Flight 42, Retour vers l'enfer

People need to cut this movie a bit of slack. It's just meant to be fun. It's not meant to be anything else. Sure the history is bizarre. That's even pointed out in the movie, as they discuss the Battle of Dunkirk - in this movie it didn't turn out the way it actually turned out. So, somehow, history is a little bit different, which perhaps helps to explain a lot of what seem to be historical inaccuracies. They're not inaccurate. The timeline is just a little bit different. Folks need to stop fixating on that and accept the movie as sheer entertainment. From that perspective it worked quite well.

International Airlines Flight 42 from Dulles to Heathrow encounters a weird storm over the Atlantic, and when passing through it also somehow goes back in time - emerging over the French coast during a German bombing raid in 1940. Nobody knows how it happened, and it takes a while for everyone to be convinced that it has happened - but however it happened, it happened, and it's enjoyable enough to watch as the crew and passengers come to terms with their situation and try to develop a plan to get out of it alive.

It's a low budget, sci-fi movie about time travel featuring a largely little known cast. You have to know that going in to it and set your expectations accordingly. I think the rating this movie gets here (4.4 at the time of writing) is ridiculously low. I'm going to give it an 8 - not because it's a great movie - but because in spite of its limitations it accomplishes what it sets out to accomplish. It's fun and it entertains. I had no trouble watching it from beginning to end - which is more than I can say for a lot of big budget movies with mega-stars.

I have to say that I expected "less" going into this. But it was a cold day and gray outside. I felt that since it was mid day I would watch something I could easily nap to and not stress about missing the show.

No napping took place as the movie has a smooth pace and a tension filled, techy and problematic storyline that keeps you tuned in to see what happens next. That said, you will find this movie is low budget but the acting and activity are really good. I felt that if I had seen this on TV one night I would go nuts talking about it at work the next day.

So if you like WWII "Stuff" and your in the mood for something not filled with smooching, heavy violence or drugs you will indeed find time well spent watching!!! Be sure to pay attention so you don't get confused at the end.

In honor of the masterpiece television show, Twilight Zone, Flight World War 2 is a good film filled with believable characters facing a situation where fantasy becomes reality.

A few points that stood out: In the opening sequence, the US Army soldier is reading a newspaper with the headline "Megalodon". For those who blast the film for inaccuracies, bear in mind it is a world where 900 foot sharks swat battleships like ping pong balls. This is the production company's homage to itself and it made me chuckle.

When the Army soldiers subdues the group of men who want to take the fight to Hitler, the sergeant makes a good point about how seemingly the odds are in favor of those from the future, but one mistake could deliver 21st century technology into the hands of the Nazi's. A valid point and well delivered by the actor.

In general, solid acting. The friendship between Faran Tahir and Matias Ponce was quickly established and believable with Faran delivering a strong performance throughout. And I hope to see more Aqueela Zoll and wish her well for her career to develop and to land some lead roles in films with broader circulation. Her acting throughout was steady as she played the young, but strong stewardess. Through the entire film, I do not recall any hammy lines or acting on anyone's part that was not on par with a quality film.

Flight World War 2 is a science fiction film along the lines of Twilight Zone. Against the modern grain, this film does not have loads of action. Instead, it is steeped in tension and does cause the viewer to ask, "What if ...?" What if 75 years of R&D in avionic, computing, telecommunications, fabrics, lighting and electronics were delivered to our ancestors? The airplane alone is a boon of technology, but the 200+ people and their personal belongings and knowledge of social and economic history would have an unimaginable impact on our past.

Ultimately, this movie serves well as a science fiction romp. It delivers tension, good acting, and does open the conversation to what alternatives the past would have if the movie ended differently.

The viewer will assume this is a time travel film, if only because the characters believe they have traveled in time, back to 1940. From the beginning, however, they are confronted with events that are apparently out of kilter, such as Dunkirk being a disaster rather than an inspirational evacuation, or Nazi jets, or Allied SAM weaponry, or the lack of British radar research, or...well, you get the idea--something is wrong, something even the professional historians aboard the airliner don't understand, and never really get. There is a temptation to dismiss the film as just a remake of The Final Countdown, but it goes past it in terms of theme, edging into more complexity, touching upon the idea of Intelligent Design, divine intervention, and the fluidity of time. Had the script actually addressed the issues directly rather than touching upon them tangentially, and also managed to remain above a certain level of pulpy mawkishness, the film would have been better. It might also then have risen above the mediocre acting. But the script writers did not, the director did not, and so we have a film that is highly entertaining and diverting, but is hardly challenging.

There will be a lot of reviews pointing out the historical inaccuracies and errors made within the film, and I won't refute that. When viewing for the first time I expected these faults in the writing and took them into account. It isn't the worst movie of all time, nor is it the best. The acting is sketchy and the graphics are average at best, but that's not what this flick is for. Of course there are things wrong with it, but that's the point. The film wasn't made for the purpose of historical accuracy, but as a simple sci-fi, action picture that would provide 90 minutes of entertainment. But when you see a description of a passenger aircraft from 2015 travelling through time to 1940, what did you honestly expect? Not a horrible movie, I'd recommend it to anyone who likes basic action and a bit of corny drama.