The Package Reviews

For all its action, suspense, and intricate plotting, THE PACKAGE comes across as a mostly leaden entry in the political-paranoia thriller category. With the American president and Soviet premier on the verge of signing a nuclear disarmament treaty, military bigwigs on both sides are in an uproar. Col. Glen Whitacre (John Heard) hatches an audacious plot with his Soviet counterparts to keep the world safe for the military-industrial complex. As part of the plan, Sgt. Johnny Gallagher (Gene Hackman) is assigned to escort a soldier (Tommy Lee Jones)--the "package" of the title--from Germany to the States. There's more to this package than meets the eye, however, and soon Gallagher's charge has flown the coop, and the sergeant, framed for murder, is on the run. Although some have compared THE PACKAGE favorably with THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE and THE DAY OF THE JACKAL, this well-mounted but routine thriller lacks the campy irony of the former and the artful suspense of the latter. Director Andrew Davis, who made the most of less-than-distinguished casts in CODE OF SILENCE and ABOVE THE LAW, has failed to elicit much here from a first-rate cast.