A joint operation between American and Russian Special Forces captures General Radek, the dictator of a rogue neo-Soviet regime in Kazakhstan that retained its nuclear weapons and is threatening war. Three weeks after the mission, US President James Marshall attends a diplomatic dinner in Moscow, during which he praises the operation and insists the US will no longer negotiate with terrorists. Marshall and his entourage, including his wife Grace and daughter Alice, prepare to return home on Air Force One. Members of the press have also been invited aboard, included six Radek loyalists disguised as journalists, led by Egor Korshunov. After takeoff, Secret Service agent Gibbs, a mole, enables Korshunov and his men to obtain weapons and storm the plane, killing many of the other security and military personnel before taking the rest hostage, including Grace and Alice. Marshall is raced to an escape pod in the cargo hold while pursued by Korshunov's men, but they are too late to stop the pod from ejecting. Korshunov breaches the cockpit and kills the crew, narrowly preventing the plane from making an emergency landing. A squadron of F-15s escort Air Force One as Korshunov has it piloted toward a Radek-loyal airbase in Kazakhstan. Unknown to all, Marshall, a veteran of the Vietnam War, has hidden himself in the cargo hold instead of using the pod. It's up to him to not only rescue his family, but all the other hostages&madsh;but he has little time, as Korshunov is executing one hostage every half-hour until his demands are met!

Air Force One is a pretty straightforward action-thriller. It delivers exactly what it promises under the steady guidance of Dir. Peterson. The film is populated by many famous and well-known actors—including some Peterson "regulars"—and it is always clear what is going on and who has the upper hand. Due to some stellar performances, namely the ones by Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman, the film delivers some genuinely tense sequences. Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the film is the casting of Glenn Close as the Vice President, and she delivers a truly great performance. The film also gets interesting when it starts to delve into constitutional issues regarding whether the President is still the President in a hostage situation. However, as that's not the point of the film, it doesn't delve too deeply into what is rightly a thought-provoking question.

The only weak point of the story is how the terrorists take control of the plane. One would expect that there would be more security around the plane's weapon locker, and that it would take more than one rogue Secret Service agent to enable the terrorists to gain access to it. However, that is easily overlooked as the film seamlessly shuttles us from one tense scene to another, and the film delivers a lot of genuine emotions. However, the fatal flaw of the film is the final sequence of the titular 747. Considering that this film came out in the same year as Dante's Peak—which used miniatures and flooding water to great effect—it's truly disappointing that Air Force One drops the ball at the very end with poorly rendered CG animation. Nevertheless, up until that point, the special (and visual!) effects are great, with some of the best air-to-air combat sequences in any film from the late 90's. This film is ultimately an escapist flick, but it is a top-notch one well worth the ride.

Italian fishermen pull a man out of the water. He has two bullet wounds in his back. They tend to his wounds and revive him. However, the man has no memory of who he is. The ship's medic also finds a laser projector in the skin of the man's hip, that has the number of a safe deposit box in Zurich. When the ship lands, the man heads to Switzerland, hoping to finally learn his identity. Inside the deposit box, however, he finds passports and ID cards with his picture, but with multiple different names and nationalities! Having caused trouble earlier, the man—now using the name Jason Bourne based on one of 'his' passports—ducks into the US embassy to avoid the police. After a brief respite, the embassy staff move in to arrest him, but in a blindingly fast display of martial arts, Bourne defeats them. He then flees upstairs, hotly pursued by the embassy's US Marine guards!

Bourne Identity is as much a blistering action film as it is a thought provoking thriller. On the one hand, we have Matt Damon's everyman Jason Bourne being doggedly and relentlessly pursued by all the resources available to the CIA, as well as their finest hitmen. On the other, we have Bourne struggling to recall the little things like what his name is and where he is from, as well as grappling with questions about why he's being hunted down by the US intelligence agency! Thrown into the mix is the love interest Marie Kreutz, who is an enigma herself as she leads a vagabond lifestyle. Intrigue also comes in the form of Alexander Conklin—the leader of a CIA black ops program that Bourne is associated with—and CIA Deputy Director Ward Abbott, who have to scramble to contain the crisis of a rogue agent and the blowback from a mission that has failed rather publicly.

