Genres

Visitors Review

Dan-254 2012-05-24 19:47:31

Great film, terrible filming

I really liked this film. It is entertaining and a decent retelling of theclassic "good guy running from the bad guy and being rescued bythe other good guys" story line. That being said thecinematography is awful. The director seemed to be making a 2hour MTV video. I'm not a film maker, but am a viewer and knowwhat I like and dislike.The "fast forward for a half second then normal speed" techniqueis irritating at best and shouldn't be used throughout the film. Thesame goes for fast, normal, and slow motion all used in one shot.Yeah, we know the camera can do it, just because it can doesn'tmean you should.If the camera man is jittery buy a darn Steady Cam. You can'thardly tell what Longhorn is doing with the seat at the end of thefilm due to his motion and the camera motion. I guess I could mymonitor on a vibrating bed and the image would be complete.Other than those items this was a great film, but those things wereso distracting that they stick with me more than the bulk of thepicture.

Dustin Putman 2012-05-24 16:29:39

A thrilling action picture for anyone who enjoys getting their auditory and visual senses assaulted, and their nerves absolutely wrecked.

2012-05-17 07:18:14

a must for flight fans

This film has some of the best flight sequences I have ever seen. The cinematography is superb, and one gets a glimpse into the speed a pilot experiences as he tries to outmaneuver an oncoming missile; it also shows the "nuts and bolts" of the ejection seat process, which I found fascinating. Having fairly low expectations for this film, I was amazed at how entertaining and visually stunning it actually is, and am surprised it did not receive greater success in its theatrical release.It takes place in Bosnia during an imaginary time, with US forces under NATO command, and though fiction, it uses captions at the end, telling the audience what happened to the characters, as if it were a true story. Filmed on the USS Carl Vinson, and in Slovakia, with the beauty of the Carpathian mountains as a backdrop for the horror of a war zone, director John Moore keeps the pace of this film constantly pumping. Though some characters are somewhat cartoonish, and the script at times silly, much of the acting is good. Gene Hackman can always be depended upon for a solid performance, and Owen Wilson does well as the main protagonist, who starts out as being a rather shallow, whiny fellow, and grows with his extreme experience, as he plays a cat and mouse chase with a Serbian "tracker", played by Russian actor Vladimir Maskov. Gabriel Macht is excellent in the smaller part of the fighter pilot Stackhouse. Yes, there are times the plot is contrived and not altogether believable, but this is more than made up for by the dazzling cinematography by Brandan Galvin, a fine score by Don Davis, and astounding visual and sound effects...and if you like jets and choppers the way I do, you are guaranteed to like this film.

imdb-583 2012-05-16 22:16:53

Incomprehensibly bad

I'm sure there have been worse movies made. I just haven't seen them. Evenif you are not looking for an intelligent handling of internationalpolitics, and don't care about the horribly jingoistic attitudes portrayed,I think it is still difficult to fathom how this movie could be enjoyed.Action sequences are never resolved, they just **SPOILER WARNING** end withthe main character miraculously transported to another location. It isunfortunate that the U.S. military can not extend the range of itstransporters to actually get characters completely out of the battle zone,instead of a mere few hundred yards.The rest of the world mocks America because of movies like this.

Carlo Cavagna 2012-05-08 07:06:08

derivative, but it ain't dull

Bob Aulert 2012-05-07 18:26:03

Takes a simple premise and simplifies it even further; it's a comic book with very few of the frames colored in.

pjmcevoy 2012-05-06 01:00:59

good movie

I thought this was a pretty good movie. The plot or characters should'ntbetaken too seriously as that is missing the point. This film is all abouttheeffects, which are very impressive. Although pretty unbelievable some ofthetime such as at the end of the film or when he runs through woods withartillery exploding all around him its all in the name of fun andexcitement. The shootdown is easily the best bit of the film, extremelygooduse of camera angles, slow-mo, overcranking and still shots by thedirector.A few bad blunders on the military technicality standpoint like missilesbeing able to turn 180 degree turns but the thrill of the chase more thenmakes up for it. Lots of impressive effects like a person being blown upinslow motion and the ejection sequence. Some of the dialogue is a bit badbutthe acting is pretty good. The sound effects are excellent. Should reallybeseen on the full screen or with surround sound. 7/10

