D: Dwight H. Little
S: Wesley Snipes, Diane Lane, Alan Alda
Routine thriller featuring Wesley Snipes and Diane Lane running away a lot
in between bouts of intense plotting and whodunit twists and turns. Not
exactly All the President's Men, but more tolerable than The Pelican
Brief and other more recent conspiracy thrillers thanks to generally
swift pacing and plenty of star power.
A woman is murdered at the White House (shock! horror!), and D.C. homicide
cop Snipes is brought in by National Security Advisor Alan Alda to investigate,
against the wishes of White House Security Chief Daniel Benzali (from TV's
Murder One). His investigations tie him up with Secret Service agent
Lane and take him into the heart of a heinous conspiracy which may implicate
the President (Ronny Cox) and the First Family in the dirty deed.
Despite the fact that this scenario is meant to inspire awe and terror that
the heart of American democracy may well be under threat, it is difficult
to take this film seriously from the moment it opens. The first scene has
Snipes follow in the footsteps of Clint Eastwood and Mel Gibson by confronting
a potential suicide and bringing him down 'his way'. From this generically
predetermined moment on, nothing that happens in this film is unexpected
(yes, the plot has plenty of twists and reversals, but I'm talking deep
structure here). It happily resolves the nation's problems with a little
direct action, and puts all those nasty right wingers where they belong...
Made at a time when the real-life U.S. President is facing legal action
while in office and real ethical and political issues are in question, this
fantasy murder-mystery provides obvious answers to obvious questions and
makes everyone feel a whole lot better about American society despite the
cover-ups, assassinations and fiendish plots which abound. As long as there
are tough, no-nonsense cops to protect the system in spite of itself, we'll
all sleep safer in our beds.
This is being a little high handed with what is essentially pulp entertainment,
and Dwight H. Little's ambitions as director hardly extend this far. He
delivers a standard easy-viewing movie with minimal disruption to either
the brain cells or the emotions and relies heavily on the audience's willing
suspension of involvement for it all to work. It moves swiftly, has plenty
of action and keeps changing the prime suspect every fifteen minutes or
so, making sure everyone is still awake.
Snipes sleep-walks through his role, and is given enough character quirks
to sustain his interest as a performer (he builds Civil War models, his
house is about to be torn down). He is backed up by a generally able cast
of veterans in supporting roles (Alda is amusing in a performance which
lampoons the character he's playing). Benzali is very good while he's around,
and provides the only genuine jolt in the movie, when it comes, because
his character is the most interesting and enigmatic of the bunch. Dennis
Miller is also convincingly comradely as Snipes' partner. Lane, however,
is something of a distraction, registering every emotion and plot twist
with a series of facial twitches and squints which become intensely irritating
after a while. Still, she has enough presence to hold the screen beside
Snipes (lucky for her he's not trying very hard).
This is not a film to be taken seriously, and if you don't expect fireworks,
you won't be disappointed. It trips along nicely and does what it has to
to provide an hour and forty minutes of general entertainment. But it's
a long, long way from being able to critically engage the issues it raises
in spite of itself, and makes you wonder just how much further Hollywood
can trivialise the office of the Presidency of the United States before
it collapses entirely.
Review by Harvey O'Brien copyright
1997.