Packed chock full of A-listers and they somehow made this movie a chore to get through. The movie starts with Luther (Clint Eastwood) a master thief that has broken into a mansion and is busy helping himself to some merchandise when he's surprised by a couple that comes home. He hides in a secret vault behind a two-way mirror and witnesses the US President (Gene Hackman) and a mistress having...a rendezvous. The president gradually becomes violent and culminates with the secret service having to kill the woman and subsequently covering it up. The President's chief of staff is also there for some reason helping but ok, classic 90s thriller set up achieved. Luther, for some strange reason, then decides to leave his hiding place mere seconds after the secret service have finished staging the scene to look like a burglary-gone-bad. Conveniently, only once they're in the driveway do they bother to check that they've taken the most incriminating piece of evidence (a bloodied letter-opener with both the President and the woman's fingerprints on it), they realise it's still in the house, see Luther by the upstairs window (don't know why he'd be near it when he knows they haven't left yet) who then takes it and escapes while the Secret Service is busy ascending the apparently roughly 18 flights of stairs in a 3-story house. It really sets the tone for some awful writing that will follow but I'll jump to the truly disparaging final third.
Luther has twice sent anonymous taunting threats to the chief of staff about the crime he witnessed, his motives for doing so or what he aims to gain are never clear. But after the second one, and with Luther evading detection, the President 'suggests' to the secret service that they go after Luther's daughter (Laura Linney) to scare him off. So they run her car off the cliff she usually jogs at. She obediently stays in the car for the solid 20 seconds it takes for this to happen but ok, panic and all that maybe she didn't think to just jump out. But then as they're driving away they see Luther, what luck! The very man that's causing all their trouble right there for the taking in a secluded area. Nope! They just drive off and instead later go to the hospital to try finish her off....why? Don't know! Luther then gently kidnaps mistress' husband and tells him the truth of what happened that night and gives him the bloodied letter-opener to expose the President with. Which is.....exactly what he should've done like 45min ago and spared us?! There's a scene where Luther is lamenting that since he's a burglar no one would believe him over the president. But, you've got an incredibly incriminating piece of evidence - you've got a letter-opener covered with the bloody fingerprints of the woman and the president! That's objective forensic evidence, that's Luther's get out of jail free card and sends the president there instead! They've already shown the woman's husband is a reasonable, level-headed man and Luther tells him he's returned everything he stole from the house...essentially all you're left with is a breaking & entering charge which given the testimony and evidence Luther can provide I'm pretty sure everyone would be quite ok to let slide. The movie just tries to make this big dilemma out of something that really isn't and drags it out for damn near 2 hours.
Oh and in a final cherry-on-top, the husband goes to see the president for a private meeting (they're old friends) and kills him with the same letter opener making it look like suicide. With all the evidence on it, and no one will question how the president commits suicide out of the blue and the only person in the room at the time is the husband of the woman the president is going to be soon revealed as having an affair with and being involved in her murder? The culmination of a plot that would illicit anyone's trypophobia.
The cast honestly phone in most of their performances. They still have the screen presence sure, but really it's all very low-energy and bland. I'm a big fan of these classic 80/90s thrillers and most of them do require a degree of suspension of disbelief to allow the plot to progress, but this was on another level as I've neglected to mention so much more inconsistencies. A shame to waste such a good ensemble cast.
Luther has twice sent anonymous taunting threats to the chief of staff about the crime he witnessed, his motives for doing so or what he aims to gain are never clear. But after the second one, and with Luther evading detection, the President 'suggests' to the secret service that they go after Luther's daughter (Laura Linney) to scare him off. So they run her car off the cliff she usually jogs at. She obediently stays in the car for the solid 20 seconds it takes for this to happen but ok, panic and all that maybe she didn't think to just jump out. But then as they're driving away they see Luther, what luck! The very man that's causing all their trouble right there for the taking in a secluded area. Nope! They just drive off and instead later go to the hospital to try finish her off....why? Don't know! Luther then gently kidnaps mistress' husband and tells him the truth of what happened that night and gives him the bloodied letter-opener to expose the President with. Which is.....exactly what he should've done like 45min ago and spared us?! There's a scene where Luther is lamenting that since he's a burglar no one would believe him over the president. But, you've got an incredibly incriminating piece of evidence - you've got a letter-opener covered with the bloody fingerprints of the woman and the president! That's objective forensic evidence, that's Luther's get out of jail free card and sends the president there instead! They've already shown the woman's husband is a reasonable, level-headed man and Luther tells him he's returned everything he stole from the house...essentially all you're left with is a breaking & entering charge which given the testimony and evidence Luther can provide I'm pretty sure everyone would be quite ok to let slide. The movie just tries to make this big dilemma out of something that really isn't and drags it out for damn near 2 hours.
Oh and in a final cherry-on-top, the husband goes to see the president for a private meeting (they're old friends) and kills him with the same letter opener making it look like suicide. With all the evidence on it, and no one will question how the president commits suicide out of the blue and the only person in the room at the time is the husband of the woman the president is going to be soon revealed as having an affair with and being involved in her murder? The culmination of a plot that would illicit anyone's trypophobia.
The cast honestly phone in most of their performances. They still have the screen presence sure, but really it's all very low-energy and bland. I'm a big fan of these classic 80/90s thrillers and most of them do require a degree of suspension of disbelief to allow the plot to progress, but this was on another level as I've neglected to mention so much more inconsistencies. A shame to waste such a good ensemble cast.