In Her Line of Fire
is an interesting-in-theory, recombinant amalgamation of various pieces of tried-and-true
genre formula. The title, of course, immediately summons to mind Clint Eastwood’s
superb Secret Service actioner In the
Line of Fire, and that’s no accident. There’s also a heartier helping of
more old school action film tropes, though — reaching back to something like Sylvester
Stallone’s soldier-of-fortune Rambo
movies. Then there’s the imperiled travelogue element of something like John Boorman’s
1995 film Beyond Rangoon. There’s
also a side serving of Lost (no polar
bears, though), since the movie takes place in the wake of a plane crash on a
remote island. Oh, and did I mention it’s got a lesbian angle? Fascinated yet?
In
Her Line of Fire is no better or worse than this elementary grab-bag necessarily
sounds. Mariel Hemingway stars as Lynn Delaney, a tough Secret Service and
ex-military officer agent assigned to guard the Vice President Walker (David
Keith). While flying over the Pacific Ocean for the troubled nation of San
Piedro, the group’s plane goes down in a storm, and Walker is kidnapped by a
cabal of rebel soldiers led by a power-hungry mercenary (David Millbern, chewing
through scenery and enjoying his closely shorn haircut). Against this backdrop
of rescue, Delaney leads the fight to save all of their lives while also developing
a crush on press pool secretary Sharon Serrano (Jill Bennett).
white liberal eyes is a tired chestnut, so director Brian Trenchard-Smith (the
telepic DC 9/11: Time of Crisis) and co-scripters
Anna Lorenzo and Paula Goldberg avoid it as much as possible, though their
America is one of slightly tweaked, left-leaning reality, with warm and fuzzy
policies regarding human rights issues and alternative fuel sources. Lorenzo
and Goldberg also treat the lesbian love affair as frosting, much in the breezy
manner of a ’80s actioner. (Well, OK, it’s slightly
more updated, but still of that vein.)
scenes isn’t particularly jaw-dropping. Neither is Hemingway’s performance born
of the same type of physical transformation we saw from Sigourney Weaver in the Aliens franchise or Demi Moore in G.I. Jane. Still, the weight is definitely
placed more on the action and escape elements of the movie (in Australia it was
released as Air Force Two, a great
kitschy title), and in its own wily way, In
Her Line of Fire succeeds as a piece of lightweight entertainment, mainly
because it lets its idealistic updates to societal norm lay lightly and
concentrates more purely on diversionary pleasures.
in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen, the film benefits from a fairly solid video transfer,
with rich and consistent colors amongst its lush green-blue palette. An English
language Dolby digital stereo 2.0 audio track anchors things aurally, but apart
from a smattering of trailers for other Here! releases, there are unfortunately
no supplemental features, which is both somewhat puzzling and slightly unkind
for the release of such a niche film. C+ (Movie) D+ (Disc)