Écran noir à la tour de contrôle

The idea of the movie is quite good to me: finding a quick responsible for a mid-air collision (in this case, the air traffic controller). However, it was not exploited correctly. The entire movie is full of technical mistakes regarding the aviation and air traffic control domain. This shows that the producers didn't care about their lack of information. Also, the actors do not seem very sincere unfortunately.

As to conclude, the entire movie is not worth watching it.

Since I like thrillers very much this is not the first one I have ever seen about airport security (EXECUTIVE DECISION is one that quickly comes to mind). However I was a bit reticent when I had to watch BLACKOUT EFFECT because of its low score and few divergent reviews. But when I saw it, as it progressed it became better.

John Dantley (Eric Stoltz) is a NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) officer that is sent to O'Hare Airport for investigating about a collision between a Boeing 757-200 from Los Angeles to Washington DC and a Boeing 727-200F where 185 people were killed. It won't be easy because air traffic controller Henry Drake insists that his radar had a malfunction when the planes were cleared for landing, but Dantley will do everything for making the truth come out: Drake was an already high-strung individual that didn't got along well with almost nobody and the radar system was already showing some signs of malfunction but instead of taking action started a cover up after the collision.

The acting by Stoltz was very good and this shouldn't come as a surprise. But what I liked most about this made for TV is that the twists and turns were pretty much like those in theater released thrillers, and I really couldn't wait to see when the truth would have come out!

Overall, a nice made for TV thriller that fans of the genre will no doubtly love and it's available on Youtube if you want to give it a try.

John Dantley investigates a midair collision between two planes that killed over 130 people. At first it appears human error is to blame, however the controller, Henry Drake, insists that a blackout causes one of the planes to disappear temporally from his screen. Dantley investigates to find a history of equipment failures and complaints has not been recorded and that Drake may be the most likely suspect. However with time things begin to look more complex than he first thought.

The story essentially is a condemnation of lack of investment in air-traffic control in contrast with spiralling air traffic. It could have coldly looked at that and been damning in effect, but instead it tries to turn it into a thriller and ruins it's credibility as a serious film. The glitch that caused the plane crash is far to specific to have it represent the whole system of the failure and Drake is far to suspicious (what was he doing on the CCTV? It's never satisfactorily revealed) to be an `everyman' type - in fact Drake is totally misused as the film changes his character to create a `tense' `standoff' finish to the film. Why?

Another example of the plot stretching to make it more of a TVM thriller than a serious movie is the way that Dantley's ex-girlfriend was on one of the planes that crashed. This adds nothing to the story and only succeeds in clouding the issue. The main point of the film is valid - that systems are close to breaking point and are not up to the job, but it's lost in a bigger conspiracy, Dantley's personal loss and Drake's unlikely actions at the end.

Charles Martin Smith is good right up till the very unlikely last 30 minutes, but Stoltz is mixed. At times he seems OK but some scenes are terrible - the one near the end where he confronts the site manager with a forced emotion and bad dialogue is a good (bad) example.

Overall, this has a valid point to make and it makes it well for much of the film. However the makers added too much baggage (a thriller climax, a dead ex etc) to make it work. Some scenes are great but mostly this is a C movie - and only for trying hard.

Going into Blackout Effect (Otherwise known as 747) I expected yet another plane related disaster flick. You know the ones, where there is something wrong with a plane and it's down to the crew and those on the ground to guide them home.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that it's not, it's a perfectly watchable little thriller.

It tells the story of an air traffic controller who appears to make a mistake and causes two planes to collide. But the more investigation is done into the matter the more it appears there is more to the story.

Starring Eric "I was almost Marty McFly" Stoltz and underrated Charles Martin Smith this thriller managed to get my attention from the get go. Truth be told it does get a tad far fetched by the end but never goes too far.

Well written and tense this is well worth anyones time despite not being groundbreaking.

The Good:

Great idea

Decent performances

The Bad:

Hit and miss in places

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Air traffic controller jobs look insanely stressful

I like "Charlie" Martin Smith and he hadn't been in much when this movie aired, so I was happy to watch, and even happier that this was a network TV movie, but not one about love interests, and affairs and sexual passions and all of that other junk that most fills most other network TV movies. Instead, "Blackout Effect" is a pretty interesting story about an air traffic controller(Mr. Smith) basically getting his life ruined because people blame him for causing a fatal plane crash. I don't know a thing about air traffic controllers, so I didn't exactly understand a lot of what was going on, but Smith does a nice job at his "troubled" character and co-star Eric Stoltz is very convincing as well. Add that with a smooth directing job from Jeff Bleckner(who's "Concealed Enemies" I quite wish I could have seen) and you get a film that's quite above average for the usual network-TV fair. An achievment.