Behind Enemy Lines

Note this is not a war movie. Instead it is a survival story set during a war. Viewed in that sense, it is an incredible action-packed drama. The photography is insanely good, with some fantastic aerial shots. Hail to director John Moore for having such a clear vision of what he wanted the end product to look like. This was so incredible, it is hard to believe it was his directorial debut feature.

Owen Wilson does a styling job here, so much so that I can't understand why he does comedy more often than drama. He just does drama so well. The film has amazing visuals, fast paced action, great acting, great music, great effects, great suspense - what else could one ask for to be entertained? This was a thrill-ride from beginning to end, with never a dull moment. It just got better and better as it progressed - and what an ending!

I truly enjoyed this movie, because it took a lighthearted approach to 'running for your life' while serving in the forces. I was, however, disheartened by the fact that Scott O'Grady brought down a law suit on the study for "portraying him" in a bad light. This movie was about anything else but Scott O'Grady. Note: Sorry Scott, but it's not about you...

I enjoyed the way Wilson took control of his character and lived up to the expectation of what one would expect from a Navy pilot. Let's not forget Gene 'The Man' Hackman. It's difficult to imagine Hackman 'not' being in the service because he does it so 'friggin' well.

The movie is suspenseful and the supporting cast is simply awesome! It's just one of those films where not enough credit was given to everyone, all around!

Lt Chris Burnett is a US Navy navigator working on a NATO mission around Bosnia. Bored with routine in the Navy and fed up flying uneventful missions to survey the peace, Burnett annoys his CO one last time by putting in his notice to quit and return to civilian life. Of course his reward is to be put on a mission on Christmas Day doing routine reconnaissance. An error in the intelligence data leads them over an no-fly zone where they see a convoy of Bosnian soldiers who should not be there and, in the process of recording them, they are attacked and shot down. Separated form Burnett, the pilot is captured and killed, leaving Burnett to evade capture for as long as he can until he can be rescued.

First of all, lets make it clear that this is not the film to come to if you are expecting anything intelligent or worthwhile about the conflict in Bosnia; if that is your aim then I would suggest maybe Saviour as a starting point but certainly not this film. However if you want a standard action movie that happens to use the bleak washed out colours of a war zone to add character as well as using the war to make lots of things go bang then this should do you – as long as you can stop your brain from thinking about the morals of using such a conflict to make a flag-waving, simplistic piece of Saturday night entertainment. The plot aspires to being some sort of serious piece about the conflict based around an action movie but it is nothing of the sort. Instead the conflict is very simplified for the purposes of leaving our brains free enough of worry and moral concern for our fellow man to be able to just enjoy things going bang. The plot sees an American soldier evade the bad guys with the aim of defeating them against the odds – it doesn't matter who the bad guys are because they are a device rather than real people – they could have been black (Black Hawk Down), Muslim (The Siege) or French (SWAT) but here they happen to be Bosnian. We don't need to worry too much about this because the film doesn't really do anything with them other than use them as the baddies to the blonde and clean cut Burnett's goodie.

I'm sure I'll get bashed as anti-American for saying things like that but that is not my intention and I'd like to think I'm just being objective; lets be honest, this is just an action movie and shouldn't be looked on as anything more. However even judged on the standards of action movies this is only an average affair, with a plot that destroys its own tension by making Burnett increasingly bullet-proof as the film goes on, leading to a climax that reminded me of the laughable ending to Rambo 3. It does have tension early on but it has blown it by the ending, and the simplistic approach to a real war is hardly helpful. The direction tries to cover the gaps by using advertising gimmicks of jump cuts and freeze frames – they aren't a replacement for content but at least they make the film a bit more interesting. Ignoring the morals of it, the use of the frozen war zone does create atmosphere really easily and it was used well.

With Hackman too old to be repeating his Bat-21 role, Wilson steps up and, aside from his usual comic stuff at the start, plays it pretty straight and has clearly aimed to be nothing more than an all-American kid just doing his duty. He aims for this and this is all he does which, in an action movie, is fine – however I kept thinking of Denis Quaid and thought how much braver he was in his choices. Hackman must have done about 2 or 3 weeks work on this film given 95% of his scenes are in one main location; he is OK but really just phones this in. The support cast is interesting in regards the Americans (people like Keith and 24's Almeida) but no effort is made on the side of the 'enemy' who are simply goons and baddies from the get go. Again it all works fine in a dumb action movie but the real setting in such a terrible conflict made me hope for more than just action fodder.

