Cebalord Very best movie i ever watch

Humbersi The first must-see film of the year.

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Jayden-Lee Thomson One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

philosopherjack During his rather brief but glorious heyday, Arthur Penn seemed incapable of generating a merely functional scene; his work was at once thrillingly intimate and engaged and yet full of weighted, often melancholy implication. His work has the quality of a cinematic barometer - at its most vivid in the sixties; silent for much of the misbegotten seventies and then disillusioned and wayward; and then never fully himself from the eighties onward, as if America had lost its power to stimulate. Target is no doubt one of his least-cherished films, although by some measures (the more conventional ones) it's among his most proficient - it's seamlessly plotted, compellingly paced and entirely on top of its action scenes, especially the car chases. Gene Hackman's Walter Lloyd is a small-town lumber yard owner, so boring he won't even accompany his wife on a European vacation, until she disappears and he heads over with his son (Matt Dillon) in search of her: the first dead body shows up at the baggage claim, heralding Walter's past identity as a CIA Cold War super-operative, the detritus of which now provides a resurgent threat. Hackman is surely in tune with the broader idea, that however much the 80's might have seemed like a time of settling and resignation, nothing had been resolved; the surface might still crack both for worse (undermining all concepts of stability and predictability) and for better (Walter's resurrection of his buried self, and the consequent rewrite of his relationship with his son, portends a healthier and more vibrant future for the family). It's no surprise of course that the peril turns out to be caused by rot within the system, by duplicity and weak character. I suppose the degree to which you think the climactic fire symbolizes a broader possibility of cleansing might depend on how optimistic you felt at the time about peak-Reaganism. But it seems certain that the younger Penn would have found stranger and groovier patterns in the flames.

Leofwine_draca This thriller sees former spy Gene Hackman running around Paris, meeting various contacts and battling a rather nasty enemy in the form of a man with glasses who doesn't think twice about bumping off those who stand in his way. This has some fairly tense and exciting moments but it's let down by a plodding running time and, towards the end of the film, in the last half an hour, nothing really happens. The plot falls apart and the sense of pacing which filled the first half of the film evaporates, instead boredom sets in.Hackman is as good as he ever was, a real tough guy and charismatic too. Matt Dillon is well cast as his unlikely son who finds himself caught up in all sorts of espionage and intrigue. The rest of the people are minor characters who are quite forgettable, especially the villains who get far too little screen time and aren't really that threatening anyway. There are a couple of good car chases, explosions and some nice action bits but overall this film is a missed opportunity - for a good Paris-based thriller try either THE FRENCH CONNECTION II or RONIN, which do tend to make better use of scenery and help to emphasise Paris' claustrophobic architecture.

Scarecrow-88 Ex-CIA agent, now operating a hardware business in Dallas, Texas, Walter Lloyd(Gene Hackman) finds that his wife Donna(Gayle Hunnicutt)has been kidnapped during her trip in Paris and must find her. Estranged son Chris(Matt Dillon)insists on joining him as they help keep each other stay alive in the midst of gunmen, working for mysterious sources,trying to kill them. His former partner Taber(Josef Sommer), now the head CIA man in Paris seems only too willing to help an old pal out. Clay(Guy Boyd)is Taber's right hand man trying to find out who would wish to kidnap Donna. The film follows Walter and Chris on their Euro journey often escaping certain peril in some rousing action sequences and near-death escapes. The one responsible for kidnapping Donna might be seeking revenge towards Walter for a CIA operation titled "Operation:Clean Sweep" which led to a family being slaughtered of one Cold War target that got away.Popcorn espionage thriller following Hackman and Dillon I thought was entertaining even if I didn't believe what the plot was selling for a minute. Syrupy bonding sequences between Hackman and Dillon just don't seem to work. Hackman, always the versatile actor, plays the role of hero with ease. The climax when it's revealed who was really behind the slaughter of a family..the one Hackman's Walter is being held accountable for..doesn't hold up well. I do not think the one responsible for such an act, carried out the way it was, would make himself look so guilty at such an inopportune time. Crackerjack bomb-diffusing sequence at the end is quite suspenseful, though.

Jack Reich OK; it IS a bit trite, but still an edge-of-the-seater nonetheless. Surprises galore to keep your imagination occupied, though thriller buffs will predict most of them. I found that part of the fun: keeping score of how many "surprises" i anticipated. Still, the denouement packs punch and satisfies. Great performances by most of the cast, esp. Hackman, who always has that knack of being 'perfect' for the part, doesn't he? and Damon, very apt in this early role. The art direction is superb, the location shooting very convincing. If you like thrillers/whoodunits you WILL be entertained. I gave it only a 7 because reading Sartre is probably a better use of two hours....