The funnest parts of the film is Bourne recalling unexpected abilities at critical times. The action is certainly explosive, in the sense that it happens unexpectedly, extremely rapidly, and is over shockingly fast at times. One thing I greatly appreciate about this film is that Dir. Liman has presented crystal clear action sequences. At all times we are aware of the combatants in three-dimensional space, and can follow the action. The techno/electronica soundtrack is also a highlight. The only drawback—and this is mostly due to the cinema medium itself—is that we don't get into Bourne's head to see his thought processes, like we do in Robert Ludlum's novel. While we are shown the visceral action and the outsmarting of one combatant by the other, we never get the sense that combat in the Bourne universe is as much, if not more so a thinking game than it is anything else, like we get in the novels.

Jason Bourne and Marie Kreutz have settled in Goa, India. Bourne has daily flashbacks (nightmares) of his former occupation, and struggles to piece together the memory fragments he recalls. Marie insists that he write them down in a notebook. In Berlin, CIA Deputy Director Pamela Landy is investigating the theft of $20 million in CIA funds 7 years prior. Her undercover agent is about to purchase files that'll explain what happened when the agent and the information source are killed by Kirill, an assassin working for oligarch Yuri Gretkov on the side. He leaves evidence that incriminates Bourne, and heads to Goa to kill Bourne. However, when he shoots Bourne's fleeing vehicle, he unwittingly kills Marie and reports to Gretkov that Bourne is dead. Bourne, heads to Europe, and allows himself to be identified by security in the port of Naples. He subdues an American CIA agent working out of the Naples consulate that came to investigate, and learns about Landy and being framed for what happened in Germany. Bourne heads to Berlin, believing that the CIA is hunting him again.

The film picks up after a 2 year interlude and sees Bourne and Marie settled in a new life "off the grid". Sadly, the film decides that Bourne is better on his own, and quickly gets rid of Marie. This is something that author Robert Ludlum never did, as he recognized that she is the emotional core of the series, and the counterbalance to the Bourne character's cold, calculating assassin character. It's a shame, as it takes the heart and moral probing of Bourne out of the film. The other disappointment is the jerky camera movement that makes it very hard to follow the action. While it's a great technique in the right circumstances—arguably most scenes in the film—it is detrimental in key action sequences such as the Moscow car chase. There are a handful of times where the action is inexplicably transported to another unrelated location. The technique doesn't help either when the Bourne character is so well skilled that he can dispatch an opponent in mere seconds!

Nevertheless, the film has a lot of the same energy and strengths as the first film—explosive action, enigmatic characters and motivations, thought provoking thrills, and a great soundtrack. The highlight is Karl Urban as Kirill. In the original novel (which has a completely different story!), he is the anti-Bourne. The character's concept is one of the few things that was retained in the film version, and they do a great job presenting someone who is believably, and terrifyingly the equal of Bourne. As with all sequels, the stakes are raised and things are taken to new heights. However, in the Bourne series, that also means digging more deeply into the darker corners of what spy agencies and assassins do, and this film marks a turn deeper in that direction for this film series.

Picking up right where The Bourne Supremacy left off, the wounded Jason Bourne is fleeing from and evading the Moscow police. When he pauses in a clinic to deal with his injuries, he has flashbacks of when he first joined Operation Treadstone. Six weeks later, journalist Simon Ross meets an informant in Turin to learn about Bourne and Operation Blackbriar. The CIA begins tracking Ross after he mentions "Blackbriar" to his editor in a call. Bourne—having read Ross's articles about him—contacts Ross and arranges a meeting in Waterloo Station. However, despite Bourne's best attempts to keep both of them out of the CIA tracking team's reach, Ross is shot and killed by an assassin under orders from Deputy Director Noah Vosen. Recovering Ross's notes, Bourne learns who Ross's informant is, and heads to Turin to try to meet him. However, the CIA have not only identified Ross's informant, but also spotted Bourne while he was assisting Ross! The chase is on with Vosen gunning for Bourne, Bourne scrambling to find the truth, and Pamela Landy trying to outmanoeuvre Vosen to both help Bourne and peacefully resolve the situation. Nicky Parsons appears in the midst of all this as a wildcard: is she still working for the CIA, or is she genuinely helping Bourne?

