In the Line of Fire (Blu-ray Disc)

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.

The three leads aside, one thing I didn't really realize about this film was that it was a Wolfgang Petersen project. Outside of Poseidon and the way overrated Das Boot, I like the majority of Petersen's films even though they seem to be hit or miss with critics. This film actually is a bit more restrained than most of Petersen's works as it has more of an emphasis on characters than spectacle. In the Line of Fire is actually Petersen's best reviewed film right up there with Das Boot, and best reviewed by a mile with only Air Force One coming close.

Eastwood is at the top of his game in this film and character actors John Mahoney and Gary Cole are perfect for their respective roles as Secret Service Director Sam Campagna and Secret Service Presidential Detail Agent-In-Charge Bill Watts. Tobin Bell makes a small cameo appearance showing that he did act before becoming exclusively known as Saw's Jigsaw.

What makes this film a favorite of mine though is the relationship between the would-be presidential assassin played by Malkovich and the agent trying to stop him in Eastwood. Both are fantastic and at no time do they ever seem to go beyond the limit of their characters. They aren't restrained, they simply seem to ease into their roles and execute them flawlessly. I really can't say enough about how perfect they both seem to be for this film.

As for this new Blu-ray release, it looks great, but that pretty much goes without saying. This film isn't old enough (1993) to have really suffered from any major amount of aging and the transfer appears flawless. The special features are nothing you wouldn't have seen on previous DVD releases including a Petersen commentary, three featurettes, a making-of doc and a group of deleted scenes. The disc itself promotes a BD-Live feature, but the box art has no mention of it. When I tried to access the feature it told me it was unable to download the upgrade. I am not sure if it's because my PS3 won't work with BD-Live or because it is a manufacturing error and there isn't anything available. I am guessing the latter, but since I haven't actually worked with a true BD-Live disc yet I can't be certain.

If you don't already own this film then I certainly recommend picking it up, but if you already own the DVD edition you aren't going to get anything more than the audio and visual upgrade (something I will be able to preview for you soon as I have a Blu-ray drive coming in my new computer next week). This is a film to own, that is for sure, if you own it already then you are in luck. If not, then this would be the version to buy, it looks great and has a high rewatchability factor.