this be another of eastwood many movie mix intrigue and action and and a dollop of romance and along with the gauntlet and firefox and and so forth . clint act range by now be pretty familiar . in this one and he taciturn and a bit outrageous and especially with woman and superior . there be no surprise in his performance . but the film itself be something of a surprise while it above average . clint be frank and a secret service agent who and perhaps in a moment of doubt and fail to catch the bullet that kill jfk . he then take to drink and which drive his family away and and now plod along in the bureaucracy until he be contact by john malkovitch and call himself booth and who strike up a sort of skewed relationship with him base on their share and disillusion conviction that everything be meaningless except the impulse to escape dreariness and predictability . now and this be rather an anfractuous set of attitude for a performer like clint to project and but he do rather well and less robotic than usual . and he do seem to carry around with him and like a burden of stone and the memory of that moment in dallas . he test again halfway through this movie . he be hang from the roof of a tall building and grasp booth hand and and he pull his pistol and point it at booth and who ask him if he be really willing to shoot . if he do and of course and he save the president from an attempt assassination by a cia train murderer and but he do so at the cost of his own life . booth twit him about the situation a they hold hand in midair . and clint even have a short speech and talk to renee russo and about his failure to save the president in dallas . if i would have react quickly enough and i could have take that shot . . . and that would have be alright with me . it underplayed and but his voice choke slightly and his eye water and and his lip tremble . it one of the few scene in any of clint film that might properly be call move . we know from his newfound resolve that give another chance he would take the bullet this time . ( the irony be that he doesn not like the current president . who could . he give pompous speech in colorado about how they carve a nation out of the wilderness . didn not they do the same thing in las vega . ) it often say that a movie be only as good a it villain . it isn not true and nothing be that simple and but an argument could be make for it truth value in this case . the reptilian john malkovitch with his tartar eye be marvelous . talk about disillusion . okay and he can ham it up a little and sniff with disdain even a he plug two innocent hunter between the eye and but he fascinate on the screen . renee russo have little do to . fred thompson and a the chief white house aid and be now back in politics and a relief for movie goer . if clint act range be limit and thompson be something less . in every film he be in and he wear the same solemn and dissatisfied expression and a if constantly plague by some form of volcanic digestive disorder . the direction by wolfgang peterson be as good a it be in das boot and which be pretty good . there be a great deal of the usual suspenseful cross cutting in the final shootout . and when clint and russo fall into an impassioned embrace in her hotel room and scuttle backwards towards the bed like two weasel in heat and peterson playfully show u their foot along with a succession of object drop to the floor not only the usual garment but handcuff and gun and beeper and palm pilot and dick tracy wrist watch and other impedimenta . interrupt and clint lie back on the bed and sigh and now i have to put all that stuff back on again . well write and worth watching .