Complex would be a mild way of describing this film. There is plenty of action, but it is thoroughly grounded in the story. Unlike the previous film, some scenes seem specifically designed to vilify the antagonists. At the same time, the film attempts to get to the bottom of Bourne—who he really is, where he came from, and how he came to be a powerful assassin. The film also does a good job of subtly recalling the other films in the series as it connects the dots between the Bourne we know 'now' all the way back to when he was 'born'. Perhaps the best part of the film is that it succeeds in not only 'threading the needle' by filling in how Bourne successfully snuck back into the US, as shown at the end of The Bourne Supremacy, it flips that scene on its head and turns it into a vital stepping stone toward the conclusion of the film.

The film is excellent up until the ending, when it seems to rush through events—Bourne suddenly attains total recall, and it stops being about Bourne's personal journey, and focuses mostly on the closure of the antagonists that created him, as well as the Blackbriar leadership. Not to mention the somewhat forced ending with Vosen suddenly appearing and shooting Bourne, which adds unnecessary drama, and doesn't letting the audience fully appreciate any changes in the CIA assassin that had Bourne in his sights. Nevertheless, what I did like is the recurring theme of Bourne becoming unwilling to finish off anyone that he doesn't personally have a grudge against (or doesn't know why they've been told to kill Bourne), even if that choice comes back to harm him later. The jerky camerawork also seems to have been reined in somewhat, as the action scenes are easier to follow this time. Perhaps the most startling thing in the film is the drabness of the transportation hubs in New York. Compared to the vibrancy and life characterizing all the transportation hubs and locales the film series has visited, it is... well, I'm not sure what it is a testament of, but the lack of 'colour' is shocking.

A United States Coast Guard vessel intercepts and boards a US registered yacht in the Caribbean Sea. Evidence shows that the ship's previous occupants, American businessman Peter Hardin and his family, were murdered by the occupying Colombian crew. CIA analyst Jack Ryan learns that Hardin was laundering money for the South American Cali Cartel. Drug lord Ernesto Escobedo ordered Hardin's murder for embezzling millions in drug profits. US President Bennett, Hardin's close friend, discreetly authorizes National Security Advisor James Cutter to initiate covert operations in Colombia to destroy the cartel. Ryan is appointed acting Deputy Director of Intelligence when Admiral James Greer undergoes treatment for cancer. He then Ryan requests Congress increase funding to support Colombians fighting the drug cartels—giving his assurance there is no US military involvement. Ryan is unaware that Cutter will use the funds to assemble RECIPROCITY, a special forces team recruited by CIA operative John Clark and aided by CIA Deputy Director of Operations Robert Ritter. The team inserts itself into Colombia, with Clark overseeing the clandestine search-and-destroy missions against the drug Cartel. President Bennett sends Ryan to negotiate with the Colombian government to allow the US to seize Escobedo's assets, including $650 million hidden in off-shore accounts. Escobedo is enraged when the US attempts to claim the money, and has his intelligence officer, Colonel Felix Cortez, try to retrieve the funds. Bennett sends FBI Director Emile Jacobs to meet Ryan in Colombia and negotiate for the money. When Cortez discovers this, he plans an ambush, engineering it so that suspicion falls on Escobedo. Ryan barely escapes the ambush by cartel hitmen. Escobedo, now blamed for the attack, organizes a meeting with the other Cartel heads. Concurrently, Bennett tacitly orders Cutter to escalation his covert war, as he seeks revenge for the loss of the FBI Director!

For better or for worse, Clear and Present Danger is pretty much all plot, with hardly any characterization. Where Patriot Games, and even The Hunt for Red October, made great efforts to introduce and illustrate its characters—Ryan's family life in particular—this film does not. On the other hand, it is filled with a pantheon of characters, and does an excellent job of not only keeping them clearly defined, but also juggling the film's numerous storylines. The one thing that this film retains from the earlier ones, is that its principal characters are all thinkers. The most vivid illustration of this is when it cross cuts between Ryan and Cortez concurrently researching an unusual weapon that was used at a key point in the story.

The best thing about this film is that it is a morality play. In a way it paints both the leaders of the cartel and the US government as opportunistic, morally questionable people looking out only for themselves. This film digs deep into how those in political power and criminal power mutually and tacitly rely on each other to retain power. There is significant pressure on Ryan to capitulate and sink to their level, and the film's examination of the morality of politicians makes it strikingly better than its action-thriller peers. There is action in this film, and it comes shockingly hard and fast. However, Dir Noyce wisely limits what Ryan is willing and able to do in the heat of the moment, and steadily guides the focus back to the people pulling the strings of power. Can't be missed!

