doesn't kill all of them. Frank also seems to have something of a decent relationship with his partner (Dylan McDermott), and what ultimately happens to his partner is Dirty Harry to the bone.

In the Line of Fire, I believe, is also one of John Malkovich's greatest performances as the late '80s and the '90s seemed to be when Malk didn't phone in his performances. Hopefully we will see a little more of this Malkovich in the upcoming Coen film Burn after Reading and the Eastwood directed Changeling. It would be nice to once again get excited when I see his name in the credits as opposed to wondering how he would be sleepwalking through the performance.

This was also around the same time Renee Russo was making a name for herself. Around the same time she was kicking ass in Lethal Weapon 3 and 4, starring in the fantastic Get Shorty, the over-the-top Ransom and The Thomas Crown Affair. It seems since Thomas Crown she focused on mothering her little girl and hasn't starred in a movie since 2005's Your, Mine and Ours. However, I can see her making a dramatic comeback as the Wicked Witch of the West should Warner ever decide to remake The Wizard of Oz. [ ... ]

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