Andrew Davis really wouldn’t be heard from again (the package, under siege) but this 1993 film is a major feather in the cap for Tommy Lee Jones, Harrison Ford and the entire action/thriller genre. It’s rarely been done better. It’s a towering genre achievement
Apparently the Oscar winning Jones was ad-libbing and improvising many of his lines
It doesn’t touch his Scorsese work but the DP here is Michael Chapman—really I actually prefer the editing work here- this film moves
Fabulous formally sound reoccurring overhead shots of Chicago—it’s a great Chicago film with the hotels, the elevated train, the green river,
It’s hard to overstate what a game-granger this was for Tommy Lee. He was in lonesome dove in the 1980’s— is in a scene in love story, is in rolling thunder, the package, under siege, coal miner’s daughter but this, along with JFK in 1991 completely changed his trajectory—also with the fashion here created a minor buzz with his blazer and jeans look and his jeans and peacoat look
Wonderful Damn set piece—the third man
Again, the editing is a wonder—it never lags– he’s convicted during the credits and it’s very economic with the flashbacks
It’s really the peak of the silence of the lambs editing redirects (ok I think silence is the peak) but they use it again and again here with the other convicts, the drug-dealing Russian guy who Ford lives with for awhile
The train wreck set piece isn’t as good as the damn but it holds up which is really impressive with all the special effects changes 20 years ago
Jones doesn’t show up at all until 20 minutes in—he’s confident/arrogant- smart. It’s really a great duel— Jones is 47 here
Pantoliano plays a great #2 in some films—the matrix, memento, risky business, here
Julianne Moore in an early role
Ford, though not as flash or as good as Jones here, is the predominant action lead for a good 10-15 year stretch and that’s solidified here
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