1. Both are directed by Wolfgang Peterson, who you can thank for this:
2. Both plots concern convoluted efforts to attack the President of the United States. Because that's fun, lighthearted American action!
3. Both feature alpha males of American action cinema, though I'm more of an Indy guy than a Man With No Name fanboy.
4. Both feature great villain turns by noted character actors, which is the nice way of saying "that weird guy who always looks/sounds different." That being said, John Malkovich Malkovich is definitely odder than Gary (F#@$in' Commissioner Gordon) Oldman:
(Fans of Charlie Kaufman's oeuvre may also note that this scene is actually recreated in our second film, which we kept, Adaptation).
5. We own both movies in one DVD case: hence the two days it took to get through and review and the slight sidetrack from our alphabetical order. The fact that these are together made it interesting, because it was keep or pitch both - there's no way to split the baby. So what did we decide?
#4: Air Force One
The pitch for this movie, basically Die Hard on a plane with Harrison Ford's President Jim Marshall in the John McClain role, is pretty good. It allows for some fun moments, like when Ford, having tricked Oldman's band of Kazakhstani communist terrorists (this was pre-Borat) into thinking he hopped off the plane in an escape pod, is loose in the baggage area trying desperately to use a cell phone (which he needs the manual to do) to call the White House (he has to call information). He also promises a minor character to appoint her as Postmaster General if a suggestion she has for contacting the Cabinet via fax pans out. Let us not, of course, forget this immortal line:
After Oldman dies however, the movie totally goes off the rails. The thing should end there. Instead, we move into truly ridiculous territory. Ford flies Air Force One despite having not flown any plane in 25 years. There's a Top Gun firefight with Kazakhstani fighter jets (yes, really). People zip line up somehow into a moving aircraft and miraculously don't see their heads smashed in. In short, the movie's just too long. After Oldman's out, our interest was too.
(Sidenote: This movie was also a bit ahead of the curve in its triumphant, kick-their-ass nationalism. It opens with what we call these days an extraordinary rendition. Then, Ford makes a speech telling all the bad guys to be afraid, literally. Then, of course, he kills a bunch of bad guys. Then, a bad guy gets summarily executed after being told he's free from prison and everyone celebrates, thumbs up and all. In 1997, a certain Texas governor probably enjoyed the hell out of this movie.)
#5 In the Line of Fire
Four years before he made Air Force One, our boy Wolfie approached the American presidency with a bit more ambiguity (meaning, any ambiguity at all). Clint Eastwood plays an ancient Secret Service Agent (fun fact: Eastwood was 63 in 1993) who was there the day Kennedy died and still feels regret about his failure to act. John Malkovich Malkovich plays a former CIA wet boy (no that's not a gay subculture (or is it?)) with eyes set on murdering the President. While the film occasionally pokes around what could be interesting questions about what killing for/dying for your country does to people, it never really addresses them. Mostly, it is content to plod along from plot point to plot point, with the occasional twist, like a Law and Order episode. The presence of former Senator, former Republican presidential primary contender, and Law and Order veteran Fred Thompson as the dickhead Chief of Staff only reinforces this impression.
More problematic, this movie suffers from what I call Unnecessary Love Interest Syndrome. Here, Rene Russo is saddled with the go-nowhere role of a female Secret Service Agent who has three basic functions: (1) be flattered by Eastwood's glib sexual harassment at work; (2) get to KNOW and TRULY UNDERSTAND him; and (3) love scene. Her character doesn't add anything to the story and it just drags down the far more interesting cat and mouse game between Malkovich and Eastwood.
Anyway, this is a decent movie. Not nearly as fun as Air Force One but far lower on the ridiculousness scale. Also, Malkovich hand crafts a gun out of homemade resin, which is pretty neat. However, neither of us think it is something we will feel a compulsion to watch again. (I say "we" even though my poor co-reviewer is now suffering the aftershocks of our daughter's flu herself and slept through most of this).
Ultimate verdict: PITCH BOTH.
But let's be honest, if either is on cable one day, we might not change the channel.
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