Film Rating:
DVD Rating:
Director: John Moore
Producer: John Davis
Screenplay: David Veloz and Zak Penn
Director of Photography: Brendan Galvin
Cast: Owen Wilson, Gene Hackman, Joaquim de Almeida, Olek Krupa
| BEHIND ENEMY LINES Film Rating: DVD Rating: Director: John Moore Producer: John Davis Screenplay: David Veloz and Zak Penn Director of Photography: Brendan Galvin Cast: Owen Wilson, Gene Hackman, Joaquim de Almeida, Olek Krupa |
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Review by:
John C. Ardussi
4/25/02
THE MOVIE:
In a time when releasing a war
movie seemed to make as much sense as opening a car dealership
in Amish country, Behind Enemy Lines became a film for
movie studios to dip their toes back into the water to see if
the reception would be hot or cold. While formulaic in its plot
(you can almost outline the whole plot after hearing the title)
and artistic in filming style, the movie was not bad for one simple
reason -- it won me over at the beginning. This allowed me to
forgive the many subtle, yet when taken in whole, glaring mistakes
made from the time they get on the ground to the end. First time
Director John Moore uses short cuts and camera movement reminiscent
of another Gene Hackman film, The Replacements, to get
your blood rushing. And it does.
The movie is about a fictional time when the United Nations forces are on the verge of pulling out of Bosnia. While on a routine recon mission, Navy pilot Stackhouse (Gabriel Macht) and navigator Burnett (Owen Wilson) venture off their flight plan to investigate what turns out to be troops in the demilitarized zone. The Serbians, not wanting to be discovered, shoot missiles at the plane in an effort to keep their activities a secret.
As they attempt to evade and destroy the missiles, you are taken on a visual and emotional roller coaster ride through the hills and forests of Bosnia. The pilots eject and end up (you guessed it) behind enemy lines. The pilot Stackhouse is found by the Serbian troops led by commander Lokar (Olek Krupa). But Burnett gets away. He is then chased by a sniper/commando played quite convincingly by Vladamir Mashkov. In addition, Lokar sends a group of soldiers to help find Burnett, just to make sure.
The mission originated off the aircraft carrier the USS Vinson, which is commanded by Admiral Reigert (Gene Hackman). The classic conflict of military versus diplomacy ensues when the NATO commander Frenchman Admiral Piquet (Joaquim de Almeida) forbids Reigert from sending in a rescue team to retrieve Burnett. This is another instance of "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few," bigger picture argument.
So Burnett is left to fend for himself and get to a safe point in hopes that he will be picked up. Unfortunately, this is where things start to go sour. Not for the character, for the movie. Either the Burnett character didn't remember his training or the writers are not familiar with how a soldier would act under these circumstances. He travels around by day. When he radios in, he sits at the very peak of the hill totally exposed. When he rests, he does so out in the open where, not surprisingly, sniper bullets start flying around him. Of course this is a sniper who barely misses Burnett when he is sliding quickly down a broken down bridge, but couldn't hit him when he was sitting still either.
Towards the end of the film, it just gets gratuitous. Many Serbians soldiers and tanks are shooting at Burnett and some helicopters, yet able to hit nothing. It is so bad it would have made the A-Team wince. And ice that was barely able to support a person is now just fine with tanks sitting on it. Your willingness to suspend disbelief is really taxed.
But the flaws were subtle enough that I was able to let them go. I can see how this will not be true for everyone. If you require movies to be reasonably accurate or consistently obey the laws of physics, you are bound to be disappointed.
While the movie was inspired by Air Force pilot Scott O'Grady's experiences being shot down over Bosnia in 1995, this is by no means even slightly based on what actually happened. So if you are looking for a story at all based on fact, you will again be disappointed.
THE DISC:
Surprisingly, the movie is rated
PG-13. And this is where the DVD explains a lot. The movie was
originally shot as a normal war film. But as the Director John
Moore comments in the Special Features section, the studio wanted
to get the rating down to PG-13. So a lot of the film showing
people getting shot and dead bodies in a pit got left on the cutting
room floor. Which does lead to confusion at times. There are several
times in the film where you see people run out and others shooting
at them, but the resolution of whether or how the people got shot
is left to the viewer's imagination.
This shows a glaring example of how a movie would have been better if it had not cut been down to get a different rating. For that reason, if you are interested in this movie, I highly recommend you get the DVD version. The Special Features and comments by the director and editor (Paul Martin Smith) are worth it.
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