Behind Enemy Lines

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining but implausible.
Review: "Behind Enemy Lines" (2001)

Behind Enemy Lines was a movie I went to see purely because nothing else was on. I'd seen almost every movie that was playing and even though I really didn't want to, I went along to see Behind Enemy Lines. There were a lot of reasons I expected to highly dislike this film. I thought it would be just a bunch of mindless excuses for explosions with bad performances (mostly because I don't like Owen Wilson very much) and a way over-long running time. But to my utter surprise, I enjoyed almost every moment of this thrill ride.

The main reason Behind Enemy Lines works with its story-line is because it runs two stories at the same time and keeps us enthralled through both of them. The movie has a tendency to leave us in the Owen Wilson-getting-chased-by-baddies' most exciting scenes and change over to the less adrenaline charged but still interesting Gene Hackman-chasing-down-Owen-Wilson's-whereabouts' story. This leaves us hanging on the edge of our seats for more action and gives the movie way more intrigue.

The other thing that gives Behind Enemy Lines a kick in the right direction is the stylistic camera-work in the film. We get all kinds of different shots for all kinds of different action sequences. The hand-held camera work is very effective and makes the movie seem more war-like. The cinematography is neat in the way it can show endless styles to shoot scenes within the first hour but find plenty more to finish off the movie. It really shows how cinematography and shooting styles are advancing to new levels these days.

Of course, there is nothing more I enjoyed this movie for more than its entertainment value and action sequences. The action scenes are breathtaking and sometimes a little far-fetched but they are amazingly stylish and work into the movies plot in many ways. I especially enjoyed the first major action sequence in which Owen Wilson and a flight buddy dodge, dive and ditch the missiles that the baddies', the Somalians, are sending from the ground. This action sequence is fabulously original and uses a lot of visual and special techniques to get the overall result of one of the tensest scenes of 2001.

Unfortunately, the movie does have its problems. If you're looking for a movie with 3 dimensional characters, a plausible story and a lot of believable scenes that come from the heart, then I don't recommend this movie. The barely 1 dimensional "heroic" characters (especially Wilson's character) aren't likeable at the start. Um, Owen, are you completely blind or just stupid? He has just had his plane blown up, fallen through trees, and landed on unknown territory which contains some very dangerous people who were trying to kill him and his fly buddy about 5 minutes ago, and Wilson's character is able to crack smiles and make a joke?... This movie needs lessons in being more plausible, because this movie got a right kick in the pants for that one scene.

... On the subject of lines and quotes, beware for the cheese that comes out of Gene Hackman's mouth in this film. The lines are not atrocious, but they aren't believable or easy to take seriously either.

This is one big package with the title ACTION BLOCKBUSTER stamped all over it. I guess you know what that means these days, in short: lots of adventure, lots of fun, but reasonably dumb.

MY GRADE: B-

Rating:
Summary: Great escapism for the blow 'em up crowd
Review: "Behind Enemy Lines" is a great example of the action film that is so fast-paced, so visually dazzling, and so tense that the viewer doesn't have much time to think about the film itself. Owen Wilson plays battle-untested Navy navigator Chris Burnett who, while on a reconnaissance mission, is shot down over Bosnia. Although both Burnett and his pilot escape alive, it quickly becomes clear they are in extreme danger. While commanding officer Admiral Reigart (Gene Hackman) begins plans for a rescue mission, he is hampered by those in command over him.

While the premise itself is formulaic - we've all seen this scenario many, many times - the tight pacing serves the movie well, as the viewer is thrust from one suspenseful scene to another, with barely time to breathe between each. The cinematography supplies a gorgeous texture that contrasts powerfully with the destruction Burnett must both witness and turn from to save his life. Both symbolic of the theme and visually powerful is the enormous statue of the Virgin Mary that Burnett parachutes past, her face beautiful on one side, blown away on the other. Upon seeing this early in the movie, you know that this action film will have its message.

This thriller provides great, tense escapism, with people, buildings, and trucks blowing up or being shot to pieces every few minutes. The suspense is aided by several original scenes, such as the heat-sensing satellite images being watched aboard the aircraft by carrier personnel. They can see Burnett being approached but can't understand why his pursuers walk right by him. Unfortunately, if you stop to long to consider things that happen, and how people react, you'll run right smack into implausibilities, clichés, and just plain stupidity.

I was torn about how many stars to give this film. I was riveted throughout despite its over-simplification and relative predictability. The strongest feature of this film is its ability to draw the viewer into the plot and keep him there. Just don't think too much about it afterward. Four stars if you want to get lost in an action thriller, three stars if you want something more.

