a5c7b9f00b Story kicks off with the mysterious murder of a senator bearing the marks of a Soviet assassin, who was long thought to be dead. To hunt down the killer, a retired CIA operative, who spent his career going toe-to-toe with his Soviet nemesis, is teamed with a young FBI agent. A retired CIA spy and a fledgling FBI agent team up to investigate the murder of a U.S. senator and catch a notorious killer in this high-stakes political thriller starring Richard Gere and Topher Grace. Back when he was an active operative, Paul Shepherdson (Gere) devoted his every waking minute to capturing &quot;Cassius&quot; – an elusive Soviet hit-man with a spectral reputation. Decades later, Shepherdson believes that Cassius has been taken out of the game. But when a U.S. senator is assassinated and all evidence links the killing to Cassius, Shepherdson&#39;s former boss Tom Highland (Martin Sheen) convinces his old operative to investigate. Meanwhile, FBI agent Ben Geary (Grace) becomes positively certain that the high-profile murder is the work of the notorious Soviet hatchet man, and begins working with Shepherdson to crack the case. Now, in order to learn their target&#39;s true identity, Shepherdson and Geary must first revisit the entire case from top to bottom. In the process, the two determined men uncover a clue that indicates Cassius may not, in fact, be the prime suspect that the government has been chasing for decades, but instead the last person anyone ever expected. It may be flawed, but there is something here (especially if you have no idea where this is going, something I&#39;m sure is spoiled with the trailer and the summaries) and the movie might even surprise you a little. Formerly Ms. Yustman (now married and going by the name Annable) might not have much to do, but I would be lying if I said I don&#39;t like watching her.<br/><br/>On another note: Richard Gere seems to phone a few things in (the director should have watched for that), but has some flashes of character ingenuity, that really work. His &quot;partner in crime&quot; being Topher Grace. And while he does his best, his character never really shines through. Tamar Hassan plays it straight, but some story/plot points do make up for those things. I did enjoy the film all right. I didn&#39;t hafta change my pants or anything, but it was put together fairly competently. I can&#39;t quite specify what it was, but I just felt that something was missing from this movie. Technically and overall acting wise it was fine I guess. I suppose it must&#39;ve been just the basic development of the story; it&#39;s one of those films where afterward if you truly think about it a little, and I DO mean &#39;a little&#39;, you kinda wonder how people knew things and why the characters did what they did and what the HELL were the main motivations anyway…<br/><br/>I don&#39;t mean that this is one of those films where they seem GREAT at the time and then afterward you maybe see plot holes or questionable logic, but you say &#39;Hey, that was still a great film!&#39; No, not quite… This one is a couple of notches below that. You CAN enjoy it okay, but to me anyway, a lot of it does not really flow logically.<br/><br/>There IS one thing though which is TOTALLY B*tch&#39;n, and that is the song that plays over the closing credits, which grabbed me by the nuts mercilessly (which is not NECESSARILY a bad thing…) and I said to myself &#39;WHO THE HELL IS THAT?!!!&#39; Well, I patiently waited until the end of the credits, when they usually get to the songs, and this one was written and played by none other than RUSH&#39;s Alex Lifeson! (sp?) DAMN good song! Doesn&#39;t sound like RUSH, but REALLY put together well and is totally awesome! Sort of like how John Paul Jones solo album doesn&#39;t really sound like LED ZEPPELIN, but it hits youVERY strong : ) So, yeah, a passable movie that you probably won&#39;t regret taking the time to see. But, definitely NOT among the upper echelons of this kind of film… Probably one of the rare times where IMDb&#39;s rating has it about right (6) The movie's few pleasures, though, do belong to Gere, who makes the most of his preening caginessa spook thrust back into the cold. Grace, though, comes off more whiny than tantalizingly adversarial.
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