This film is a cold-war type thriller with the United States and the Russians trading spies (or former spies: the story is a little confusing.)
The "trade" goes wrong when Gene Hackman thinks the man he's trading for (Baryshinikov) is the wrong guy. The inference from that centers around a corrupt U.S. government sanctioning whatever is taking place. The corrupt government theme is getting more than a little tiresome but Hackman and this good no-name cast makes this still an interesting story, even if that theme has been way overplayed. Odd how American filmmakers, who make millions of dollars in this country, always make the American government look like villains. It's pathetic.
This movie would have been so much better had things been a little easier to follow.
The "trade" goes wrong when Gene Hackman thinks the man he's trading for (Baryshinikov) is the wrong guy. The inference from that centers around a corrupt U.S. government sanctioning whatever is taking place. The corrupt government theme is getting more than a little tiresome but Hackman and this good no-name cast makes this still an interesting story, even if that theme has been way overplayed. Odd how American filmmakers, who make millions of dollars in this country, always make the American government look like villains. It's pathetic.
This movie would have been so much better had things been a little easier to follow.