Shadow Program - Programma segreto

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.

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.

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.

Bobby Bishop (Sheen) is a close personal advisor to the president but gets out of his depth when shots are fired at him & he learns of a sinister shadow conspiracy within the highest government that is supposed to watch & protect the president.

It's up to Charlie Sheen as Bishop to uncover what is going on & why? Sheen was still a bankable enough star here & i liked 90's Sheen in movies such as the equally awesome & underrated "Terminal Velocity" & the Eastwood Cop Thriller "The Rookie" Sheen was decent back in the day. Here Sheen plays panicked well & he's constantly on the run & the film felt similar to Will Smith's Conspiracy Thriller "Enemy of the State" but that came out later than "Shadow" here. Amongst the cast is Terminator star Linda Hamilton as the local hard-nosed reporter that teams up with Sheen & the veteran movie legend Donald Sutherland as a hugh-up government boss & is supposed to be helping Sheen get to safety!!! Also ww get an unstoppable Assassin role for the scarily intense Stephen Lang (Don't Breathe, VFW) as he pursues Sheen across a rainy Washington DC. I love the 90's look & feel of this comforting Thriller & a decent music score only helps it. There's plenty of action packed scenes that keeps the movie moving constantly & is never boring.

Shadow Conspiracy is a 90's Thriller gem that is probably completely forgotten about today & probably barely made a dent at the box office on it's release way back in 1997 but i like it alot & think it's one entertaining ride. More exciting than it's given credit for.

Also this was director George P. Cosmatos last movie, he made the Cult Classic Stallone Thriller COBRA.

One wonders how did this screen play got to be made into a thriller movie. The writers had no clue into the many holes they were creating in a story so predictable as this. At the same time, one has to question the studio as to why this movie was approved. The director George Cosmatos must have a more clout among the Hollywood bigwigs than we can think.

I never saw this film when it had a commercial run. It was recently shown on cable, and not having anything better to watch, decided to take a chance. Wow, it's that bad.

The film could have used a more likable hero than Bobby Bishop, blandly played by Charlie Sheen, who whispers his lines incomprehensibly. The pairing of Linda Hamilton with Sheen doesn't add anything to the movie. Donald Sutherland must have a lot to explain to his friends in how he accepted to appear in this picture.