Best movie of this year hands down!

To me, this movie is perfection.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

"The Presidio" is a really good movie. Well, that would be if it were a made-for-TV film, which I'm assuming that it wasn't. It's not the cast that's the problem. Sean Connery is good, as usual. And while I've been very hit-and-miss on Mark Harmon, I think that he's pretty decent here. Even Meg Ryan, who's been in quite a few completely overrated films doesn't completely stink here. "The Presidio", directed by Peter Hyams (Timecop, Stay Tuned) introduces us to an unlikely pair of Military Police played by Sean Connery (Dr. No, Highlander) and Mark Harmon (Summer School, NCIS) who must solve a murder at the Presidio, an army base in San Francisco.The plot is twisted enough to make sense and the car chase scenes in San Francisco are classical. But rather, I believe that it was the screenplay. Mr. Connery and Mr. Harmon have somewhat of a love-hate relationship here, for at least a couple of reasons. One guy hooking up with another guy's daughter might be one of them. And this little "love triangle" is what's blasé for me; it seemed to be a cheap little plot device to try and bring some interest to the characters and their plights. Overall, this film is pretty predictable and formulaic but well done. It's shot exceptionally well as all of Peter Hyams films are, Mark Harmon and Sean Connery have a great chemistry and make for a good pair in this basic buddy cop film.Overall rating: 7 out of 10.

After an MP is shot and killed on the Presidio Military Base in San Francisco the killers flee into the city; here they kill two more people; this time city cops. Police Officer Jay Austin is put on the case as he used to be an MP who served at the Presidio. That doesn't make things easy for him though as he left the Army after his CO didn't back him when he struck a drunken colonel while arresting him… his old CO is Lt. Col. Alan Caldwell; the man he will have to liaise with if he is to solve the case. As is always the case in such movies they don't get along well at first and it looks like they will get worse when Austin goes out to dinner with the Colonel's daughter Donna. As the investigation proceeds a group of suspects emerges; all of whom served in Vietnam at the same time.This is a decent enough film but if you removed the unnecessary romance between Austin and Donna and some of the excessive banter the remaining mystery wouldn't sustain a one hour TV show! Sean Connery plays Caldwell the way he plays everybody; which isn't really a bad thing as he is an entertaining scene presence; even though I didn't buy that he'd still have that accent if he moved to the States when he was ten! Mark Harmon was OK as Austin although he has nowhere near the screen presence as Connery. The action scenes were pretty good; especially the opening night time car chase and the final shoot out in the water bottling plant. I wouldn't go out of my way to see this but it passes ninety minutes well enough if it is on TV.

***SPOILERS*** Even though the action in the film "The Presidio" takes place within San Francisco's city limits it all centers around something that went on in South Viet Nam back in the late 1960's that later spilled over into the Philippine Islands. It's when lady US Army MP Patti Gene Lynch, Jenette Goldstein, is shot and killed investigating a break-in at the San Francisco's Presidio's military base that her killer takes off and ends up gunning down outside the Presidio grounds a SF policeman who tried to arrest him.With both the military and the SFPD involved tensions arise between the Presidio's Provost Marshall Lt. Col. Alan Cardwell, Sean Connery, and SFPD investigative detective Jay Austin, Mark Harmon, who are put on the case. It turns out that Austin was a member of the Presidio and was busted by Lt. Col.Cardwell over something involving Patti Jean Lynch, one of the two murder victims, and the two have no use for each other. What exactly Austin was busted for is never really explained but it had to do with another member of the Presidio Col Paul Lawrence, Dana Gladstone, who according to Austin Let.Col. Cardwell was covering up for. If this isn't confusing enough in pops Arthur Peale, Mark Blum, who's stolen car was found to be the getaway car in the crime! As it soon turns out Peale was also in "Nam" back in 1968 as a CIA undercover man who was very close to Col. Lawrence! What exactly does all this have to do with MP Patti Jean as well as SF cop getting killed over a break-in at the Presidio's officer club! As it soon turned out it was the delivery of the supply spring water to the club to water the plants there! But what was in the water bottle wasn't just water it was something that men as well as women would kill for and in this case they did!The movie gets even more confusing when were introduced to Medal of Honor winner and the curator of the Presidio's War Museum Sgt.Major Ross Maclure, Jack Warden, who's got a secret he's been hiding since his being back in "Nam" that he's being blackmailed over. Whatever that "secret" is were never told in the movie but it had to be a real whopper since it being made public can very well put the Medal of Honor winner behind bars for life or even in front of a US Army firing squad! We also have the handsome Jay Austin provided with a love interest in the film Let. Col. Cardwell's free spirited and non conformist daughter Donna, Meg Ryan. Donna's been driving her pop nuts for years in holding him responsible for the death of her mom who she claims the by the books and doing it, the housework and groceries, right Maj. Col. Cardwell drove to kill herself when Donna was two years old.***MAJOR SPOILERS*** It's after all the shooting and running in the movie and with the dozen or so bodies finally carted away that actor Sean Connery as the up tight Let.Col. Alan Cardwell had his finest moment. Giving a heart filled speech at the local military cemetery for his good friend and now departed Sgt. Major Maclure Connelly was so good and convincing that for a moment I forget that he was acting and broke into tears along with him and those in attendance at the funeral!P.S Check out the bar room fight that Let. Col. Cardwell has with the taunting and abrasive 270 pound world arm wrestling champ Rich Zumwalt. All it took for Let.Col.Cardwell to put the big guy away by busting him up, along with the bar they were in, was not even his right arm but his right thumb! Like Let.Col. Cardwell told the big lug before he really got to work on him that in using his left thumb it wouldn't be an even fight! I guess what Let. Col. Cardwell meant by that was that he was left-handed.

'The Presidio' is a decent enough military action thriller, dating back to before 'JAG' or 'NCIS' were ever conceived. The film sees a military policewoman being murdered on her rounds at a San Francisco Army base. As the ensuing chase for the assailants involves both the military and civilian police, there is a resulting clash over who has jurisdiction to investigate the murder. Civilian Detective Jay Austin is sent only to find himself working with Lieutentant Colonel Caldell, his former commanding officer when he was an MP. To make matters worse, Austin finds himself falling for Caldwell's daughter.Sean Connery, as Caldwell, is suitably gruff with Austin and his men yet loving with his daughter. Mark Harmon plays Austin well as the brash young cop who is weary with military protocol despite expecting no less. The pair portray an interesting partnership that is contentious, at times, yet there is genuine affection there with Caldwell being almost paternalistic on occasion.The story is solid enough, keep viewers involved and throwing up well-depicted characters as well as reflecting upon the differences between the military and civilian police force. There is also plenty of action to keep things going. Fans of 'NCIS' would certainly enjoy this, if only to see Mark Harmon playing the less experienced, boisterous 'DiNozzo' character in Austin (a stark comparison to the stern Gibbs of the TV show, who may well have been modelled a bit on Caldwell!). A well-made buddy flick with a difference.