Max Doroucher is a cab driver in LA who works the night shift. He dreams of starting his own limousine business and is trying to earn enough to start a business. He picks up Vincent, who is impressed by Max's skill at driving through the city. So impressed, in fact, that at his stop Vincent offers Max $600 to drive him to several locations—claiming that he's in town for one night to complete a real estate deal. Max is initially reluctant to violate regulations, but Vincent eventually persuades him. As Max waits for Vincent to complete his business, a body falls onto his cab. Vincent, who rushes out of the building, reveals that he caused the man to fall. He then forces Max to hide the body in the trunk and continue driving him, as he has four more stops to make that night!

Collateral is a movie that deceptively appears to be an action film, but is really also a character study. Along the journey, we get to peer deeply into the two main characters as they get to know each other, and eventually have enough of each other and grow antagonistic. The central relationship is also thought provoking as even though we know that the antagonist is planning a grim fate for the protagonist, he is concurrently giving out helpful advice and pushing the protagonist to better himself. While we instinctively know that it will be a life changing experience, the film also charts out a road map to a better future that we know the protagonist will be following after the credits roll.

The highlight of the film is the music. While music is used to indicate the passage of time and describe the emotions of the scenes—like most movies—it is also used to give each character, each venue, each sequence their own unique flavours. It is also vital to the story, as not only are the musical likes of the antagonist informing us on his interests and pastimes, but also his personal philosophy! The movie also doesn't play any 'funny' tricks in its conclusion, staying true to its characters' abilities and limits (or blind spots). Perhaps that's what makes this film so thrillingly chilling: so many things boil down to sheer blind luck!

In November 1984, Soviet submarine captain Marko Ramius is given command of Red October, a new Typhoon-class ballistic missile submarine with a "caterpillar drive" that renders it undetectable to passive sonar. Ramius leaves port to conduct exercises along with Alfa-class attack submarine V. K. Konovalov, commanded by his former student Captain Tupolev. At sea, Ramius secretly kills political officer Ivan Putin and relays false orders to his crew that they are to conduct missile drills off of America's east coast. American Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Dallas, which had been shadowing Red October, loses contact once the sub's caterpillar drive is engaged. CIA analyst and former Marine Jack Ryan, after consulting with Vice Admiral James Greer, the Deputy Director of the CIA, briefs government officials on Red October and the threat it poses. After learning that the bulk of the Soviet Navy has been deployed in the Atlantic to find and sink the sub, they conclude that Ramius plans a renegade nuclear strike. During the briefing, Ryan hypothesizes that Ramius, a native-born Lithuanian widower with few remaining personal ties to the Soviet Union, instead plans to defect to the United States, and National Security Advisor Jeffrey Pelt gives Ryan three days to confirm his theory. Ryan is sent to an aircraft carrier in the mid-Atlantic. Meanwhile, after some delay, Tupolev also receives orders to intercept and destroy Red October. Due to an unknown saboteur's actions, Red October's caterpillar drive malfunctions during risky manoeuvres through a narrow undersea canyon. Petty Officer Jones, a sonar technician aboard Dallas, concurrently discovers a way to detect Red October using underwater acoustic software, and Dallas plots an intercept course. After a hazardous mid-ocean transfer, Ryan boards Dallas, where he attempts to persuade its captain, Commander Bart Mancuso, to contact Ramius and determine his real intentions. However, Mancuso just received orders to destroy Red October!

The Hunt for Red October is a very well crafted, extremely tense film, with the possibility of the two global superpowers (at that time) accidentally stumbling into a new world war! Given its extensive cast of diverse characters, Dir McTiernan wisely chose to populate the film with well-known actors—the film is always clear who is telling what to whom. This leaves the viewer clear to focus on the slow stream of clues the story presents to unlock the various mysteries of the film. It is also a joy watching intelligent people taking the time to work out solutions and solve problems, as well as seeing the high-stakes game of poker that diplomats play with each other.

It is hard to find fault in this film. However, it is also not a film for the impatient. The film takes its time slowly developing the situation and the characters. It is also a rewarding puzzle for those that pay attention, as the film keeps as many secrets to itself as it reveals to us. There are more than a few misdirections, and the tension in the film is genuinely earned; such as when the American and Soviet submarine command crews first come face to face to each other. The film is still building even at its end, and it has developed its world and established its characters so well, we want to see the next chapter! Lastly, it is one of the few films that shows how the story's events have genuinely changed the protagonist—in a short sequence that implies so much more than what the shot actually depicts. The film can't be missed!

