Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
The Package (1989)
Director: Andrew Davis
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Soviet intelligence has nasty plans for the American President. This time their plot is assisted by neo-Nazis who are none too happy with feelings of East-West accord, but they haven't reckoned on Sergeant Johnny Gallagher (Hackman), an army veteran at loggerheads with young(ish) Colonel Whitaker (Heard). A court-martialled serviceman (Jones) escapes from Gallagher's custody, and it transpires that the man had adopted a false identity. Gallagher gets his ex-wife (Cassidy), a personnel officer, to help his private investigation, which uncovers military and police corruption... The plot is reasonably entertaining, and Davis handles the action sequences well, but where the film transcends a lingering sense of déjà vu is in its intelligent performances: Hackman and Cassidy make a strong, unsentimental couple, hints of romance and reconciliation lurking beneath their businesslike exchanges. But this is hardly ground-breaking stuff, the main difference from earlier Red Threat thrillers being that the enemy is less clearly defined.Author: CM
Cast & crew
Director: Andrew Davis
Producer: Beverly J. Camhe, Tobie Haggerty
Cast: Gene Hackman, Joanna Cassidy, Tommy Lee Jones, John Heard, Dennis Franz, Reni Santoni, Pam Grier, Chelcie Ross, Ron Dean, Kevin Crowley, Thalmus Rasulala full cast
Genre(s): Thrillers
Duration: 108 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
James Marsh on ‘Man on Wire’
James Marsh tells David Jenkins the amazing story of ‘Man on Wire’ and how he saw the Twin Towers go up – and come down
Gurinder Chada on ‘Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging’
Gurinder Chada, the director of Brit hit, 'Bend it Like Beckham' discusses her new film, ‘Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging’ with Wally Hammond
A holiday guide to movie dystopias
‘Going anywhere nice this summer, sir?’ To celebrate the release of Pixar’s sublime post-apocalyptic robo-romance ‘Wall-E’, Time Out offers a tour guide of the best future worlds in film
Eddie Murphy's Crimes Against Cinema
We all remember the comic highs of 'Beverly Hills Cop' and 'Bowfinger', but Eddie Murphy has been in a fair few stinkers as well. Time Out to presents a handy rundown of his ten darkest cinematic hours...






What do you think?
Post your review now