Behind Enemy Lines
*
Cinema Releases - January 4, 2002
Rated on a 4-star scale. Certificate 12. 93
minutes. Directed by John Moore. Written by Zak Penn, David Veloz; from a
story by James Thomas, John Thomas. Starring Owen Wilson, Gene Hackman, Joaquim
de Almeida, Vladimir Mashkov, David Keith.
"Behind Enemy Lines" manages to
pull off the trick of appearing both lavishly expensive and completely
incompetent. It features big explosions and complicated shots on many locations,
and yet it feels dull, fake and very stupid. Like "Pearl Harbor", it premiered
on a US military base, which leads me to believe that American soldiers are
beginning to hate Hollywood more than enemy forces.
The film stars Owen Wilson as a rebellious naval
officer stationed somewhere in the Adriatic Sea during a conflict in the
Balkans. We're supposed to like his relaxed attitude, but he struck me as
a creep with no discipline or commitment. In the opening minutes he complains,
"I didn't sign up to be a cop on a beat nobody cares about," and "What's
the point of being a fighter pilot if it doesn't feel like we're at war?"
Real military personnel would find this whinging offensive; it's also bloody
annoying.
Wilson and a buddy soon find themselves flying
a reconnaissance mission over a supposed demilitarised zone and getting
themselves shot down by rogue troops. They eject, and before hitting the
ground hit a mountainside, making a 'bonk!' sound "Naked Gun"-style, although
I don't think the film means to be playing for laughs.
The buddy is killed, and Wilson finds himself
having to escape to a save haven on foot. His journey is interrupted by
one-dimensional cutaways to greasy, stubbly Eastern-European villains who
speak in ominous grunts and shoot unarmed men, as well as dizzy, ugly action
scenes that don't know whether they want to evoke the slickness of "Top Gun"
or the harsh reality of "Saving Private Ryan", and end up seeming like
neither.
There are countless ridiculous close-ups of bulging
eyes as men scream "Yeeeargh!", and there is plenty of corporate whoring
for Sky News, because this movie was released by Fox, and of course both
companies are owned by World Emperor Rupert Murdoch. "Behind Enemy Lines"
ends with such ludicrous stuff as Wilson finding a speedboat half-submerged
in ice, and, like a one-man A-Team, turning it into an electronic tracking
device to smoke out his enemies -- but hey, at least it does
end.
What I really want to know is how on earth the
filmmakers thought we could take Wilson seriously. He has an intrinsically
comedic voice that combines the sounds of whining and relish; he sounds like
he's on "Saturday Night Live" doing a bad impression of Walter Mondale. Casting
him as an action hero makes about as much sense as hiring one of those dancing
M&Ms to serve as head of the United Nations.
COPYRIGHT©
2002 Ian Waldron-Mantgani
2002 Reviews
(alphabetical)
2002 Reviews (by star
rating)
Archive of all cinema reviews
(alphabetical)
Review Archive
Index
UK
Critic main page
|
![[Image]](http://www.ukcritic.com/posbanr2.gif)
