You get two great actors in a room (In this case Gene Hackman and Tommy Lee Jones). You hand them a script like 'The Package'. YOU FAIL.There is nothing seriously bad about this film. Sure, the whole 'lone gunman tries to take out the president' was much better handled in In The Line Of Fire, and Jones playing the bad guy is a bit disconcerting after his iconic role in The Fugitive. No, what annoys me is you have a couple of modern day legends... and you stick them in a dreary screenplay that anyone could have starred in.Hackman looks determined... Jones looks sneaky. That is literally the only requirement their talents have to muster for the length. Their acting muscles must've been going to sleep. Oh, and look... there's Dennis Franz from NYPD Blue playing a police officer. Did the producers of that show see him in this, and pick him based on that? If so, it makes for a much more interesting story than anything else here.So... The Package. Good cast. Average action movie. Done. 5/10

Johnny Gallagher is sent from Germany with a prisoner. The prisoner escapes from the men's room at National Airport and Hackman begins his search for his man.Enlisting the help of his ex-wife and various old friends, he finds that the prisoner is part of a plot by senior military personnel on both sides.Their aim is to kill a very high-ranking world figure in order to sabotage arms control talks....For a film directed by a seasoned action auteur, and staring behemoths like Hackman and Jones, the film is really boring and mundane in places.Made in a time when film makers thought that audiences would be enthralled by stuffy men in rooms talking a lot, a lot of the cast are wasted, and the action scenes are just a montage of men with moustaches chasing Hackman and co.Hackman and Jones are great though, and when they share the screen, the film blisters in entertainment, but it isn't long enough.The last ten minutes are interesting and Davis does an amazing job of the climax, but we have to trawl through a mundane set up before the end.A waste.

Complex, intelligent, but at times possibly implausible Cold War thriller with brass at the top of US government, General Hopkins(Chelcie Ross)and his second Col. Glen Whitacre(John Heard), along with renegade Soviets, who have forged a plan to assassinate Soviet Press Secretary so that a Nuclear Arms Disarmament Treaty will be terminated between United States and the Soviet Union. They set up Sgt Gallagher(Gene Hackman, who could play this kind of charismatic hero in his sleep)to take the fall regarding the accidental release of a Walter Henke. In actuality, it isn't Walter but an expert sniper, Thomas Boyette(Tommy Lee Jones)taking his identity with the real man playing a patsy in Chicago supposedly running an operation against allowing Commies to come over here dictating policy. Unfortunately, Gallagher needs some info regarding the identity of Boyette(he does go to the wife's home and realizes the "package" he was suppose to carry across to the US wasn't the man in his custody;in a tragic turn of events some of Hopkins' goons kill Walter's wife setting up Gallagher as the murderer)and goes to his wife Eileen(Joanna Cassidy)who has recently made it up the ranks in the Army. In lending assistance, Eileen will be put in danger as evident by the murder of her confident Ruth(Pam Grier)who had the info she needed regarding Boyette. So Sgt. Johnny and ex-wife Eileen hit the road to Chicago to bust the assassination sting operation wide open with help by a Chicago cop named Lt. Milan(Dennis Franz).

I first saw the "The Package" as a video rental back in 1990. It's not only one of Andrew Davis' best films, but one of the best political thrillers I think ever made. The plot is as intricate and complex as movie viewers will see. Just take some of the best elements of a Tom Clancy novel, set it in an urban setting, namely Chicago where Davis is from, and you've got a typical Andrew Davis film. Like "The Fugitive" "Above the Law" and "Code of Silence", "The Package" sets its story around a plot filled with conspiracies, cover-ups and political power games. The plot, as I said, is intricate. Some in this forum and elsewhere said it's too confusing. Perhaps. So is the real-life JFK assassination. But all of the bells and whistles are necessary. The story (and here's a spoiler warning for you!) is about a plot to assassinate the Russian President during a U.S. summit held in Chicago. The plot involves high-level American and Russian political and military officials. What they hope to accomplish is somewhat revealed in the end. The Cold War --in the film-- is ending, but some in the U.S. government don't want to see that happen. So, a scheme is concocted to find a patsy, set him up as a radical, and frame him for the assassination. The Russians, presumably, will blame the United States for their president's death, regardless of the circumstances. What will all this lead to? World War III? A new Cold War? A coup d'etat in the American government? The film, understandably, leaves that up for speculation. The ride is more fun than sometimes the payoff in this kind of film. That's pretty much this movie's plot. But then again, this is a plot in many movies. Other films, however, fail to give us a compelling story. Not the case with "The Package." Too many movies just gives us wall-to-wall action with a cookie-cutter plot to get us from one action scene to the next. The good thing about this film is that there are plenty of action scenes, but the real enjoyment is trying to piece the puzzle together. So, if you like those type of thrillers, you'll love this film.TLD - Chicago