The Presidio

Sean Connery is a veteran Army M.P. officer, Mark Harmon an ex-soldier turned police detective. Together these unwilling allies must investigate a murder at San Francisco's famed military base, and while doing so uncover a dangerous smuggling scheme. Taut thriller also stars Meg Ryan. 96 min. Widescreen; Soundtracks: English Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital Surround, French Dolby Digital Surround; Subtitles: English; theatrical trailer.

The titular piece of real estate is the San Francisco military base that starts at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge and sprawls back into the city itself, coexisting uneasily with Baghdad by the Bay. The two cultures clash when a murder at the Presidio is assigned to civilian police detective Mark Harmon. Harmon has an uncomfortable history with the base commander, Sean Connery, and that relationship doesn't get any less tense when he also becomes romantically entangled with Connery's daughter, Meg Ryan. Unfortunately, the script by Larry Ferguson is a stiff, which suits Harmon's acting style. Director Peter Hyams knows how to choreograph an action sequence, but he has to keep stopping so that Harmon can actually speak. Thankfully, Harmon has the always-interesting Connery and Ryan to interact with, but that's only a small saving grace. --Marshall Fine