Approche Finale

The script and the actors are so bad, it's almost comical! The pilot declaring his love for his co-pilot which he kept hidden for too many years, 3 Canadian oilworkers opening a hatch (27.000 ft???) to haul in a waterhose, a chopper shooting at the jammed wings of the plane, etc etc. If you have really really nothing better to do, see it and enjoy a laugh.

A brand-new jumbo aircraft that fly its self is being piloted by a cowboy who hates computers. Keeping an eye on him is a rival for his girl (the other pilot). Sure, as shoot'n there is a second plane, privately owned and piloted by a 200-hour pilot sort of clips the jumbo. Turns in to the jumbo jet now has disabled the ailerons in an upward position. This is just the beginning.

This movie is closer to the original Airplane movie with the exception that all the people just half expose their past a little at a time as the disaster proceeds. The ending is predictable and the constant problems are part of the formula. However, tithe actors make a very good mix and do their jobs well enough to make you forget that it is a movie.

This movie is not much realistic, sure. It is more realistic than airport 79 (that movie where a Concorde is far more manouverable than a military jetplane!), but it is obvious... Indeed, I have to say that this Tv-movie is full of nice ideas in the plot, movie ideas, OK, but also funny for this reason. So, if you like the catastrophic genre, take a look at this very economic movie. But don't expect a realistic movie: no one has realized, up today, a really realistic movie about the airplanes.

Now granted, if you are one of those types that complain because your ice water was served cold and wet you might not like this. But if you go into with the knowledge you are not in some USC film class, you can enjoy a lazy afternoon watching this.

Urich is his usual engaging self. This actor while in some pretty broad roles always managed to keep his performance low key.

He does so as the pilot of this doomed plane. There is a question of potentially sacrificing the lives of some to save the others, a nice little addition to your standard disaster movie.

I like Robert Ulrich a lot so that may influence my opinion. I expected to be bored but was not. The acting was good. There's always a temptation to go over the top in these types of films but it didn't happen here. The snippets of the passengers were blessedly short and the emphasis stayed on trying to save the plane. The technical stuff was believable.