When this one was made it was six years since Sydney Pollack directed a major motion picture. Amongst his credits you'll find They Shoot Horses, Jeremiah Johnson, The Way We Were, Three Days of the Condor, Bobby Deerfield, Tootsie, Out of Africa, Havana, The Firm, Sabrina.
Not bad. He himself says he's a better director than actor, and of late he's been doing more producing than directing.
This one was supposedly shot inside the UN in NYC. Parts of it were also shot in Mozambique, which helps bring the budget up to a cool 140.
The only thing difficult with this one is Penn. A perennial cowboy saddle face and expression locked into an aspiration to be a Robert De Niro with none of the range or chops. Penn always looks like he really truly hates everybody and everything, is totally inexorably concerned only with his sorry self, cannot conceive people could actually care for one another, and it's therefore obvious that it becomes impossible to feel any sympathy for Penn's character - and in this flick you have to feel sympathy for Penn's character or the movie fails. (Luckily we have the comely Kidman to gawk at instead. She might be all skin and bones these days but at least she can convey a modicum of warmth and human emotion and not look totally phony as loser Penn always does.)
Check the deleted scenes as well. There are parts of the running official release which make very little sense. If you see what's been cut out you'll understand a bit better. Not that you should have to do this - this is definitely a blooper on the part of Pollack & Co - but it will explain a few things which otherwise might remain appearing hopelessly incompetent - most likely due to changing plot twists at the very last minute and calling in a zillion gajillion writers to fix things up.
Pollack goes on a diatribe in the 'featurettes' about the slaughter of the television screen and 'pan and scan' and I at least think it's good he did this. Thank you for that, Sydney!
Look for a cameo by Thunderball's Pinder.
Parallels with Three Days? There's a line of dialogue that can be an insider joke, but still I think not. That people want to see parallels? Obviously.
Not bad. He himself says he's a better director than actor, and of late he's been doing more producing than directing.
This one was supposedly shot inside the UN in NYC. Parts of it were also shot in Mozambique, which helps bring the budget up to a cool 140.
The only thing difficult with this one is Penn. A perennial cowboy saddle face and expression locked into an aspiration to be a Robert De Niro with none of the range or chops. Penn always looks like he really truly hates everybody and everything, is totally inexorably concerned only with his sorry self, cannot conceive people could actually care for one another, and it's therefore obvious that it becomes impossible to feel any sympathy for Penn's character - and in this flick you have to feel sympathy for Penn's character or the movie fails. (Luckily we have the comely Kidman to gawk at instead. She might be all skin and bones these days but at least she can convey a modicum of warmth and human emotion and not look totally phony as loser Penn always does.)
Check the deleted scenes as well. There are parts of the running official release which make very little sense. If you see what's been cut out you'll understand a bit better. Not that you should have to do this - this is definitely a blooper on the part of Pollack & Co - but it will explain a few things which otherwise might remain appearing hopelessly incompetent - most likely due to changing plot twists at the very last minute and calling in a zillion gajillion writers to fix things up.
Pollack goes on a diatribe in the 'featurettes' about the slaughter of the television screen and 'pan and scan' and I at least think it's good he did this. Thank you for that, Sydney!
Look for a cameo by Thunderball's Pinder.
Parallels with Three Days? There's a line of dialogue that can be an insider joke, but still I think not. That people want to see parallels? Obviously.