Sergeant First Class James is the new team leader of an Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) team in Iraq—new, as the preceding team leader was recently killed by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in Baghdad. James is reckless, described as a "wild man" at one point, and grates on the nerves of the people in his team: Sergeant Sandborn and Specialist Eldridge.

The film follows them through their daily missions to render unexploded ordinance safe. During the Iraq War, the vast majority of those are IEDs. Woven throughout everything else, there is the suggestion that the EOD teams are in a cat-and-mouse 'game' with the people behind the bombs, as they constantly attempt to outmanoeuvre each other.

In addition to depicting the grim reality of EOD specialists and the mind-boggling scale of the IED problem during that war, the film focuses on James to depict not only the type of person that thrives in war, but the persons who are, in a certain sense, addicted to it. The film only suggests the motivations as it depicts the ramifications of such a person on the people around them—the psychoanalysis is limited to Eldridge, who is receiving psychiatric help to deal with the trauma of having lost the team's preceding leader.

The film kept me glued to the screen. It's hard to pick any single scene, sequence, or characterization that stands out above the rest, as it's all finely interwoven and excellent. Perhaps the best thing about the film is that Dir. Bigelow opted to keep it minimalistic—focused on only the three main characters, with few other recurring characters, and using well-known actors in a handful of short, key appearances. Due to that, the tension in the protagonists' torturous experiences is even greater, we feel their pain, and we can almost taste the ever-present dust.

Charlie Croker is the brains behind a heist to steal a rather large lock-box full of gold bricks from other thieves hiding out in a safe house in Venice. He has taken over the reigns from John Bridger—who is doing one last job before retirement—and assembled a crew consisting of John, Handsome Rob, Lyle (AKA Napster), Left Ear, and Steve Frazelli. They succeed and make off with the loot. While making their getaway through the Alps into Austria, however, Steve double-crosses them, shoots John, and leaves the rest for dead.

The action picks up one year later in New York, when Charlie visits Stella—John's daughter—tells her that they've tracked down Steve, and asks her if she wants 'in' to even the score. Stella initially declines, but soon decides to join the team. The team assembles in Los Angeles, and begins planning and arranging a heist to take their loot back from Steve.

I'm not sure how much this film has to do with the original that it is 'inspired by'. Nevertheless, the film has excellent writing with plenty of unexpected twists and turns, is well cast, and has cracker-jacket pacing and editing. While some of the characters aren't as smooth or as slick as their equivalents in Ocean's Eleven, for example, their rough edges and flaws give them distinct characterizations that add immensely to the fun. Perhaps the only drawback to the film is Edward Norton. He seems to be coasting in this performance—which may be due to him being contractually obliged to participate in this film.

Nevertheless, the highlight of the film is not the car action with the at-the-time *new* Mini Coopers, but the musical score by John Powel. Not only does it keep the film strumming along, it had this viewer tapping his feet to the beat.

Lt. Danny Roman is a top hostage negotiator for the Chicago Police Department's east precinct, and is Nate Roenick's partner. One night, Roenick tells him that, according to an informant, members of their own unit are embezzling large amounts of money from the department's disability fund—of which Roman is a board member. Roenick tells Roman that his informant hasn't told Internal Affairs because he thinks that they might be involved as well. Later, Roenick messages Roman to meet him at a nearby park to tell him about the informant. However, Roenick is shot in the head just before Roman arrives. A squad car arrives on the scene within seconds, finding Roman over Roenick's dead body. Roman is soon considered to be a prime suspect in Roenick's murder. Matters become worse for Roman when Internal Affairs inspector Terence Niebaum, whom Roenick's informant suspected to be involved in the embezzlement, is assigned to investigate the murder. After the gun that killed Roenick is found and linked to a case Roman had worked on, Niebaum and other investigators search the Roman household and discover papers for an offshore bank account with a deposit equal to one of the amounts of money embezzled. Roman is forced to surrender his gun and badge, and his colleagues are skeptical when he claims innocence. With embezzlement and homicide charges pending, Roman storms into Niebaum's office to confront him. When he refuses to cooperate, Roman takes Niebaum, his administrative assistant Maggie, Roman's commander and friend Grant Frost, and con man Rudy Timmons as hostages. With the building evacuated and placed under siege by his own unit and the FBI, Roman issues his conditions. Among them is a request for the presence of Lt. Chris Sabian, the city's other top negotiator. Roman believes he can trust Sabian because he talks for as long as possible, and, being from the west precinct, is not a suspect in the disability fund scheme. Sabian soon clashes with members of Roman's precinct, but is given temporary command of the unit after they hastily attempt a breach that backfires and results in two SWAT officers becoming hostages. All of this occurs under the watchful eyes of the FBI, who are itching to take over, and while the corrupt officers remain hidden and are actively trying to kill Roman at the first opportunity!

