Reviews
Review: "Behind Enemy
Lines"
By: The Crystal Lich on December 8, 2001 at 9:56 am
Contributing or originating source: The Crystal Lich
As distracting as Owen Wilson's nose may be, he still has enough charisma
to carry a gratuitous war film to the end. Fortunately, gratuity is all the
deeper this film gets or really needs to.
Lt. Chris Burnett (Owen Wilson) has had enough of life in the Navy. As an
aviator onboard an aircraft carrier, he has seen little or no action and
craves the opportunity to do something meaningful; since he hasn't found
it in over six years, he is about to resign. Admiral Reigart (Gene Hackman)
sees potential for Burnett but also knows the young man hasn't yet learned
what it is to be a soldier. The hopes and concerns of both men are tested
when Burnett's aircraft goes down under questionable circumstances and Reigart's
hands are politically tied to keep him from doing what he knows is right.
The one thing that hurts watching this kind of the film is knowing pretty
much everything that's going to happen, but to filmmakers John Moore's credit,
he tries to make each scene unique in how it looks. Sometimes the visual
effects feel like "Saving Private Ryan", but the rest look more like a bad
episode of 'Miami Vice.' Even so, the film never sets it sights higher than
cheap thrills and unnecessarily dramatic scenes, whether showing an F-18
evading a surface-to-air missle or watching the pursuit via an illegal infrared
satellite hookup. "Behind Enemy Lines" is both a guilty pleasure movie and
a guy flick, each with a capital 'G'.
A heavy-handed 'we good' vs. 'them bad' film isn't bad once in a while. In
this instance, however, we meet the bad guys and see them being bad, but
it's pretty vague WHY they're bad. Were they wronged? Are they just oppressing
the natives? Are they seeking power? Whatever the reason, they seem pretty
well funded and equally fearless for an enemy army smack in the middle of
a peace negotiation. But the film IS centered around the why the heroes are
or become heroes, so leaving the bad guys faceless makes it much easier for
our heroes to pull the trigger when the time comes.
Owen Wilson spends most of the film running and asking a lot of questions,
but when's he going to play something other than a personable, get-to-know-ya
guy? The closest he's come to actual acting so far has been "Meet the Parents."
Gene Hackman turns in his usual gruff but likable performance, although "The
Replacements" had a better opportunity for his range. If you miss "Top Gun"
but are willing to settle for "Navy Seals," then "Behind Enemy Lines" is,
well, the film you've been waiting to settle for. Otherwise, expect to see
a lot of this film rerun on the movie channels very soon.
(a tolerable 1.5 out of 4 skulls)
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