Turbulence 2: Fear of Flying

The first Turbulence movie really reeked (ie. it stunk out the whole cabin), mostly because there were large portions of the movie where nothing much exciting happened. They fixed this problem for Turbulence 2 with wall-to-wall non-stop heart-pounding action. OK, the action isn't heart-pounding but it's certainly wall-to-wall. There's always somebody fighting, running away, chasing, blowing something up, shooting, dying, trying to escape or, of course, flying the plane in turbulent conditions. Oh yeah, and falling...

The wall-to-wall action is flanked closely on both sides with wall-to-wall stupidity, but to its credit the movie does not take itself too seriously. How could it? A fear of flying group takes a ride in a plane with a bunch of terrorists with a bomb on board which then heads towards a storm. Ha ha, yeah right. Now, it's up to the fear of flying passengers & crew to save the day which they do with varying degrees of success. When ANOTHER crew member gets shot attempting to overthrow the bad guy the bad guy says something along the lines of "Aargh! what's wrong with you people?". It's delivered beautifully.

Actually, the acting in general is really very, err, well capable. I was going to say good, but in the context of this movie it wouldn't quite fit. I'm only giving this movie 4/10, but it's a fun 4/10. Chill that beer, microwave that popcorn, hand over your $2 to the video shop, switch off brain, press play, enjoy.

"Fear of Flying: Turbulence II" does not pretend to be anything it is not. It is simply a formula airline-that-must-be-brought-down-by-passenger-taking-direction-from-the-ground-whilst-sitting-in-pilots-seat-where-said-pilot-is (insert one):dead/predisposed/poisoned etc.

This runs along the lines of the great 70's era tragedy films like Airport '77, Towering Inferno and the like. "Fear" has plotted this along that very formula, so much so that the inevitable hero of the movies son races out onto the tarmac as the inevitable plane is safely guided to the ground at the climactic ending with music crescendoing and you knew this would happen all along. So what? I cannot deny I was truly entertained. The dialogue was humorous-intentional at times- and I did find myself and colleagues arguing about who the actual terrorists were on the flight through out the film-is it him? No, it's gotta be him! Of all the critically acclaimed movies I have seen, this one is not by far, but it is fondly remembered. Kill an hour and a half or so with this.

TURBULENCE 2: FEAR OF FLYING / (2000) *1/2 (out of four)

By Blake French:

"Turbulence 2: Fear of Flying" is an unusually stupid movie-but what can we expect from a straight-to-video action picture with few known actors and even fewer similarities with the original 1997 thriller "Turbulence." It's a shallow, incompetent movie with no brains and no thrills. The production contains many characters and a legion of plot twists, but they are meaningless to the actual story. None of those twists or characters contributes to the interest factor, and we are stuck watching utter insanity for almost two hours. This is not a smooth ride.

The story centers on a group of ordinary pedestrians who recently completed a therapy program to overcome their fear of flying. They celebrate by taking a flight to L.A. Unfortunately a clan of terrorists hijack the plane. They carry with them a load of extremely dangerous chemical weapons. After killing the pilot, they threaten to kill the rest of the passengers if given any trouble. One of the passengers isn't going to go down without a fight, however, and he's ready to save the day.

I watched "Turbulence 2: Fear of Flying" with great interest in how a movie so centered on an airplane could have no clue about the technical aspects of airplanes. Would any airline employee fire a gun inside a flying jet? Would it be possible for a young boy to run outside on the tarmac at a major airport with being stopped by someone? Is it possible to stand feet away from an open door on a jet going so fast? Can someone control the flaps from within the cargo hold? Are there really elevators aboard a 747? Can a handgun fire twenty-two rounds without reloading? This movie answers yes to all of those questions. I am no expert, but I beg to differ.

Most of the characters are one-dimensional and thoughtless plot puppets who do nothing but utter howlingly bad dialogue. Although many of the characters have a great fear of flying, their fear somehow disappears once the terrorists take over the flight. Some of the twists are kind of fun and surprising, but many exist only to provide a split second shock. The action lacks aim. The direction lacks impulse. The movie lacks a point, and just about everything else.

The actors in "Turbulence 2: Fear of Flying" don't really know what to do with their stereotypical characters because there isn't much for them to do. We can sense an inclination of talent involved with this production since the performances are fair and the set designs believable. But the script's stupidity is too distracting for any informed moviegoer to redeem satisfaction from this cluttered mess of an action picture. This is just another addition into the stupid hijack movie of the month series-but this one is more ridiculous than most.

Now and then one of those wonderful films comes along that is so terrible it's good. It's no small feat to maintain such disregard for reality, such outrageous inconsistencies, so many factual clangers and to tell the story with so many awful lines. I especially enjoyed "We're all gonna die." Not to mention the bonking in the lavatory. Hell I find it hard to brush my teeth in one of those things let alone commit adultery.It would be easier in a Volkswagen. This film is so unrelently ghastly that I enjoyed it immensely. Not just bad. Ghastly! It's not a likely candidate for an in flight movie but it should be. Nobody on board any aircraft anywhere would ever believe anything in it.

All airplane flicks tend to throw in the kitchen sink to fill the time but this may have surpassed even the spoofs in having a "and then what happened" motif. How many times can the passengers rise up against the villains and then back down like sheep can you handle? How many shots can you fire in an airplane and not lose pressure? Do you believe you can throw a passenger from a plane at 10,000 feet and have the body crash through the control tower landing in front of the "good guys"? Kidnapping, toxins, fights, missiles but they won't toss the luggage until they find the exact baggage. Gosh that's better than most airlines on a normal day. And so it goes. Acting level? Well, find any one who wasn't a caricature.

Its bad but it starts to turn the corner and just be laughable and that is about all that can make you sit through this movie. Now the real question is what was Turbulence 1 like that they made another one?