obrandtb 2012-05-05 06:08:46

Anti-American Bias

Many who visit this website, some of them Americans, take it uponthemselves to vent their rage at any sort of favorable portrayal ofAmericans in general. I've had a gut full of this crap, so I've decidedto throw it back in your faces. Let's review just some of theaccomplishments of the Greatest Nation on Earth, shall we? 1. Established a representative Republic unparalleled in the history ofmankind. Did this by fighting off the most powerful military force inthe world at the time with a ragtag, underfunded, and badly trainedarmy. Wrote the greatest document ever written establishing the rightsand liberties of its citizens.2. Survived possibly the bloodiest civil war in human history,remaining intact as a nation afterward.3. Beformentioned war brought about a new age of invention and theindustrial revolution.4. Fought in two world wars, always on the right side. Without itspresence, either of these wars would have been won by a fascist regime,thereby changing the course of history. No, Britain could NOT havedefeated Hitler (see Dunkirk) without US help. IN FACT, Britain wouldhave ended up a German "protectorate". Any of you clowns from Britain,France, Luxembourg, Norway, Finland, Italy, Denmark, Germany, Japan,China, Australia (yes, you too), Indonesia, Greece, Malta, Belgium, etcwho can't face that fact are just deluding yourselves. And that's justtoo damned bad. By the way, Europeans, when you're tempted to crowabout how damned great you are, remember the Berlin Airlift and theMarshall Plan. And British military prowess? Google the words"Operation Market Garden" and see what comes up.5. Developed vaccines which have rid the world of most of the deadlydiseases which killed off humans for thousands of years. Otherinventions/developments include the internet, the microchip, anautomobile that people actually wanted, an airplane that actually flew,a half dozen moon landings, and countless others.6. While being led by a "B-movie actor" and "amiable dunce", ended thethreat of nuclear annihilation by a dictatorial, evil communist state.If you don't like any of what I've said here, I don't give a rat's ass.

2012-05-04 18:26:54

A direction master piece

As it is written in the movie's review I don't want to repeat the story again.So I begin from my point.Although the story,events,etc... do not deserve any word better than "classic hollywood" action movie,the thing that makes this movie unique is for sure the directing.As John Moore-an ex-commercial director- had mentioned it,the movie is generally based on how realistic and good a movie can be made by small budget.Throughout the movie there is dominantly way of 360 degree camera movements,professional aerieal shots,and fast forwarding editing movements makes the movie a good directed but as I said a lousy plotted movie.I think for movie fans who seek for good directing and photographing in a movie, aircraft's being chased by intelligent missles,the flash backs are trully must-see pieces .

2012-05-04 15:21:36

Military thriller spins out of control

In this interesting military thriller directed by John Moore, Owen Wilson plays a downed navigator being chased by a bunch of rebel Serbian forces. Gene Hackman plays his superior trying desperately to intervene and save the pilot's life, but caught up in the politics of the situation. There are a few subplots that make the story interesting, but they are not worth mentioning. Anyways, the action sequences were pretty strong and Owen Wilson impressed me as a serious actor. The only drawback was that I wanted him to make a few more jokes, which probably would have slowed down the movie. But I have one major problem with the movie: the highly excessive use of the 360 degree panorama spinning shots. I'm sure there is some technical name for it but thats basically what it is. The whole movie is spinning, spinning, spinning. It really got to me after a while. Although it works in some of the scenes, after you see it about a thousand of times, you get just plain dizzy. It really detracted from the enjoyment of the picture.

fugu_286 2012-05-02 01:08:16

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

This movie just makes me want to clutch old glory to my chest. Based on atrue story about an AMERICAN airman who was shot down over one of them losercountries we were trying to protect (when we had nothing better to do), it'sa thrilling PATRIOTIC action flick like Rambo II. The action is really theicing on the cake here. The message of the film is AMERICA IS GREAT ANDMIGHTY AND EUROPEANS ARE USELESS AND WEAK AND ALL FOREIGNERS ARE EVIL LOSERSAND WE SHOULD DO EVERYTHING WE CAN DO PROTECT OUR BRAVE, PATRIOTIC SOLDIERSWHEREVER THEY MAY BE EVEN IF WE HAVE TO BLOW EVERYTHINGUP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!GOD BLESS AMERICA!

cherwebb 2012-05-01 05:32:37

Superb! A must-see.

