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The PackageRating:
Release Date: 01 May, 2001 Retail Price: $14.98 OUR Price: $12.99 You SAVE: $1.99! Cast: Complete Cast (14 total) |
The Package Reviews
A Well Done Military Suspense Thriller, With Gene Hackman
This movie has always seemed to me to be one of the most efficient, best crafted of its type, the military suspense thriller. And one of the most under-rated, too.
Gene Hackman stars as Sergeant Johnny Gallagher, an Army lifer who finds himself up to his ears in a ruthless conspiracy to assassinate the Soviet leader when the man visits Chicago. Gallagher had been stationed in West Berlin. His squad failed to stop the assassination of a U.S. Army general who had been taking part in a top military meeting in the outskirts of Berlin. Semi-disgraced, he is given the job of escorting an Army sergeant under arrest, the package, to Washington. But he's mugged in the D.C. airport and the prisoner escapes. Then he discovers the photo of the prisoner doesn't match the guy he was escorting. As he tries to find out what's going on, people start getting killed.
This movie works, I think, for several reasons. First, we know what's going on before Gallagher does, so there is the pleasure of watching him figure things out. There is a conspiracy, we realize, involving top U.S. and Soviet generals to sabotage the signing of a nuclear disarmament treaty. This will be done by killing the Soviet leader in Chicago on a visit to sign the treaty. The assassin, Tommy Lee Jones, is being provided by the senior American officers taking part in the plot. Gallagher at first stumbles around, but slowly, using his intelligence and with the help of the few friends he can count on, he begins to put things together. We know where this is going, but the fun is in seeing how Gallagher thinks and then acts. Second, Hackman's performance, as usual, is excellent. Hackman was 59 when he made this movie, but he is every bit believable as a shrewd, action-focused Army sergeant. He's nearly matched by Tommy Lee Jones as the cynical, amused hit man who doesn't respect anyone. Dennis Franz as a tough Chicago cop and John Heard as a ruthless Army colonel both give first-rate performances. Third, Andrew Davis keeps the movie moving quickly, with clues discovered, shoot-outs, near misses, chases. The plot is complicated, but Davis plays fair. Watch the movie again and it still makes sense.
It's interesting to compare this movie or The Fugitive, both by Davis, with an other good movie he directed, Holes. The Package and The Fugitive couldn't be more different than Holes, but all three, in my view, are very well handled. The DVD transfer is very good.
Yearning for Kojak
My husband and 19-year-old daughter abandoned me in the TV room about halfway through. They didn't miss much. Tommy Lee had some funny lines. Gene Hackman was good, but it was painful to watch, knowing how much more he can do. I have to watch "The Conversation" about 5 more times so I can wash away the bad memory of this clunker. The motivations of the characters were beyond contrived, the music was on the level of Baretta, and the minor players were utterly forgettable. The best scene was in the first quarter of the movie, when Hackman and Jones meet, and some sparks fly. Once that's over, you can watch something else.
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