The Package (1989)

[Trevor]

I saw this film by Andrew Davis again last night and it still holds up ~ a look at the paranoia of the Cold War and an assassination attempt on the life of the Soviet Premier by a Lee Harvey Oswald clone, excellently played by Tommy Lee Jones. Gene Hackman is great as the Sergeant who collects a soon-to-be court martialled prisoner in Berlin and accompanies him to the USA, only to find that he's unwittingly released a killer on the public. A great film with a truly WTF ending. 

[Jack]

That sounds great, I love Cold War espionage type movies.  I'll have to check it out - thanks for the tip Trevor!

[Trevor]

That sounds great, I love Cold War espionage type movies.  I'll have to check it out - thanks for the tip Trevor!

Just watch out for that ending ~ I never saw that coming and almost bit my tongue in two. 

[Neville]

I catched this one on VHS after "The fugitive" became a hit. I had to check it out, because it came from the same director, Andrew Davis, and it also had Tommy Lee Jones. I thought it was a neat little film, but I had trouble following the plot. Not because it is that complicated, it's just that the movie has a few dry spots and I couldn't help disconnecting. The beginning and the end are very good, though.

I have grown fonder of the film after several TV airings. I still think it's uneven, but definitely worth watching. It was one of the last times Gene Hackman starred in an action film, and his performance does the film a lot of good. Jones is very good too, but I wish he had more screen time.