This one keeps your attention from beginning to end. -And it'sdisappointingthat it ends when it does only because it's so extremely entertaining andedge-of-the-seat captivating. My wife had to leave the room when anexecution looked like a possibility and later she was physically jumping upand down for 30-40 seconds.

Steve Bryce 2012-04-27 02:31:15

Utterly Unbelievable

We accept that action films are fantasy and that we must suspend belief.Weaccept that an entire army that has been fighting a war for years (and somight be expected to be proficient with their weapons) can't hit our herofrom thirty or forty metres away. However this film was full of too manyunbelievable situations to be excused:[Spoilers ahead!]Why would anybody put a hard drive for a photographic system in an ejectorseat? I work in the defence industry and this is probably a problem ofknowing too much, but a mate of mine who does not also picked this up.(Andwhy does that 'hard drive' look awfully like a minidisc taped to a bit ofcard? - This prop looked even more tacky because the rest of the film wasclearly polished and high budget).A sniper, again proficient in the use of his weapon from years of war,manages to miss our hero from a couple of hundred metres when the targetissitting down, not moving and the weather conditions areperfect.The missile evasion shots are excellent but are marred by the explosionsofthe fuel tanks which look awful - again, after seeing such excellentaerialand c.g. shots these poor quality effects really jar.You find your pilot injured (a leg wound) in open, hostile terrain. Do youa) Leave him where he is so that when the bad guys come they can't fail tospot him in his green uniform against the white snow and next to hisbrightly coloured parachute, or b) move him to the excellent cover lessthan100 metres away? Our man chose a) and, surprise, surprise, sees his pilotgunned down. Not even the American military is that badlytrained.There is a minefield in a destroyed industrial complex. There are a numberof tripwires running accross an open space. Our hero starts picking hiswaythrough, when three bad guys turn up behind him. He starts to run andtripsa wire. The mine to which the wire is attached is 90 degrees to his rightorleft, the bad guys are about 20m behind him. Yet the explosion knocks themoff their aim while our hero is unharmed. Even worse the secondaryexplosions from other mines all over the place and ones that our herotripsas he runs through manage to kill the three soldiers (who never enteredthearea) yet leave our hero unscathed!Our sniper who has been tracking the hero looks through his sight at thecamera - the sight is large with no obvious adjustment mechanism and wecansee his magnified eye (we wouldn't in a normal sniper sight). Next shot, afew seconds later, the sight has metamorphasised back into a standard,muchsmaller sniper rifle sight with the adjustments clearly visable. Themagnified eye shot was completely unnecessary to the plot, but meant thatadeliberate continuity error was introduced that could not fail to bespotted. This is simply bad directing.You may think that I am just picking holes but all these things and morecontributed to make sure that I for one, my mate sitting next to me, and anumber of people we overheard when walking out of the cinema, could notsuspend belief. The glaring unbelievabilities (OK, so I made that wordup!)jumped out so often that they distracted from the storyline, which wasactually above average for this sort of movie!

