Most critics like In the Line of Fire, and the praise clusters almost entirely around its two leads. Nearly every review names the pairing of Clint Eastwood and John Malkovich as the reason to watch, and Malkovich’s would-be assassin is singled out again and again as frightening, taunting and the real engine of the film. Eastwood’s own performance draws notice for its humour and vulnerability, and Petersen’s direction is called assured where it is mentioned at all.
The spread is narrow: no review is negative, and the mixed verdicts are mild rather than cross. Variety finds the film proficient but less textured than the ones Eastwood directs himself, and Time Out thinks the thriller mechanics familiar even when the killer’s scenes are not. The Los Angeles Times calls the romantic subplot the weakest writing in the film. Nobody dissents on the central duel; the reservations are about what surrounds it.