Overall, The Negotiator is a great film, with great performances, and a taught plot that depicts a hostage crisis and the numerous attempts to resolve it one way or another while the protagonist concurrently attempts to prove his innocence and find his partner's killer. The film's only real weakness is that some scenes are allowed to overstay their welcome in an attempt to heighten the tension. In other words, it feels like Dir. Gray deliberately tried to shoehorn in excessive drama. The problem is that these scenes worked perfectly fine, and the unnecessary melodrama only serves to break this viewer's suspension of disbelief as I recognized when the production team were blatantly trying to manipulate emotions. Without those 'extended shots', the film would arguable be noticeably shorter—the length being the other complaint about it. Nevertheless, the film does a lot of things right, such as depicting the comradery between fellow police officers, the peak-behind-the-curtain of the inner workings (and politics!) of a police force, and the disdain by police when one of their own crosses the line into criminality.

I'm not sure if it was deliberate, but the casting of Samuel L. Jackson as the film's protagonist was a sublime choice that adds a lot of dimensionality to the film's themes. Making Roman African-American adds a subtle but thought-provoking aspect as all of the people who frame him for embezzlement and homicide, as well as all the police that pursue him, are Caucasian. It definitely adds a thought-provoking subtext to the scene in which Dir. Gray's camera lingers on the African-American SWAT member—apparently the only other African-American in the police division—shaking Roman's hand. There's a certain something in the knowing glance that is above and beyond the tacit approval of Roman's actions to clear his name and find the real criminals. All that said, the reason to see this film is Jackson's and Kevin Spacey's performances as the titular police negotiators. While the film doesn't give either of them much character to work with, the conviction and urgency in their performances adds a certain je ne sai quoi that makes this film well worth viewing.

Former CIA analyst Jack Ryan now teaches history at the United States Naval Academy. In London with his physician wife Cathy, and their young daughter Sally, Ryan witnesses and intervenes in a terrorist kidnapping attempt on Lord William Holmes, the British Minister of State for Northern Ireland and a cousin to the Queen. Ryan is wounded but disarms one terrorist and fatally shoots two others, then subdues Sean Miller. Among those killed is Miller's younger brother. All belong to a radical IRA splinter cell led by Kevin O'Donnell. Shortly after the incident, IRA operatives in Northern Ireland attempt and fail to assassinate O'Donnell, considering him and his followers too radical. In England, Miller is tried and convicted. As he is being transported to prison, O'Donnell and his comrades ambush the police convoy, killing the guards and freeing Miller. Fleeing to North Africa, O'Donnell plans the next attempt on Lord Holmes's life. Miller vows to avenge his brother's death, and O'Donnell allows him, O'Donnell's lover Annette, and several others to travel to the US to assassinate Ryan. Meanwhile, British police have determined that an informant has been tipping off the terrorists and are surveilling a book shop owner who is an IRA operative. Back in the United States, Ryan is informed that Miller has escaped. Soon after, he narrowly survives an assassination attempt by Miller's accomplices. Realizing his family is in imminent danger, he races to try to intercept his wife and daughter on their way home from work and school. Unbeknownst to them all, Miller is in the process of springing an attack on them!

Where The Hunt for Red October was about the possibility of the superpowers stumbling into a war, Patriot Games is far more intimate: focusing on a ruthless terrorist hellbent on getting revenge on not only Jack Ryan, but his immediate family. While both films are equally thrilling, by going intimate, this film is more tense and intense then The Hunt for Red October was in a multitude of ways. Alas, the trade off is that Patriot Games is less cerebral in its climax as the protagonist and antagonist attempt to outwit each other in what ultimately becomes a fistfight. That said, this film was chillingly revelatory when it was released, as it depicted such things as the live satellite monitoring of an SAS raid on the other side of the world. While the later Bourne movies had agents live-streaming their raid with handheld cameras, it wasn't as shocking as the one depicted in this film. Perhaps it is because of the callous way some of the CIA higher-ups respond to people being killed, and Harrison Ford's excellent and restrained performance of Jack Ryan reacting in shock and disgust to them.

