Life on the Line

I realize this is a movie, but some level of realism is expected to make it believable. Not only does the movie show all kinds of ridiculous electrical mistakes with the grid / system, but of course...because linemen are blue collar workers, they have to be portrayed as drunkards and complete idiots. To top it off, the producers can't even attempt to get the geography close to what is supposed to be portrayed in the story. Trust me, there are no oceans, massive lakes, or mountains around Lubbock. And, any major storm coming in off the Gulf of Mexico would take at least a day to make it halfway across Texas. Again, I realize it is a movie, but at least TRY people. Don't pay to watch this film, rather watch it on Amazon Prime or some way you get to see it for free. It's okay to watch on the couch one day when you aren't feeling well...it is at least better than reality-TV...but not by much.

John Travolta is a line man, one of those guys you see in a hard helmet and red vest on power lines, doing something dangerous and obscure.... and the power running. Lives depend on that power, and he's got s pregnant niece, her boyfriend as his new, unobservant apprentice, and a storm on the way.

Watching this attempt to mythologize another form of Texas Hard Man in the aftermath of at least 86 Texans dying because their power grid went out last month.... well it interferes with the impulse; it's hard to print the legend with the facts still fresh in your mind. It's also startling to hear Travolta with a twang overlaying his usual accent, but to my untutored ears, he's pretty good, his face buried under a beard. If's a good updating of the standard western tropes. Perhaps when this year's events have faded, it will seem better.

This started as an interesting looking movie, based on a real story. An aging power line is being replaced accross an entire state in the South of US and we follow a company of lines men working on the line, We see an uncle played by Ttavolta, bringing up his adopted niece into a young woman. There are hugs and kissed between the uncle and his niece. Then later in the movie there are more hugs and kisses. Feels like the South!

The small town life is cliche ridden, with tough guys saddlin up for blue collar work in the day and gathering at bars in the evening for booze and fight.

There are some decent buildup later in the movie, but just as things get a bit exciting, cheesy dialog scenes meses up with the progress of the story.

The most impressive thing in this movie is watching rugged John Travolta, or Beloved Uncle Beau or Bub or Bubba actually climbing up a giant pole!

And jokes aside, the acting of Bubba lifts the movie a lot. The rest of the actors felt a little under par. They should have used Sharon Stone better in this movie too. The cross cutting in the movie where there is a bit action really brings the movie down.

So besides Unca Bubba, this movie turned out not so good as it could have been. What would have been a missed opportunity here is showing more footage from high rise power line poles to show the sctual hazards of this LINE OF WORK. Instead we get hugs and kissed from Unca BUBBA.

The movie has SOME entertainment value to, at least, watch it once; for that I gave it a 3, but, oh my god....

I have read some of the reviews from some actual lineman that testify to how ridiculous this is. The soap opera aspects, the cliched dialog and circumstances that are delivered to us will make you cringe; this is just extremely lazy writing and film-making.

Yes, there is actually a character called "poke-chop", for crying out loud.

The lineman of this country deserve to be recognized, but not like this.

and plan to take a shot every time you spot a cliché. Then you'll be drunk early in to this movie and it won't hurt as bad. My husband actually IS a lineman, as was my father, and if I took a shot for every time I heard my husband sigh and shake his head as we watched this, I'd be dead from alcohol poisoning.