Rating:
Summary: Which genius funded this one?
Review: "Behind Enemy Lines" is exactly the kind of film that I will not spare harsh words for. After all, was I not made to sit for two hours watching a work so devoid of passion, truth and entertainment value? The film is predictable down to the very last detail. It is a work processed straight out of the Hollywood Money Making Machine with no touch of humanity anywhere to be found. I think it would be more appropriately titled "Run Owen, Run! (Brought to you by Coca-Cola, Chevrolet and Ice Cube.)" If you've seen the film you know exactly what I'm talking about.

If you must know, the plot involves Owen Wilson as Chris Burnett, a Navy lieutenant running away from his Serbian foes. Gene Hackman is Admiral Reigart, the one trying to pick Burnett up and bring him back home. The trouble is, a peace treaty was recently signed between America and those chasing Burnett, so if Admiral Reigart dares and goes after him, his entire command is at stake. War is a complex subject, and a good war film should never be able to be summarized in three sentences. But this isn't a good war film, and I just did it, didn't I?

I probably don't need to tell you how unrealistic this whole affair is. Am I supposed to believe that with an entire section of the Serbian army on his tail, Burnett gets out completely unscathed? Are these guys really such bad shots that out of all of them, not one can even hit Burnett in the leg? With the carelessness Burnett shows, he's pretty damn lucky that Hollywood "magic" can pull him out of a jam whenever he needs. I say Burnett is careless, let me elaborate. If I were in his position, and had a chance to escape by blending in with the opponent, there is no way I would take off a ski mask that was concealing my identity (even if I did get rewarded by hearing that triumphant music in the background).

I am also sick of directors coming into Hollywood, placing a bunch of radical camera tricks in their film and thinking that makes them Orson Welles. POV, 360 degree rotation, Slow-Motion (one of the inventions the film world would be a better place without), lightning-quick montages, it's all here, and ALL the time. Director John Moore never gives it a rest. English should be a required course in film school so directors can forget about the lenses and the camera speeds for at least a minute and focus on the point they're trying to get across.

Owen Wilson and Gene Hackman do their worst in this film. Owen Wilson is a generally good actor who somehow lets all his acting skills go to waste and create a completely bland, stupid character. And Gene Hackman? It would be a huge understatement to call him a fantastic actor who's had some classic performances, but he is scraping the bottom of the barrel with this one. I can safely say that this is one of the worst performances of his fruitful career, and I am in shock that such a smart actor as him would choose such an empty project. However, Gene Hackman at his worst is better than Ben Affleck trying his hardest. The one reason "Behind Enemy Lines" is on a level slightly above dreck like "Pearl Harbor" is because it is graced with his presence.

"Behind Enemy Lines" is the kind of film built to [bring] in money, and maybe grab a few awards along the way. Unfortunately, this is becoming the norm for war movies these days, but trust me, people aren't being fooled. If you want a surge of post 9/11 patriotism or inspiration, save your nine bucks and rent something with real emotion like "Casablanca" or "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"; something that aims to do more than nab the top spot at the weekend box office.

Rating:
Summary: Simply incredible!
Review: "Behind Enemy Lines" is a fast-paced thrillride, starring Owen Wilson and Gene Hackman. The nonstop action will pump up your adrenaline, and the special effects will leave your jaw hanging. If you liked "Saving Private Ryan" and like James Bond (one-man army sort of thing), you'll love this mixture of the two.

In short: You'll pay for the whole seat... but you'll only need the edge of it.

Rating:
Summary: Great escapism for the blow 'em up crowd
Review: "Behind Enemy Lines" is a great example of the action film that is so fast-paced, so visually dazzling, and so tense that the viewer doesn't have much time to think about the film itself. Owen Wilson plays battle-untested Navy navigator Chris Burnett who, while on a reconnaissance mission, is shot down over Bosnia. Although both Burnett and his pilot escape alive, it quickly becomes clear they are in extreme danger. While commanding officer Admiral Reigart (Gene Hackman) begins plans for a rescue mission, he is hampered by those in command over him.

While the premise itself is formulaic - we've all seen this scenario many, many times - the tight pacing serves the movie well, as the viewer is thrust from one suspenseful scene to another, with barely time to breathe between each. The cinematography supplies a gorgeous texture that contrasts powerfully with the destruction Burnett must both witness and turn from to save his life. Both symbolic of the theme and visually powerful is the enormous statue of the Virgin Mary that Burnett parachutes past, her face beautiful on one side, blown away on the other. Upon seeing this early in the movie, you know that this action film will have its message.

