Final Approach

If you're looking for a bit of light entertainment, forget it.

I saw this film when it first came to video and it blew my mind. It's major selling point at the time was that it was the first film with Digital sound. The sound is amazing but is an infrequent part of what is mainly just two guys sitting in a room talking to each other. The acting is excellent and the dialogue is highly unusual in that throughout the film your perception of what the characters are actually talking about changes. By the end, if you've been paying attention, you're head will be mangled.

An amazing film, thoroughly recommended for those tired of watching the usual big budget, action packed and totally mindless blockbusters.

My review was written in May 1991 after a Cannes Film Festival Market screening.

"Final Approach" is a gimmicky, tedious sci-fi film, notable only for its pioneering use of digital sound recording and playback. Script's failure to involve the audience in its shaggy-dog story makrs pic a dubious theatrical prospect.

Debuting director Eric Steven Stahl (a graduate of tv commercials) emphasizes technology over content with disastrous results. The touted Cinema Digital Sound provides crisp dialog (not noticeably better sounding than previous six-track s tereo films) but is also used her for frequent noisy interruptions that recall the low-tech '70s Sensurround gimmick.

Annoying editing keeps interrupting the action with fleeting flashback shots that further distance the viewer.

While Stanley Kubrick's classic "2001: A Space Odyssey" is the obvious starting point for film's first-person aerial shots buzzing above pretty landscapes including Monument Valley, pic is eally in the vein of Douglas Trumbull's would-be sic-fi breakthrough pic "Brainstorm".

"Approach" unsuccessfully attempts to present a roller coaster ride from the brain of air force pilot James B. Sikking. It becomes gradually evident that he was working for general Kevin McCarthy on a top-secret project to plastic-coat conventional aircraft and make them equivalent to Stealth bombers in terms of avoiding detection.

Awkward structure give sfilm the feel of a two-character play, an amnesiac Sikking is stuck for the duration in a large, antiseptic office questioned by unctuous Hector Elizondo on his ownt to provide some comic releif, but Sikking is colorless throughout, making the necessary viewer identification with him and his Kafkaesque plight nearly impossible.

It turns out this exercise is just another "dying flash" riff on Robert Enrico's classic adaptation of Ambrose Bierce's "Incident at Owl Creek Bridte", stretching a man's final moments into feature length trivia.

Supporting cast is virtually dispensed with, as Sikking's lvoely wife Madolyn Smith gets just one meaningless scene and occasional flash ctuts to work with. Genre vet McCarthy pops up only to bark out orders as Sikking's flashback commander.

Tech credits are pro but inspiration is sorely lacking.

I actually rented this film just one lunchtime, to watch later that night, but when I put the film on to check it's quality, I ended up watching it all the way through to the end! In fact, I ended up with quite a shock when the ending came, because I thought I'd figured the plot out but was, in fact, way off line. Great acting by two fine actors, (Sikking & Elizondo, who is one of my favourite actors). OK, as far as sets go it could have been a stage play, but how would you show the events leading up to the air crash, and also Halsey's (Sikking) past life. The digital sound is superb and can give you quite a jolt at times as the sound FX are a good deal more dynamic than the dialogue. Some great low thumps from a good sub-woofer all the way through the film. The twist at the end is beautifully handled, and those people who got bored with this film really should watch it for the consciousness that it awakens in you. Maybe that's the way it really is, know one knows, but if it's someone like Hector Elizondo doing the 'remembering' bit, then I for one would be quite happy, as his 'shrink' technique was superb. Don't knock this little film, after all, everybody knocked Blade Runner and now it's a cult classic.

If you're really desperate to watch a movie then "Final Approach" would have to be the one to go with. I watched this movie with some friends and I got more entertainment from watching their complaints of how disgustingly boring this movie was. The whole thing is a dream sequence, and the viewer has no idea what is going on at all. I didn't stick around for the end but my friends told me that they envied me because I had the sense to get out of the room so fast. A true waste of film, time and my Saturday night.

Final Approach is a very different movie and people with the thrill-a-minute attitude will never get it. The sound effects in this movie are incredible for their day. There are hundreds of different effects to tantalize your ears. The entire point of the movie will be come apparent to everyone in the final seconds of the movie. The litmus test is to see when someone watching the movie for the first time says "Ah Ha! I understand what is happening...." Those who get to the end of the movie without getting it should be allowed to return to their 7-11 night manager job and you should talk to them later.

I suggest this movie to anyone who likes to watch movies where at least some thought is required.