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Amazon.co.uk Review
After a successful career in TV commercials, Irish director John Moore makes a promising feature debut on Slovakian locations, borrowing a few techniques from Saving Private Ryan while adding impressive flourishes of his own. The gung-ho ending's a foregone conclusion, but it works like a charm after the movie's exciting game of cat and mouse.--Jeff Shannon
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The film follows a disillusioned Navy fighter pilot, on the verge of leaving the service as he's lost track of what it is that he's supposed to be fighting for, who then gets shot down over Bosnia during a routine surveillance mission on Christmas Day. He has to evade capture, and eventually try and get to a pick-up point where he'll be lifted to safety by a rescue team from his aircraft carrier. Throw into the mix a bit of genocide, executions, a long chase a la The Fugitive, political wrangling and a surprising amount of tension and suspense and you've got the recipe for a great night in.
Owen Wilson makes for a decent hero, and the film is edited in a flashy style that's both visually appealing and moves along at a fair old pace. Gene Hackman sleepwalks through his role as "The Admiral", chewing on scenery and barking just like you think he will when you see his name in the opening credits.
Behind Enemy Lines is actually a lot better than you'd think it would, or probably should, be and even though you get the rousing flagwaving anthemic music during the final action sequence, this isn't enough to detract from everything that went before it.
The DVD is a good example of what could have been without too much interference by the US rating board. All the footage that was considered "too graphic" for public consumption appears in the deleted scenes (with optional commentary) - basically more violence during the battle in Hac, and more footage from the mass grave Owen Wilson discovers whilst trying to evade capture. It's grim, but the film could have benefitted from it's inclusion as it lends itself to a darker, more fitting tone. There's alternate takes on various sequences, sfx breakdowns, commentaries, plenty to keep you occupied after watching the film.
The film itself is a stunning presentation, visually it's flawless and the audio, in either Dolby Digital or DTS 5.1, will literally tear your livingroom apart during the action sequences, although it's just as impressive with ambient effects during quieter moments, creating a full 3D soundfield that's amongst the best I've heard.
Very entertaining and I thoroughly recommend it to anyone that can happily remove their brain when they watch these kind of movies
That's a type of film which appeals to me anyway, but many in this genre are dull and formulaic, and bring nothing new.
What raises this one up above its peers is the setting. The madness of "limited intervention" is exposed as serving only those who are willing to exploit its weaknesses for their own ends. The frustrations of those who strive to retain their morality and common sense is neatly juxtaposed against the attitudes of those who are happy to pay lipservice to accords signed thousands of miles away which have no effect on the ground. Faced with an uncomfortable truth, this latter type turns away and chooses ignorance, for fear of being forced to take action. This is not a situation unique to the former Yugoslavia, but it reached its nadir there and that is something of which we cannot be reminded too often.
Behind Enemy Lines is not Schindler's List, but it's no empty-headed "Top Gun" either. Owen Wilson's performance confirms that as well as being a comedian and an excellent writer, he's a convincing dramatic actor too.
Buy it and enjoy it, and feel happy that every time you show it to a friend you will be reminding them of what happened to the people of that torn-apart country while Europe looked on and did little.
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.
You could watch it once but not twice. Read more
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