This thriller provides great, tense escapism, with people, buildings, and trucks blowing up or being shot to pieces every few minutes. The suspense is aided by several original scenes, such as the heat-sensing satellite images being watched aboard the aircraft by carrier personnel. They can see Burnett being approached but can't understand why his pursuers walk right by him. Unfortunately, if you stop to long to consider things that happen, and how people react, you'll run right smack into implausibilities, clichés, and just plain stupidity.

I was torn about how many stars to give this film. I was riveted throughout despite its over-simplification and relative predictability. The strongest feature of this film is its ability to draw the viewer into the plot and keep him there. Just don't think too much about it afterward. Four stars if you want to get lost in an action thriller, three stars if you want something more.

Rating:
Summary: Style over substance, with ludicrous situations.
Review: "Behind Enemy Lines" isn't so much a movie about a soldier trapped in dangerous territory as it is about a director spicing up a second-rate war thriller with technical wizardry and grandiose special effects. The cast is watchable at times, as are the intense images of war-torn Bosnia contrasted with images of striking beauty, but the situations are handled in the wrongs ways, and the actions taken by the characters are ludicrous.

The movie opens with news of a treaty that will bring peace to Bosnia, where NATO has begun to withdraw its troops from certain areas while keeping watch on others; the cause of the war, the devastation of it, as well as the treaty itself, never are explained. We are introduced to Burnett (Owen Wilson), a somewhat cocky lieutenant who feels that there is no grounds for U.S. involvement, putting in his resignation to his commanding officer, Reigart (Gene Hackman). Reigart, tired of Burnett's countless shenanigans, dismisses him from service upon their return home, but not before scheduling his flight crew for one last reconnaissance mission on Christmas Day.

During their recon flight, Burnett notices activity outside of their mission zone, yet flies off course to investigate, despite the protestations of his copilot, Stackhouse (Gabriel Macht). As it happens, they come across something not meant to be seen, are shot down from the sky, and find themselves in the danger zone without a clear way out.

It is here that the movie begins to make many noticeable and frustrating mistakes. After the crash, Burnett walks into an open clearing, yelling out to Stackhouse, whom he then leaves in the middle of that clearing to climb a hill in order to radio the carrier for help. I'm not a military expert, but anyone with enough common sense knows that these actions are life-threatening as well as being utterly stupid. As Stackhouse is shot (not before stating that he was alone on the mission), Burnett shouts in fright, giving away his position on the hill.

That's not all this guy does: throughout the movie we will see him on the tops of mountains, in plain view of possible snipers and enemy bombers, running through the woods without stopping to look back or even jump from hiding place to hiding place for safety, and walking through an abandoned town where an intricate system of mines has been set up. During all of this, he gives a few glances here and there, but doesn't appear to be looking for enemy soldiers or the possibility of danger. This lack of a realistic approach to a highly volatile situation spells out the movie's downfall, a slow descent into war movie cliché and bogus patriotism.

Director John Moore, a TV commercial director who takes his first big step into Hollywood, seems more interested in giving the movie a visual style and sleek appeal rather than supplying it with credible tension or believable plot. From sharp, quick-cut editing, a hard-edge soundtrack, and color tones that accentuate the harshness of the landscape, the cinematography ranks right up there with that of "Saving Private Ryan," yet there's no emotion to it: it's merely there just to be. As he moves his character to different set pieces, we are bombarded with a striking display of convincing visual effects, loud explosions, and rousing action that would have more meaning if there were something behind it.

This is a classic case of a bad movie happening to a good cast, though I have to wonder if Wilson ever really considered just how implausible his character's actions really are. Hackman delivers worn-out war dialogue in a pleasing fashion, and the Bosnian soldiers and snipers are effectively chilling. But when all is said and done, blown up and shot at, "Behind Enemy Lines" is all style and little substance, and sinks under its own stupidity.

Rating:
Summary: decent but uninspired action film
Review: **1/2 In the opening scene of "Behind Enemy Lines," Navy pilot Chris Burnett and his flight buddy - affectionately known as "Stackhouse" - indulge in a little pre-flight gallows humor as they recall various famous rock performers who have met their ends in plane crashes. Is it any surprise, then, that these two jocular jocks will face the prospect of a similar fate before too many more scenes have played themselves out?

