Verschwörung im Schatten

When political aide Bobby Bishop is warned by an old friend of a high level Government conspiracy before witnessing his murder he finds his life turned upside down and pursued by a trained killer. Unsure of who to trust Bishop teams up with journalist Amanda Givens in a race to uncover the conspiracy and clear his name, but who can he trust as the stakes are raised.

This is ultimately a chase movie, the political conspiracy is nothing more than an assassination plot that is wheeled out at the end. Most of the film is Bishop escaping from the killer and trying to uncover the truth. The conspiracy is pretty thin and you can guess who is involved from the first 20 minutes. The way that Bishop manages to uncover this great conspiracy is far too easy and it makes it all feel too lazy. And the assassination attempt is worth seeing just to laugh at how ridiculous it is - I won't spoilt it for you but trust me, it's totally absurd. That leaves the chase element which is quite dull and gets repetitive.

Sheen is not great here - often he can do well in poor films, such as Terminal Velocity, by giving a fun performance. Here he is serious and hunted and must "do" serious throughout. In fact the cast is actually really good on paper - lots of famous faces, Linda Hamilton, Sutherland, Turturro, Paul Gleason, Sam Waterston and Gore Vidal. Gore Vidal for God's sake! How all these people manage to not see that this was going to be a turkey is beyond me. Hamilton is unbelievable and seems content with the fact that it's not just a TVM. Sutherland does his usual stuff and is quite good. But should a poor film like this deserve a cast this deep?

Overall a poor film that relies on lazy plotting to move it's action along. The conspiracy is easily uncovered and the killer is easily avoided. When even Charlie Sheen describes this as "a piece of s***" then you know it's not going to be good. Avoid this - an alternative is Enemy of the State which has similar themes but is much, much better.

Bobby Bishop's role in the White House was never made clear, but when they needed him, they sent a helicopter, and he arrived in a conference room full of suits still wearing his sweaty Princeton sweatshirt. Once he cleaned up and put on his own suit, Bishop went before the press to clear up a public relations problem--after reminding a certain congressman what could happen if said congressman didn't help.

A secret meeting with Prof. Pochenko promised to reveal something not quite kosher in the White House. But a man with a gun wanted the information to stay secret. So Bishop spent the rest of the movie on the run and trying to uncover secrets with the help of Washington Herald reporter Amanda Givens. Meanwhile, someone was capable of monitoring pretty much every phone call that took place in the movie.

I like Charlie Sheen better as a womanizing jerk, but he was just fine here. Both Sheen characters know how to scheme and lie and otherwise be quite charming to get what they want. Donald Sutherland did a credible job as the White House Chief of Staff who didn't have faith in the President's ability. And Sam Waterston didn't exactly inspire confidence as the President. Linda Hamilton was good as Amanda.

This wasn't a great action thriller, but it was good nevertheless. Too violent for my taste (and there was a stern warning on the TV station I watched, even after the movie was cleaned up for TV), but I enjoyed the chases and the occasional comedy.

Special Assistant to the President Bobby Bishop (Charlie Sheen) is a dedicated member of The President's staff (Sam Waterston) during a time where the public and several members of the inner circle such as Chief of Staff Jacob Conrad (Donald Sutherland) are wary of the proposed defense cuts which Bobby attempts to spin to the public. As Bobby is approached by Professor Yuri Pochenko (Theodore Bikel) who has claims of a shadow government operating within the highest echelons of political power, an assassin (Stephen Lang) kills Pochenko and soon sets his sights on Bobby sending him on the run with help from journalist Amanda Givens (Linda Hamilton) to unravel what's going on and who's behind it.

Shadow Conspiracy is a 1997 political thriller that marked the final film of George P. Cosmatos and one of the last films to be distributed by Disney based company Cinergi Pictures prior to going defunct in 1998. The movie was dumped into the minimum number of theaters to qualify for a "wide release" opening in 16th place behind several holdovers and the opening of the special edition of Star Wars. Critical reception was overwhelmingly negative with many panning the thin characterizations, plot holes, and logical gaffes. With its lead in Charlie Sheen and a silly plot that's held together with duct tape and hope, one could be forgiven for thinking this was a lost script for Hot Shots 3 that someone accidently played straight.

There's very little substance to our characters who never evolve beyond archetypes (some don't even have names like The President or The Agent) and all the actors are more like cogs in a barely functioning machine than proper characters. While political action thrillers have a storied history in film such as The 39 Steps or Three Days of the Condor, Shadow Conspiracy doesn't have the style, character, or thrills of those films especially since it plays at a surprisingly slack pace. While the key appeal of this type of film is in watching the hero put the pieces together, Bobby doesn't so much "put them together" as much as he does stumble around and convenient kick them in the right spot making him one of the most comedically inept protagonists I can recall of recent memory. But it's not like Bobby's the only inept and stupid character on display as we have Stephen Lang's The Agent who has the subtlety of Schwarzenegger's The Terminator and somehow is not seen or described by anyone including the police despite firing guns in broad daylight or hanging off the tops of jeeps. This culminates in an absolute howler of a climax that makes you question: "someone paid $600,000 for this screenplay and made it!?"

Shadow Conspiracy is one of the dumbest movies ever made and is baffling how a mainstream studio film with decent sized names can hold together worse than some direct-to-video action films.

1st watched 2/25/2002 - 4 out of 10(Dir-George P. Cosmatos): Predictable action thriller where any frequent movie goer could guess what was coming next. Charlie Sheen is the good old boy to the President who just happens to be not liked by the rest of the presidential staff. Of course, he gets involved in a situation where he's framed over and over again and he has one friend in the White House, played by Sutherland, who naturally doesn't stay that way for very long. His other friend is a reporter played by Linda Hamilton(who has very little to do or say in this meaningless role), and of course his biggest and bestest friend is the President himself(Sam Waterston) who stays his pal till the end despite everyone else being killed around him. Brainless yet action-packed meaningless trife despite loads and loads of acting talent(all pretty much wasted.)

Familiar plot. Familiar reaction. Just maybe, the casting pushes this action/drama through to the end. Bobby Bishop(Charlie Sheen)is a major player in Washington D.C. for he is a special assistant to the President(Sam Waterston). Bobby is given a tip that there is a covert action being put into place to overthrow the government. To find out more details he is to meet Professor Yuri Pochenko(Theodore Bikel)only to watch him be gunned down by a sniper. Bobby's mentor, Jacob Conrad(Donald Sutherland), thinks he is just over reacting. Bishop's former girlfriend Amanda Givens(Linda Hamilton)is known as a sharp investigative reporter and is more than willing to help ferret out this much rumored activity. Bishop finds himself running for his life in a chain of chaos and confusion. A Special Agent(Stephen Lang)is hell-bent on killing him before he can blow the whistle on the attack on the existing government.

Ben Gazzara plays Vice President Saxon and Gore Vidal has the role of Congressman Page. Nicholas Turturro is an expert technician in surveillance. The plot does reach a fever pitch and the action is heavy and exciting. The most believable of the cast is Lang, who seems to have unlimited lives. Sutherland's talents are wasted. Sheen may be taxing his abilities. This movie is better than you may think.