One of the best aspects of this film is Sean Bean's portrayal of the ruthless terrorist Sean Miller. While this film does go to some effort to deliberately vilify the antagonists, Bean provides a terrifying, explosive, and nuanced performance. He is not the only one, as this film is filled with experienced actors giving solid, well nuanced performances. Credit falls to Dir. Noyce who crafts an excellent film with ordinary people undergoing extraordinary things while they go about their ordinary lives. Perhaps that is the greatest achievement of this film? It invests in its characters and looks into their ordinary lives while also telling a thrilling, intense story of international espionage, terrorism, and counterterrorism.

IRA operative Deirdre meets with two Americans, Sam and Larry, and Vincent, a Frenchman. She takes them to a warehouse where the Englishman Spence and the German Gregor are waiting. Conversations between the men show that they are all ex-government agents or ex-military turned mercenary. Deirdre briefs them on their mission: to attack a heavily armed convoy and steal a large, metallic briefcase. The team's first task is to acquire weapons—which turns into a setup, as the people they're buying them from attempt to murder them and steal the cash. Even though the team survives and they get most of the weapons, Spence is exposed as a fraud by Sam. He is dismissed by Deirdre and the others continue the mission. As the team prepares, Deirdre meets with her handler Seamus O'Rourke, who tells her that the Russian mafia is bidding for the case and that the team must intervene so that they get to it first. Deirdre's team successfully ambushes the convoy at La Turbie and pursues the survivors to Nice. During the subsequent gunfight, Gregor steals the case and disappears. The remaining team members have no choice but to retreat to safety. As they tend to their injuries they plot their next course of action: tracking down Gregor. It is a tall order as the only lead they have is his mobile phone number. And as they are all 'Ronin', they don't have access to a spy organization's resources to track it down!

What is arguably both the best thing about the film, and what hamstrung it at the box office, is the film's realistic dialogue. It's a great glimpse at how spies, secret agents, and terrorists talk with each other, but it hardly affords us a glimpse at who the characters are. Take Robert De Niro's Sam for example, we learn more about who he is from what he does rather than what he says, as the film takes pains to point out that he doesn't speak the truth, or his responses more often then not misdirect or change the topic! Nevertheless, the film is replete with character quirks—such as Vincent's ever-present cigarette and how he uses them to bond with his comrades.

While the film is arguably a caper—in that there is a mission to steal a case from an armed group—it quickly turns into a tense action thriller as people both inside and outside of the protagonists' team attempt to take the case for themselves. The case is the ultimate MacGuffin as the film never reveals or details what's in it, only showing us that both organized crime and terrorists are highly motivated to acquire it. Even the radio voice-over that ostensibly describes the ramifications of the film's conclusion doesn't provide an inkling, as what we hear is most likely due to what the main character was really after.

Nevertheless, the purpose of this film is two fold: to give us a peak behind the curtain on secret agents in the field, and thrilling action sequences. It delivers spectacularly on both—the film's second car chase in particular is a must see. However, because of how cold and cheerless the characters are to each other, the film isn't exactly a fun watch. Due to that, and despite the wonderful performances by a pantheon of veteran actors, the film is akin to an acquired taste and isn't for everyone.

Los Angeles Police Department SWAT officer Jim Street, his partner Brian Gamble, and their team infiltrate a bank taken hostage by robbers. Gamble disobeys orders and engages the robbers, causing a hostage to be injured while he and Street subdue the criminals. Afterwards, they are both taken off the SWAT team by Captain Fuller, the commanding officer of the LAPD Metropolitan Division. Fuller offers Street a chance to rejoin the team by implicating Gamble, but he refuses and is demoted to working police inventory. Gamble, under the assumption that Street ratted on him to stay on SWAT, quits the force and ends their friendship. Six months later, the chief of police calls on SWAT veteran Sergeant Daniel "Hondo" Harrelson to reorganize the SWAT team. Hondo takes an interest in Street and recruits him along with fellow officers TJ McCabe, Michael Boxer, Deacon Kaye, and Chris Sanchez, despite Fuller's protests. They bond as they train together and manage to pass their numerous tests. As they celebrate afterwards, Street has a hostile run-in with Gamble. After assuming control of his family's criminal empire, French drug lord Alexander Montel arrives in Los Angeles and kills his uncle for embezzlement. As he drives to the airport in his uncle's car, he is pulled over by police and detained due to discrepancies in his false ID. Authorities soon determine that he is an international fugitive and is wanted in several countries. Montel's associates, disguised as LAPD officers, attempt to break him out as he is being transferred to jail. Hondo's team manages to arrive in time to stop the gunmen and recapture Montel. As reporters swarm the team, Montel announces to the cameras that he is willing to offer 100 million dollars to whoever is able to break him out of prison, which draws the attention of criminals across the city. As the LAPD prepare to transfer Montel into federal custody by air, Gamble shoots down the helicopter. The LAPD are forced to use Hondo's SWAT team to move him by car. However, not only Gamble, but the entire criminal underworld is out to violently rescue Montel!

