Watch In Her Line of Fire For Free

Nice effects though.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

A cheap, second-rate, save-the-vice-president thriller from hard-working director Brian Trenchard-Smith. This is the chap who made THE MAN FROM HONG KONG and TURKEY SHOOT back in the day but who seems to have been abandoned by the studios to make inferior-scripted products like disaster movies or this cheap action thriller. It's a pity as I've always enjoyed Trenchard-Smith's work and he really does need bigger budgets. He shot this film in Auckland standing in for Central America.In any case, IN HER LINE OF FIRE (I saw it under the rip-off title AIR FORCE TWO) features Mariel Hemingway as a ferocious secret service agent who has to step into action when the vice president's plane crash lands onto an island occupied by mercenaries keen to catch him for ransom. The cast is populated by stereotypical characters and poor actors, but there'a wealth of action here which makes it mindlessly enjoyable in places. However, the low rent nature of the production is more than apparent and the action is often clunky rather than slick. David Keith plays in support as the vice president.

I rented this movie on DVD in Australia. Is there such a thing as a D Grade movie? I would not know where to begin. If you wanted a study on how not to make a movie then this is the one.Location is supposed to be an island off South America but we are told that the Vice President is on his way to Tokyo. Plane is struck by lightening and of course there is no time for a MayDay before it crashes conveniently near an island near the Solomons which is just closer to Australia.Of at least the 10 persons on the plane only 5 survive the belly landing in the water. Of the 5 on the beach one is quickly shot on sight by "rebels" in what looks like Australian rainforest. This could explain why all the rebels appear to be Polynesian and not of South American/Spanish origin.The first view of the rebel leader is that he sleeps under mosquito netting, has bad dreams and a USMC tattoo on his left forearm.This is a movie where you get a group of friends, beer and popcorn around a TV with the volume turned down and you each take turns doing the voice overs.

Don't expect too much high quality anything with this film and you should enjoy the action.Mariel Hemingway could still turn heads and interrupt conversations just by walking in the room and Jill Bennett would get more than her wanted fair share of female attention! I reckon that it was the hope of the cast and crew that their audience would leave all sense of rationality and believability behind when they pushed the 'play' button on their DVD players. As I had read the previous comments prior to buying the DVD (from overseas, thanks to the Aussie censors who cut references to the 'friendship' between the female characters), I wasn't expecting Academy Award performances and so found myself pleased with my purchase and a welcome addition to my 'collection'.Definitely a nice way to spend a spare afternoon. Enjoy!

**possible thematic spoilers** (Excuse the length of this comment; I feel like I might be one of few IMDb users to see the film while it's in theaters, so I'm trying to be thorough) For years, Hollywood has been releasing big-budget, testosterone-driven action films. Now, finally, Here! TV has released its own challenge to the dominant paradigm.The film begins with a standard action plot: the Vice President's plane is caught in a storm, and crash-lands off the coast of a Pacific island, filled with violent rebel insurgents. Fortunately, the VP was a former Marine, and he and his Secret Service agent manage to survive the crash, along with a garrulous and driven reporter, played with aplomb by Jill Bennett. When discovered by the rebels, the agent must save the VP, find a way off the island, and get the girl. What's the twist? The agent is, herself, female.There are many difficulties confronting any filmmaker deciding to show a gay or lesbian relationship. Primarily, the trouble is one of focus; should the story take precedence over a character's sexuality, as in your average heterosexual film, or does a character need to have an emotional coming out (wherein their sexuality pulls focus from the plot)? Unfortunately, those films that choose the latter path often end up losing any sort of impact on the audience, as their narratives become lost in a jumble of sexual definition and re-definition. Happily, "In Her Line of Fire" begins with - and maintains - sexual tension between the two female leads, while the males who know Delaney seem to respect and jokingly admire her attraction to women.Even when these issues of plot can be resolved to include sexuality without fixating on - and thereby "othering" it, women rarely stand on their own as lesbians. Films like "Kissing Jessica Stein" or "Chasing Amy" suffer from this second problem, if one can call it that, whereby characters that are bisexual or bi-curious stand in for true lesbians, giving a lesbian audience little with which to relate, even in supposedly "lesbian-themed" pictures.By choosing not to overemphasize the women's sexuality, "In Her Line of Fire" joins what will hopefully be a new upsurge in films (including such recent fare as "Imagine Me & You") which have the potential for mainstream acceptance, due to their classical Hollywood style and narratives, while still depicting lesbian and gay relationships.Of course, the main drive of the film is its plot, which stands up to most typical action fare. The film is violent enough for any thrill-seeking viewer, whether their interest lies in the women's relationship or not; unfortunately, the violence is not tempered with enough sex and comic relief - some of which falls flat - but, despite this, "In Her Line of Fire" lives up capably to the legacy of action movies preceding it.The main flaw of the film is the lack of solid acting/writing on the part of the rebel leader(s). The one-dimensional bad-guy is somewhat played out, and is not revitalized by the mediocrity of this film's characterization. The best - and most surprising - part of the film is Jill Bennett, who manages to outshine most of the other actors. Her relationship with Mariel Hemingway's character builds suitably, and, though clearly contrived, gives her an opportunity to express a range of emotion that feels natural.In terms of the visual style, it certainly seems like a made-for-TV film, and hopefully will get a strong run on DVD. My tastes tend not to run to action films, and though not the best film I've ever seen - or even seen in the last month - hopefully this will be a precursor to stronger films with similar themes. Certainly worth watching, and I'd recommend it for a rainy day.