It's 1991 in Berlin. The wall has come down, the Cold War ended, and everything is in a state of flux. Two out-dated spies are chased by all sides.
Below average in almost all respects. Exceptions are some nice touristy views of the Berlin underground and the Eiffel Tower. Oh, and Gene Hackman's performance, which isn't among his best but which doesn't reach the lower depths of some of the others. I guess Oleg Rudnik, as the chief Russian heavy is respectable too -- and he LOOKS great. What a face, mournful and lugubrious but distinguished too, except for his cadaverous, mismatched pale yellow teeth. They seem to grow at random angles out of his gums, but he so rarely smiles that it's hard to get a good look at them. Kurtwood Smith does his Kurtwood Smith number capably. And the musical score is disarming, a plucked balalaika backed by a base fiddle.
The story is something about a double-cross by the CIA ("the company") and some remnant of the KGB, during an attempt to deliver Michael Baryshnikov to his homeland. Baryshnikov and Hackman find themselves pursued through Germany and France by both sides. They trade wisecracks, but the wisecracks aren't funny. Well, there was one I enjoyed. The duo approach a cheap-looking car they are considering stealing and Baryshnikov pronounces it "Eastern." "Is it alarmed?", asks Hackman. "Only when you frighten it."
There isn't much action either, for those looking for temerarious propulsion, and what there is of it is sometimes confusing.
The chief problem, I think, is with the disjointed script. It doesn't seem to know for certain where it's going or why. Hackman was in a similar movie -- "Target" -- which was more successful, given the limits of the genre. You may find your attention wandering during this one.
Below average in almost all respects. Exceptions are some nice touristy views of the Berlin underground and the Eiffel Tower. Oh, and Gene Hackman's performance, which isn't among his best but which doesn't reach the lower depths of some of the others. I guess Oleg Rudnik, as the chief Russian heavy is respectable too -- and he LOOKS great. What a face, mournful and lugubrious but distinguished too, except for his cadaverous, mismatched pale yellow teeth. They seem to grow at random angles out of his gums, but he so rarely smiles that it's hard to get a good look at them. Kurtwood Smith does his Kurtwood Smith number capably. And the musical score is disarming, a plucked balalaika backed by a base fiddle.
The story is something about a double-cross by the CIA ("the company") and some remnant of the KGB, during an attempt to deliver Michael Baryshnikov to his homeland. Baryshnikov and Hackman find themselves pursued through Germany and France by both sides. They trade wisecracks, but the wisecracks aren't funny. Well, there was one I enjoyed. The duo approach a cheap-looking car they are considering stealing and Baryshnikov pronounces it "Eastern." "Is it alarmed?", asks Hackman. "Only when you frighten it."
There isn't much action either, for those looking for temerarious propulsion, and what there is of it is sometimes confusing.
The chief problem, I think, is with the disjointed script. It doesn't seem to know for certain where it's going or why. Hackman was in a similar movie -- "Target" -- which was more successful, given the limits of the genre. You may find your attention wandering during this one.