Solid Snake

I kind of sort of remember seeing this as a kid on USA. Jesus, that channel really showed so many movies in the 1990s. Anyway... I never really cared for it. It kind of bored me really.

As an adult, I've kind of stayed away from it cuz I was bored as a kid from it. And there were just other movies i preferred to catch up on than this one. Amazon had a sale on the BD and the reviews for it are pretty solid. So I went for it.

Damn good movie.

I could do w/o the romance bit but it also uses it well to develop Eastwood's character. What veers toward cliche, if not already in it, actually works for it by being a bit different from the norm that a cliche like this would hit.

It's a bit aged in that 1990s way that for some reason stands out to not age well but it doesn't kill the film. It's just the times that affect it. Little things that stand out and such. paranoia talk, etc.

It's a really solid thriller. It's actually thrilling unlike most "thrillers" today. It's kind of got a brain for the material. More on the dramatic nature of it propels your interest over the action. The action is the payoff cuz everything else sells the set up really well. Eastwood rocks though. He's just so goddamn good in this. Malkovich is good for this role too.

It's a bit too long. Not by too much but it could have condensed out some bits if not outright cut them out. Those bits don't harm it but it needlessly prolongs the film. There's also some weird compositing shots where they inserted Eastwood and some others in the rain. It looks off. Wonder why the did that? They had the shot but I guess... not w/ him and other in it? Just looked weird.

Apparently Petersen also did Air Force One. Now that one I liked as a kid. I also got it on sale. So good deals all around.

Question: Is there a Rene Russo role out there that justifies her existence? I don't hate her or anything but she seems to be in movies but never really stands out even in roles where they've of some importance.

Maz Kanata

The Thomas Crown Affair remake.

inri222

She was good in Nightcrawler.

Solid Snake

You're right. That was a damn good movie for everyone involved.

Cardsfan111

I believe this was the first time I had seen John Malkovich in a film. He was terrific in this one.

Shannon Nutt

This is not my favorite Clint Eastwood film, but it is my favorite Clint Eastwood performance. He should have gotten a Best Actor nod for this one...unfortunately, it came out the year after UNFORGIVEN, so Oscar went in a different direction.

mwbmis

I'll be thinking about that when I'm pissing on your grave.

Mondo Kane

I didn't seem to mind this movie....Up untill...


At least this movie has that "Heart-Attack" scene that occurs early in the film. That sequence always got a good laugh out of me.

Ash Ketchum

I think Malkovich owns this movie. Best thing he's ever done. Every scene that comes to mind when I recall this movie is dominated by him, including that encounter with the ill-fated bank officer and that business under the table at the banquet, not to mention the fight in the elevator (of a hotel I stayed at seven years ago). The one Eastwood bit I remember is where he's watching Rene Russo walking away and insisting (to himself?) that she'll look back at him and she does. That bit was originally done by William Holden with Deborah Kerr in THE PROUD AND THE PROFANE (1956).

The whole JFK assassination angle didn't sit well with this conspiracy theorist. In the film, Eastwood's Secret Service agent laments not blocking the bullet 30 years earlier, but the week this film came out, Gary Null said on his radio show that spectrographic analysis of news photos of the assassination revealed 17 different bullet paths! So which bullet would he have blocked? Just sayin'...

[P.S. Gary Null makes Oliver Stone look like a "lone nutter."]

Solid Snake

Yeah. That's one of the 1990s things. There seems to be a lot of that shit in that decade from what I remember. Got the shot but can't get the shot.

Troy Stiffler

Great movie. My earliest memory of watching it was catching it on the Fox/NBC/ABC "movie event of the week" back in the mid 90's. Those use to be important to me, because that was in the old days before there was endless content out there to watch. And because my parents were selective about which R movies I could watch.

rocket1312

This was the second r rated movie I ever saw in the theater. Unforgiven was the first. In the Line of Fire was easily my favorite movie when I was 13 and it was one of the first DVDs I bought. I haven't seen it all the way through in years, but it will always hold a special place in my heart. This is the movie I think of first when I think of Malkovich.

Troy Stiffler

This just reminded me that I watched True Romance, Pulp Fiction, Bad Boys, and The Last Boyscout for the first time, in edited-for-TV form. I'm sure there are others I'll think of. And we complain about watered down PG13 movies on here.

tommyp007

"I was just wondering where you hide your firearm. Don't tell me, let me guess."

sleepyhead55

Another really good Malkovich scene is the one where he goes to test out the gun and creeps out a bunch of hunters who are there in the area.

I actually didn't mind the JFK angle. I thought it brought a "redemption" aspect to the film. Having watched this movie several times, it finally dawned on me from one of these viewings that Malkovich and Eastwood are doubles of one another.

Oh and one of my favorite scenes in the film is when Clint just starts playing the piano in the bar late at night. It's not an important scene (in terms of plot) but I enjoy it for some reason.

Solid Snake

Things like that add an actual life aspect to him. Yes. This movie follows him but it also has some downtime for the character. Like the whole situation doesn't take his life because he only has so much to do w/ the problem and the way it has to be reacted/handled.

milo bloom

My wife and mine's first date movie. We thought it was pretty good, but we've never re-visited it.

I can still call to mind a lot of the imagery though, it left quite an impression.

Brack

Her role in Mr. Destiny:

Solid Snake

holy shit.

Jack Straw

To the previous two posters, thank you for making my trip into this thread very worthwhile. I like 'em with a little meat on their bones.