Review of Company Business (1991) by Allan C — 18 Oct 2014

This film isn't bad, but it seems like it should have been a whole lot better considering the talent involved and a strong premiss. According to IMDB, director Nicholas Meyer was so annoyed at the studio's interference with this film's East vs West plot, that he recycled it on his next film, "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country," which is a far better film.

Nicholas Meyer wrote and directed the film, and I've always thought of Meyer as someone who deserves more recognitions for reliably curing out good entertainment, ranging from "The Seven Percent Solution" to "The Wrath of Khan.

" In this film Gene Hackman is a retired CIA agent who is called back to facilitate a prisoner exchange with the Soviets. Mikhail Baryshnikov is the Russian prisoner. Things are not what they seem and Gene and Mikhail end up on the run from both the East and West.

Kurtwood Smith and Terry O'Quinn play US baddies. There are some great moments sprinkled throughout the film, but you can definitely tell there was tinkering as the tone and focus of the story seems to make some wild shifts throughout.

Michael Kamen provides one of his standard action film scores. Hackman is great and manages to carry much of the film on his shoulders, making it watchable, but this film should have been a whole lot better.