S.W.A.T. is a great ensemble buddy movie. The highlights of the film are the characters, their interactions, and the relatively realistic—or plausible—action. However, I found the live broadcast (and subsequent rebroadcasts) of the villain's plea to get him out of jail for a substantial reward to be implausible enough to upend my suspension of disbelief and force me out of the movie. Don't the journalists in this film have the moral decency to not make things worse? Or is it that the writers have a poor opinion of the moral compass in the average LA resident?

That said, without that rather large dose of unrealism in an action movie that strives to be realistic, there wouldn't be a back end to the film—we wouldn't get to see the heroes doing their thing and exercising plenty of creativity at that. Nor would we get the thrill that comes from the unpredictability of potentially anybody on the streets jumping out at the protagonists with guns blazing! Ultimately, the film has great energy, is funny and thrilling, and is perfectly suited for when you want some escapist fun.

There is a bloody shootout followed by an explosion on a ship docked in San Pedro Bay. The next day, the police find two survivors: a heavily burned and injured Hungarian mobster, and Roger "Verbal" Kint, a con artist from New York. Dave Kujan, a US Customs agent, flies in from New York to interrogate Verbal. While Verbal has arranged immunity, Kujan still wants to glean all that he can before Verbal posts bail. Verbal, under heavy questioning, describes how he and his associates ended up on the ship in a series of flashbacks. The events, which start out mundane, rapidly snowball into worse and worse situations for the protagonists until the shootout at the beginning (and end) of the film.

The Usual Suspects is a confused movie. It's probably deliberately that way as Verbal, the narrator, is spinning a yarn to confuse the cops, who he earlier describes as always looking for a simple explanation and facts that fit whatever assumption they have for a crime. It probably helps to keep in mind that Verbal is an unreliable witness—akin to Guy Pearce's character in Memento. In other words, everything told in flashback may or may not have happened, and may or may not have happened in the way it was depicted.

The highlight of the film is the sheer quality of all the actors. They all bring their A-game to the film, and it adds significantly to the movie's intensity. Of course, Kevin Spacey stands out in particular, having won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Verbal. However, despite all that, the plot is a little too labyrinth and murky, and the twist ending ends up underscoring how futile it is to try and unravel the film's convoluted plot.

Sam Lombardo is a high school guidance counsellor in a wealthy Miami area high school. He is accused of rape by Kelly Van Ryan—daughter of rich widower Sandra Van Ryan—and poor outcast Suzie Toller. Sandra makes it her mission to make Sam's life a living hell. However, at trial, both girls admit to lying to get revenge on Sam for perceived slights. As Sandra and Sam privately settle, police detective Ray Duquette suspects that the three of them are working a scam.

Having outlined the first part of the plot, I've actually said hardly anything about it, as the plot is much, much, much more complex. This film is a joy to watch—despite it's trashy topic—as the plot continually surprises with unexpected twists and developments. The film is even explaining itself and providing fresh twists in flashbacks scenes spliced into the credits!

One of the films strengths is how well developed the characters are. Despite the complex plot, we are never confused about who is who, and where they're coming from. Every actor and actress fits their role, and the highlight is Bill Murray, who steals the show in every scene he appears in. Surprisingly, Jeffrey L. Kimball's cinematography is also a marvel to behold. The framing and lighting of some of his shots adds considerably to the film. Enjoy the ride while you watch this guilty pleasure, and make sure you stick around for the credits.

Note: I have the unrated cut. Some of the revelations add significantly to the 'icky' column, but they also more effectively explain the motivations of the key characters.