First of all, this is a movie, JUST a movie. I truly feel it was not meant to be a comment or criticism of the CIA or America. Please... reviews should be about the movie, not someone's political agenda OUTside of the movie.
Heller's girlfriend is taken hostage & killed at the beginning of the movie by terrorists from an eastern block country (sorry, can't remember which). After meeting with her father, a Holocaust survivor, he is the one that tells him that vengeance may not bring her back from the dead, but it may bring HIM back. Heller (John Savage) works for the CIA doing ciphers. He asks them to go over there & assassinate the terrorists. When they refuse, he uses his knowledge & clearance to actually blackmail the CIA into letting him go over there himself. They are appalled, but they agree, thinking that they can find the blackmail documents before he gets through training & gets over there. From there the movie goes into the main plot of how he attempts to make this all work.
The direction and pacing is fine... it's only slow if you are a 90's junkie that needs explosions and t&a every 15 mins. It's a story, a good one. The supporting roles are very well filled out by the likes of Marte Keller, Arthur Hill, Ed Lauter, and Jan Rubes. John Savage gives a very sensitive and believably vulnerable performance. As for him being wood-like (per another reviewer) the scene where he receives his girlfriend's last mailed "taped" letter to him is heart-wrenching. These are the kind of details that set up the credibility that this man would be so determined to revenge his girlfriend's death. Important stuff. This is a good movie, just enjoy it & stop saying to yourself, well, but what about _____? just go with the flow & you'll be very entertained.
Another movie I recommend that is a good thriller that came out 2 years later is Enigma w/Martin Sheen.
Heller's girlfriend is taken hostage & killed at the beginning of the movie by terrorists from an eastern block country (sorry, can't remember which). After meeting with her father, a Holocaust survivor, he is the one that tells him that vengeance may not bring her back from the dead, but it may bring HIM back. Heller (John Savage) works for the CIA doing ciphers. He asks them to go over there & assassinate the terrorists. When they refuse, he uses his knowledge & clearance to actually blackmail the CIA into letting him go over there himself. They are appalled, but they agree, thinking that they can find the blackmail documents before he gets through training & gets over there. From there the movie goes into the main plot of how he attempts to make this all work.
The direction and pacing is fine... it's only slow if you are a 90's junkie that needs explosions and t&a every 15 mins. It's a story, a good one. The supporting roles are very well filled out by the likes of Marte Keller, Arthur Hill, Ed Lauter, and Jan Rubes. John Savage gives a very sensitive and believably vulnerable performance. As for him being wood-like (per another reviewer) the scene where he receives his girlfriend's last mailed "taped" letter to him is heart-wrenching. These are the kind of details that set up the credibility that this man would be so determined to revenge his girlfriend's death. Important stuff. This is a good movie, just enjoy it & stop saying to yourself, well, but what about _____? just go with the flow & you'll be very entertained.
Another movie I recommend that is a good thriller that came out 2 years later is Enigma w/Martin Sheen.