2012-04-26 07:51:00

So-so action flick

**************** May include SPOILERS ****************I just saw the movie and thought it was nothing special. The only partthatI truly loved was the beginning sequence in which the pilot andnavigator'saircraft was being pursued by missiles. Although a bit unrealistic inhowit was carried out, it was still very, very awesome and memorable. Forthatalone, the movie was worth watching. As soon as the navigator startedbeingpursued by Serbian forces, the movie took a dive. It was still viewable,but only because you wanted to know how things would turn out. My god,thismovie was so stereotypical and downright ignorant in the portrayal of theopposition, that it makes me wonder how anyone could praise it. I mean,ifyou're going to make a movie, at least get your facts straight. How hardcan that be?? The Serbian soldiers had on uniforms w/ Croatian insignia,for god's sake! There's a lot of similar mistakes throughout the film.Anyhow, by the middle of the film, you start to lose interest in thewelfareof the navigator and also start to wonder how long it will take beforetheyrescue him in some uneducated, valiant attempt that probably puts many,manymore lives at risk than necessary. You also begin to wonder when theclimaxwill occur, and then you realize that it already happened, right at thebeginning during that whole missile sequence! Yes, that would have to bethe most exciting moment, even though the climax is technically supposedtobe when he's rescued. Sad, isn't it?

2012-04-25 13:29:02

above par...in some areas

this is one of the better action/military flicks to come out lately, the special effects are pretty good and the story carries on at pretty decent quality, i just wish the ending had been a little better/smarter/though out, its just abit too arrogant to think 75 or so guys armed to the teeth with a tank, mind you, shooting at one man running straight ahead, all happen to miss, but strangely i didn't feel the ending ruined the movie for me, cause it was an action flick to begin with. All in all:definitely worth renting/on the dvd issue u can judge for yourself.

2012-04-24 22:32:52

One of the best military movies

Actually, it's about 3.5 stars; they really need a .5 option here, don't they? Anyway, I have to admit, I didn't expect this movie to be so great. I rented it on hopes that it would be good, and it didn't let me down. Owen Wilson may be one of the most underrated actors in today's distressing 'teen idol' movie business. And Gene Hackman proves once again why he's such a dominant force in film.Wilson stars as Lt. Chris Burnett, a fighter pilot on his way out of the force. Then on a simple routine flight, him and his partner Stackhouse (Gabriel Macht) cross into territory they shouldn't have been near; which makes things take a turn for the worst. Wilson ends up on the run, alone, from the Russians who want him dead. Meanwhile, Adm. Leslie Reigart (Hackman) is forced to put many lives in danger for just one. It's an awesome action movie that holds your attention throughout, even if the plot seems to be a little dull (which it's really not). It ranks right up there with "Saving Private Ryan" and "The Patriot" as one of the best military/war movies one can view. Wilson is great; he handles the action perfectly, and he even chips in some good comedy towards the beginning of the movie. Also, this is not the first time Gene Hackman and Owen Wilson have teamed up. In the same year (2001), both starred in the hilarious hit comedy "The Royal Tenenbaums", a movie that has quite a different style than that of this one. Grant it, I don't think they'll turn out to be the Ben Affleck/Matt Damon of the 00's, but they do work wonders together. In seeing this film, you won't be disappointed with it. Although "Behind Enemy Lines" does not have the blood and guts/guns-in-your-face of "Saving Private Ryan" or even "The Thin Red Line", it's still a good action thriller you souldn't miss.

2012-04-24 04:16:57

Good war movie

In this movie Owen Wilson plays a navigator who, with his pilot, is sent on a reconnaisance mission over Bosnia. When they photograph illegal military activity in a demilitarized zone, they are shot down and pursued. Gene Hackman is their commander and plans a rescue which is foiled by US military politics. The main part of the movie shows Wilson eluding his pursuers and Hackman trying to find a way around his commander in order to effect a rescue. The action is intense (although the acting isn't) and this movie provides a good evening's entertainment.

johnny-08 2012-04-23 12:56:04

Let me tell you that...

