**possible thematic spoilers** (Excuse the length of this comment; I feel like I might be one of few IMDb users to see the film while it's in theaters, so I'm trying to be thorough) For years, Hollywood has been releasing big-budget, testosterone-driven action films. Now, finally, Here! TV has released its own challenge to the dominant paradigm.
The film begins with a standard action plot: the Vice President's plane is caught in a storm, and crash-lands off the coast of a Pacific island, filled with violent rebel insurgents. Fortunately, the VP was a former Marine, and he and his Secret Service agent manage to survive the crash, along with a garrulous and driven reporter, played with aplomb by Jill Bennett. When discovered by the rebels, the agent must save the VP, find a way off the island, and get the girl. What's the twist? The agent is, herself, female.
There are many difficulties confronting any filmmaker deciding to show a gay or lesbian relationship. Primarily, the trouble is one of focus; should the story take precedence over a character's sexuality, as in your average heterosexual film, or does a character need to have an emotional coming out (wherein their sexuality pulls focus from the plot)? Unfortunately, those films that choose the latter path often end up losing any sort of impact on the audience, as their narratives become lost in a jumble of sexual definition and re-definition. Happily, "In Her Line of Fire" begins with - and maintains - sexual tension between the two female leads, while the males who know Delaney seem to respect and jokingly admire her attraction to women.
Even when these issues of plot can be resolved to include sexuality without fixating on - and thereby "othering" it, women rarely stand on their own as lesbians. Films like "Kissing Jessica Stein" or "Chasing Amy" suffer from this second problem, if one can call it that, whereby characters that are bisexual or bi-curious stand in for true lesbians, giving a lesbian audience little with which to relate, even in supposedly "lesbian-themed" pictures.
By choosing not to overemphasize the women's sexuality, "In Her Line of Fire" joins what will hopefully be a new upsurge in films (including such recent fare as "Imagine Me & You") which have the potential for mainstream acceptance, due to their classical Hollywood style and narratives, while still depicting lesbian and gay relationships.
Of course, the main drive of the film is its plot, which stands up to most typical action fare. The film is violent enough for any thrill-seeking viewer, whether their interest lies in the women's relationship or not; unfortunately, the violence is not tempered with enough sex and comic relief - some of which falls flat - but, despite this, "In Her Line of Fire" lives up capably to the legacy of action movies preceding it.
The main flaw of the film is the lack of solid acting/writing on the part of the rebel leader(s). The one-dimensional bad-guy is somewhat played out, and is not revitalized by the mediocrity of this film's characterization. The best - and most surprising - part of the film is Jill Bennett, who manages to outshine most of the other actors. Her relationship with Mariel Hemingway's character builds suitably, and, though clearly contrived, gives her an opportunity to express a range of emotion that feels natural.
In terms of the visual style, it certainly seems like a made-for-TV film, and hopefully will get a strong run on DVD. My tastes tend not to run to action films, and though not the best film I've ever seen - or even seen in the last month - hopefully this will be a precursor to stronger films with similar themes. Certainly worth watching, and I'd recommend it for a rainy day.
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