Review of The Presidio (1988) by Deke P — 17 May 2016

Peter Hyams has been a steady hand at directing well-executed suspense thrillers- sometimes overtly (Sudden Death, Timecop), or less overtly (Capricorn One, The Star Chamber). Here, Hyams knack for muted tension is his undoing. I never got into the story, or what the characters were going after. And both the chase scenes and fight scenes were pretty underwhelming, given that they could've been done under a director with a better eye for action, like John Frankenheimer or James Glickenhaus.

There is a pointless plot, that's either a subplot or co-plot involving Meg Ryan stuck in the middle between her father (Connery), and her love interest (Harmon). This also wasn't very interesting given they never seemed really engaged with each other.

One of the only good moments of this film is Connery's drunk monologue on top an apartment building, where he talks about his role as an officer and his experiences as a little boy coming to America; this one of the only few genuine moments. I feel like if the film had more of these bits of insight, it could've been something a little more than just a routine San Francisco Police Procedural.