Indeed, it turns out that, not long afterwards, both Burnett and Stackhouse are shot down by the Serbians while flying a reconnaissance mission over what is supposed to be a de-militarized zone in Bosnia. Only Burnett survives and he is forced to hot foot it over miles of difficult and unfamiliar terrain while being pursued by sniper forces bent on his annihilation. Gene Hackman co-stars as Burnett's hardnosed - but actually soft-hearted - commanding officer who is forced to decide between keeping the terms of a fragile NATO-imposed peace agreement, thereby leaving Burnett to fend for himself in the wild, or saying to hell with the treaty and rescuing one of his own men as his gut instincts tell him to do.

If "Behind Enemy Lines" turns out to be a fairly decent action picture, it is attributable almost entirely to the likeability factor emanating, as always, from actor Owen Wilson. With his Average Joe persona, Wilson takes Burnett out of the realm of superhero and makes him a character we can identify with - this despite the fact that the number of hairbreadth escapes that Burnett manages to pull off strain our credulity far beyond the breaking point. Wilson is also aided by the flashy visual technique employed by director John Moore, which helps to cover up the fact that the screenplay has really very little character development taking place under its action-movie surface. We might also object to the fact that the script never even attempts to come to terms with the complex nature of the Bosnian conflict, choosing instead to reduce the issue to as simplistic a sociopolitical level as possible. The film also suffers from a sort of built-in monotony factor, endemic to most man-on-the-run narratives. This is especially aggravated - as it is in this film - when the chase is taking place in a foreign country with very few of the people our hero encounters able to communicate with him much beyond simple phrases and gestures.

The cinematography does a tremendous job capturing the stark beauty of the film's bleak, wintertime setting. Unfortunately, the adrenaline-pumping rock music soundtrack tends to not only undercut the sense of realism created by the photography, but to cheapen the serious and tragic real life events that define the film's historical context. Perhaps the bitter war in Bosnia is simply too recent and too fresh in our minds to serve as an excuse for yet another rah-rah tale of American ingenuity and virtue. I

Rating:
Summary: Behind Terrible Movies (like this one)
Review: --

In "Behind Enemy Lines," the writer, producers, and director apparently got together with some military PsyOps people at which point they asked each other, "How can we best portray the US effort in the Balkans?" "I know," they exclaimed in tandem, "we'll create a glossy, patriotic movie that's completely inaccurate!

"Let's make the Serbs the unshaven evil guys who assassinate Americans. Let's make the Muslims the clean-shaven, peace-loving victims who save the American(s). And let's make the Americans, well, just normal Americans with normal attributes like incontestable honesty, unimaginable bravery, irrefutable nobility, and the rest of it. The problem is, of course, none of it is true.

It's not difficult to understand why movies like this get made. Obviously, to fetch some money. It also helps if they can bolster support for, and simplify the explanation of, dubious wars. But it's a boring template -- a tired, salami-factory formula.

The film does have some special effects -- jumpy ground-level cameras attempt take the nervous viewer closer to bleak, desperate landscapes, etc., -- but it's all been done before. There's nothing remotely innovative here. Indeed, adding special effects on top of so many clich?s makes the film seem triter, stupider.

Unless movies co-scripted by the Pentagon are your thing, "Behind Enemy Lines" makes for pretty awful viewing. That it fails on so many levels isn't surprising -- when was the last time the US Government made a good movie?

--

Rating:
Summary: Yeah, OK, it's not the greatest movie ever...
Review: ...but it's a good stuff-blowing-up distraction for a Friday night. Watching Owen Wilson running, hiding, evading the enemy made me maddeningly tense. Yes, there were some awful lines, [bad] parts of the plot, etc. But I wasn't looking for the meaning of life here, just a good rental. And I got my $[money] worth. Really, it was worth that just to hear Hackman yell "What the...is the problem???" I also loved the landscape: creepy and desolate and more like a character in the movie than just a background.
One thing that baffled me: during the mass grave scene, there's a flashback (in black and white) of the mass killings, and right in the middle of it there's a tiny 2 or 3-second segment that came directly from the movie "The Savior" (great movie)when the main female character is about to be murdered. I scanned all 107 reviews to see if anyone mentioned it, but nobody did. (I know, that's pretty pathetic, but I really wanted to know.)
I would have liked more interaction between the Wilson and Hackman characters, but I was left pretty satisfied overall.

Rating:
Summary: simply a great moive
Review: ...This moive is more like a action moive then a war movie. And one more thing the movie is NOT "pretty easy to predict what is going to happen" oh and real cool music to, wish there was a soundtrack, if you know where to get one put it in a review.