Overall this is an average action movie with a bullet-proof hero taking on baddies who look different (black, Eastern European, Muslim, whatever) to bring good to the world of evil. On this level it is nothing special although it has some nice touches of style along the way but gets silly as it comes to the end. However morally it had a responsibility to really use this stage to do more with the conflict than just use it as a backdrop. Sadly it just paints everyone as the baddies and only looks for the emotion of cheering 'our guys' on rather than feeling anything for the real people or real country. Saviour may be bleak and depressing as a film but my god it is easier to stomach at times than this was. If you want things going bang then it should do you but you'd best try to switch off your brain, morals and heart before you start watching it.

Let's see. Take one standard action film involving Americans, add in a new baddie for them to triumph over, and have the baddies act atrociously and brutally, then let the good guys be victorious in the end.

That about sums up BEL. It has reasonable special effects, a plot that is simple and oh so seen before, and a square jawed handsome hero (although, looking at Wilson's nose, not that handsome).

People have already remarked on various inaccuracies and symbolism such as the angel in the midst of war etc. Instead of going over those I'd like to point out the overriding message this film taught me.

That it's OK to disobey orders. Disobey them in such a way as to get your best friend killed. But that's OK, because no matter what happens when you disobey orders, it all comes out good in the end. You feel better about yourself and you'll bring the bad guys to book. So don't worry about your best friend. He was only a plot device anyway.

One thing is certain, though. As long as there is conflict in the world, there will be a Hollywood movie to glorify it and vilify the enemy.

And just who were the enemy? The Bosnians? The Serbs? The Croats? The film didn't seem very certain itself and neither was I, even at the end.

Particularly laughable (and somewhat disturbing) in this no brainer action film was the dreadful end sequence, where we get to find out (via the wonder of the subtitled explanation) what happens to the main characters.

Now, call me old-fashioned, but such final scene "what they did next" stuff in my book is reserved for two types of film - comedy spoofs and documentaries. This film is certainly no comedy, so the appearance of these notes, to me, would seem to imply that the movie was in part based in reality. I find this disturbing simply because there are any number of extremely dumb people out there that would see such final comments and assume the film was, after all, based on true events. And it's this kind of "it happened like this" cinema (which most often involves Americans saving the world) that concerns me most. U571 is another, now notorious, example of this. Apparently its true that history is written by the victors......

As for the movie, the opening scenes are the most rewarding. Once the movie passes into its middle it becomes a bit dull and the ending, as others have observed, is more like a Rambo film and gets quite farcical.

The movie is best watched whilst a few drinks shy of inebriation. You'll enjoy it more and not notice the foolishness (hopefully).

This is a taut and compelling film based on true events ; it focuses a pair of brave pilots , two crack fighter pilots , the Air Force Lieutenants Burnett (Owen Wilson) and Stackhouse (Gabriel Match) . The F-14 Fighter pilots have only seen the war from 40.000 foot until they're shot down behind enemy lines , in Bosnia territory . Now the Admiral McMahon (Gene Hackman) in charge to get him out , before the Servian soldiers (Olek Kupra) and enemy forces bombing the area . However US commanding doesn't want intervene but is about a peace treatise . Stranding two pilots in enemy territory , now in order to survive , there starts a game of survival . They must fight the rebel forces that threaten their lives and retrieve photographs about massacres .

It's an adrenaline-fueled adventure with spectacular flight-scenes, suspense , tension and lots of entertainment . What's important here are the aircraft flights , shooting , noisy action and breathtaking combats . Fantastic , memorable aerial cinematography and overwhelming pursuits are the main assets of this story . Although it displays a ridiculous finale in ¨Rambo¨ style . The movie follows the wake from Bat 21 (Peter Medak with Gene Hackman , Danny Glover) in similar premise though developed in Vietnam . The picture delivers an excessive stirring camera with continuous Steadicam and it produces some headache to spectator . Hyperactive musical score adequate to action by Don Davis (Matrix) . The film is based loosely on the experiences of USAF Captain Scott O'Grady, who was shot down near the town of Mrkonjic Grad in northern Bosnia in June 1995 and was stranded in Serb-held territory for six days before being rescued by US Marines. O'Grady brought a lawsuit down on 20th Century Fox for damages to his character , he claims he didn't curse as much and never disobeyed orders . The flick was professionally directed by John Moore in his first film . Later on , he achieved successes with ¨Flight of Phoenix¨ (2004) and ¨The Omen¨ (2006) . Followed by an inferior sequel titled ¨Behind enemy lies II : Axis of evil (2006)¨ by James Dodson with Nicholas Gonzalez and Keith David and other inferior third part . Rating : Acceptable , no dull , but is quite excitement .