Mach 2

I don't what the reviewers who have given this film very low scores thought they were watching. It's an average film to be sure but it's entertaining enough to be worth the time spent watching it. I like that the action is live and not CGI produced, to me CGI always looks too obvious and so isn't interesting. The film starts with an action sequence with furious fight scenes, where it has to be admitted that in the shoot out the two protagonists do expend an implausible amount of ammunition without managing to shoot each other, or anybody else for that matter. But how often have we seen that in action scenes? This first sequence introduces the lead character and his potentially fatal flaw: he's a US Air Force Officer who hates heights and can't fly a plane.

The plot has a few over-used elements: a convoluted government conspiracy which can only be plausible to dedicated conspiracy theorists, terrorists who are not who they seem, and a plane piloted by a person who doesn't know how to fly and has to be told how to land it. I'm sure I've seen that ending in two other films.

But the film's quality is lifted by the good acting of the whole cast. Apart from the most cheesy lines they make the dialogue plausible and the scenes watchable, and they are relatable as characters.

An unexpectedly good movie that could have benefited a lot from a larger budget. Miniatures are used in the shots of the Concorde, and it shows. It was rated R for violence, though it had less violence than most TV shows. Profanity throughout was unnecessary and could have been edited out. Brian Bosworth does an adequate job as the Air Force officer who gets called on when anything goes wrong. Michael Dorn shines in a non-Worf role that shows he can play someone else other than a Trek character. David Hedison is great as the U.S. Senator and is the only actor to look like he was actually walking on a a real plane. Shannon Whirry, who plays his political assistant, shows that she can handle an action role. Best of all are the scenes with the NSA agents.

Very brief summary of what I thought about the movie: weak acting, very overused storyline full of things that make little sense, no research at all about airplanes and military procedures. If you have the guts to watch the movie, pay attention in some things like: there are no weapons in the F14s! Where do they get these missiles from? Why do the missiles explode in mid-air without hitting anything? How does the guy explode the car that was following him? How come the American fighters enter French airspace and the only people that see that were the people in the air control? France doesn't have any military force?

The acting by Brian Bosworth, Shannon Whirry, Ciff Robertson and Michael Dorn was pretty solid despite the script they had to work with.

Steve Latshaw wrote a very pedestrian script filled with weak clichés and one liners. The dialogue is only part of what brought this film down.

The direction was horrid. Fred Olen Ray, who had directed such classics as Vampire Vixens from Venus and Bikini Drive In, does a horrid job directing this movie. The cuts, the angles, the closeups - everything he did was pedestrian. The music, the sound editing, everything was bad.

If it wasn't for some solid acting from a few select cast members this wouldn't be worth the time. As is, it is a fair little action flick. Just don't expect much. At all ...

I still am mad at myself as to why did i chose to rent this movie in the first place. Pathetic is written all over the movie and i still failed to see it......hope time will heal my wounds! If you are planning to watch this one i would suggest there are other better movies out there.