- I'm sick of Americans trying to boost up their patriotism or maybe tosomehow justify themselves for involving in every possible war on thisplanet.- I'm sick of their idiotic lines in these kind of movies like : "Let'sgo get our boy back!". And that line comes from great actor like GeneHackman. Patetic!- I'm sick of American script writers who somehow manage to make allnations on this world hostile; and of course Americans are saints andpeople that are always attacked by others.- I'm sick of people making this kind of movies because they couldn'teven manage to film this movie in Bosnia, were the whole story happens;instead Slovakia is Bosnia.- I'm sick of this casting directors, who gave Olek Krupa the role ofMiroslav Lokar. Krupa is good actor but he speaks Bosnian very funnyand everyone around him speaks better that language.- I'm sick of all people who worked on this movie. Especially JohnMoore, Gene Hackman and Owen Wilson.- I'm sick of American need to prove to the world that they areAmericans, the best people around. Well Americans are very questionableexpression cause Americans are Indians and today so called Americansare Europeans who came to America and killed or slaved Indians.Americans need this kind of movie especially today. Why? Well they haveto lie to their nation (Bush) and saying that Iraq was a good move.Wake up! Americans are in Iraq because of oil. And these kind ofpatriotic crap movies are watchable only to Americans or to those whodon't know or don't want to know what Americans are doing today.

patrick powell 2012-04-20 01:54:36

The egg the curate praised

Behind Enemy Lines reminds me of an expression we have in England andwhich Americans and other English speakers will know: it's a bit likethe curate's egg. A young, gauche curate was given an egg for breakfastby the vicar's wife which was not just no fresh, it was unmistakablyoff. But when asked how his egg was, the curate was mortified that heshould appear rude if he told her the truth, so 'it's good in parts',he told the vicar's wife. So is Behind Enemy Lines. Unfortunately,those parts which don't stink do not do enough to rescue this film.Were they to do so, it might well have been far better than similarfare, but sadly - and understandably, being produced on American cash -Beyond Enemy Lines chose to follow the formula to the nth degree: ithas a 'happy ending' in which our hero naval jet navigator Owen Wilsonis saved at the last minute and returned to his ship in one piece. I'mobliged to put quote marks around the phrase 'happy ending' becausegiven the number of 'enemy' killed to enable Wilson's rescue, thatending is not all that happy for some. And when will Hollywood acceptthat one of 'their boys' is not necessarily one of 'our boys' in thatwe don't get too dewy-eyed when an American is saved. In my case a Britperhaps (although personally the schmaltz always involved in that kindof adventure leaves this Brit cold). There are some good things inBeyond Enemy Lines: the special effects, the cinematography, theediting, much of the acting is the good side of average. On the minusside, of course, are aspects of the plot: Wilson manages to get fromone spot to another with remarkable ease, whether it is from themountains into an abandoned and mined lowland factory site, back intothe woods, then back into the mountains. The chap (in a tracksuit, whyno uniform?) who is hunting him down also has the most remarkable luckin finding young Wilson again and again. And exactly how, in the heatand anarchy of battle, did Wilson manage to undress and swap uniformswith a corpse, giving the film its plot twist when the rescue missionis called off because the Serbs claim Wilson has been killed? Oneinteresting potential theme is completely thrown away, and had it beendeveloped far more might have redeemed the film somewhat: Gene Hackmanis ordered by his superior to call of the rescue of Wilson so thatpeace negotiations are not jeopardised. In essence, one life is to besacrificed for the very real possibility of saving thousands, as thesuperior, not unreasonably, points out to Hackman. Such tragic dilemmassurely face commanders all too often. But dammit, this isn't the realworld, this is a Hollywood adventure, and Hackman sticks two figures upto authority and rescues his boy anyway, even though doing so ends hiscareer when as a result he is relieved of his command. Perhaps myinitial judgment of 'curate's egg' is a little harsh given that whenmeasured against films of this kind, Beyond Enemy Lines does ratherbetter than some of the rubbish I've sat through, most recently The DayAfter Tomorrow which I couldn't even finish watching after it took aleft turn down Schmaltz Alley halfway through and was never going tocome back. And though I didn't see the second half of that film, I justknew Dennis Quaid was going to rescue his son even while thousands ofother were dying horrible deaths. But back to John Moore's effort: Ishould like to see him make similar films away from the pressure tofollow a formula, because whatever else this film did or did notdeliver, it is, at least, certain that Moore has what it takes.

Philip Martin 2012-04-19 10:54:17

From its prosaic title to its convenient timeliness, this valentine to U.S. military guys hamstrung by officious NATO bureaucrats could hardly seem less promising