The Package (1989)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

„The Package" is a rather conventional thriller made by Hollywood in the 80's near the end of Cold War. The plot here isn't exactly complicated and it doesn't take long to figure out what is going on. There is some action and twists , but they aren't really memorable.Andrew Davis directs this with no passion . He did much better job on "The Fugitive" – a similar movie . There is solid cast in this film – Gene Hackman ("The French connection") , Joanna Cassidy ("Under fire") , Tommy Lee Jones ("Man in black") , Dennis Franz ("Die hard 2") , Pam Grier ("Jackie Brown") and Ron Dean ("The Dark knight"). Jones seems to have fun with his role and it's interesting that he worked with Davis twice more ("Under siege" and "The Fugitive"). Overall , acting is solid , but no revelation.The screenplay is logical , yet never manages to surprise the viewer. The dialogue are not bad and sometimes full of tension.All in all it's a watchable and not bad thriller . You could do better and you could do worse with your time . I give it 5/10.

As the cold war starts to thaw the leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union are on the brink of signing an historic treaty that will lead to the scrapping of their nuclear arsenals… not everybody wants this to happen though; certain members of the military on both sides are determined to scupper the treaty. To this end Sgt. Gallagher is tasked with escorting prisoner Walter Henke from West Berlin to the US; to him it is a routine if somewhat tedious task but it soon becomes clear that it is anything but routine. His prisoner is helped to escape at the airport and when Gallagher goes to see the man's wife he learns that he wasn't Walter Henke! He goes to see his ex-wife, an army colonel, to see if she can help him get to the bottom of it; she and her assistant manage to find out that the man's real name is Thomas Boyette and he has a military record linking him to a series of war zones. Gallagher soon finds himself framed for the murder of Henke's wife so must go on the run with his ex. They follow the trail to Chicago where they meet up with policeman Lt. Milan Delich, an old friend of Gallagher's. As they get closer to Boyette they get in increasing danger as the conspirators are determined to stop them preventing Boyette from carrying out his mission.This is a solid cold war thriller made when relationships between east and west were improving but nobody suspected that the Soviet Union would shortly cease to exist. Gene Hackman does a good job as Sgt. Gallagher and Tommy Lee Jones is fine as Boyette. The story is a bit far-fetched but if you can suspend your disbelief it is fairly gripping. There is a sense of paranoia as Gallagher has very few people he can trust and many of those who aren't actually bad think he is! There isn't a huge amount of over the top action but what there is, is fairly exciting and fairly believable. If you enjoy thrillers that have some mystery but aren't too convoluted you should enjoy this.

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.

To my mind this is a brilliant formula picture. It employs all the language and visual iconography of contemporary world history and political subterfuge - threats to east-west 'detente'; international treaties; renegade generals and shadow armies; assassination attempts (complete with Oswald-type patsies); and lone heroes intent on exposing the truth - and assembles them into a coherent and gripping thriller that balances action and tension in suitable measure.Gene Hackman plays army Sergeant Gallagher, stationed in Berlin but ordered to escort a human 'package' (Tommy Lee Jones) back to Washington. After his prisoner's escape soon after their arrival back in the US, Gallagher begins to suspect that all is not as it seems, as the world awaits the signing of an historic agreement between the superpowers to put nuclear weapons beyond use. Realising that the threat to the peace process resides in the very organisations charged with implementing its aims - and to which he is supposed to report - and that his life is now in jeopardy, Gallagher begins to investigate, aided only by his estranged wife (played by Joanna Cassidy) and former Vietnam buddy-turned-Chicago cop Milan (Dennis Franz).And it is in the windy city where the bulk of the action now plays out. This being director Andrew Davis' usual turf, it is no surprise that the wintry locations have a particularly authentic feel, adding to the film's steely atmosphere. The picture is perfectly paced for the viewer's excitement. In fact, it might have benefited from one or two slightly longer breathers between bursts of kinetic excitement. Other minor quibbles are the limited role afforded to women (even the fairly feisty Cassidy is quickly heard apologising for the quality of her scrambled eggs) and Hackman is, at this point in his career (1989, when the film was released) approaching a point where he may have to accept that his action heroics are almost behind him.Nevertheless, this is exciting, intelligent, familiar stuff - which is a tough combination to pull off, yet one done expertly here.