We all remember the news reports in the early 1990’s of pilot Lt. Scott O’Grady shot down behind enemy lines in Bosnia. All the things he said he had to do to survive, well Behind Enemy Lines directed by John Moore (XVI) is not the story about that. Oh it appears to be loosely based on that situation but it is so far from the truth that it is fiction. Oh imagine that a movie based on fiction. We have a hotshot pilot that thinks he knows more than his commanding officer. A hotshot put to the test in his military training. A C.O. that goes to the mat for his crew when they stray a little. Okay when they stray a lot. Sounds like the plot for some Hollywood action film.  Now, all we need is some hotshot actors to fill the bill.

The actions starts with a military fly drill on an aircraft carrier. Pilot/Navigator Lt. Chris Burnett (Owen Wilson of Zoolander and Meet the Parents) and his pilot Lt. Jeremy Stackhouse (Gabriel Macht of American Outlaws) are miffed that the drill turns out to be that, just a drill and when exiting the plane pull some stupid stunt with a football. All this intended was to set the scene to show their discontent, boredom and Burnett’s intent to leave the military. Burnett is then called to his commanding officers office, Admiral Leslie McMahon (Gene Hackman of Heist, The Mexican and The Replacements) to discuss the letter he sent requesting to leave the military. After a discussion resembling a teenage tantrum Burnett learns that his CO doesn’t think he could survive any mission let alone one in war. This is where we get the tag line “Any time you are on this aircraft carrier we are at war unless we are parked in San Diego Bay.” The discussion ends with McMahon agreeing to his exit in two weeks at the end of this deployment. The Holiday mission goes up and the pilots that fly Christmas day none other than Stackhouse and Burnett, so he can miss the best meal of the year. They are assigned to fly over this one area and not to stray. There is an agreement in place and any deviance in this will jeopardize a treaty that Admiral Juan Miguel Piquet (Joaquim de Almedia) is negotiating and coddling. When the fly boys discover they are flying over a lake and see military activity on the radar over in the forbidden zone they decide it to take a look and “test out their shinning new digital camera”. This is when they get not one but two SAM’s fired at them and it brings down the plane. Stackhouse breaks his leg in the landing and is grounded and Burnett leaves him to head for higher ground to get a signal out (they landed in the forest).   The military that shot them down and at this point it is not clear which military in fact Admiral Piquet said so elegantly he has been in this area for years and can’t tell the uniforms of these country’s.  The bad guys catch up with Stackhouse, a really hard feat since the guy isn’t moving and execute him. Burnett witnesses this and gives away his position because he is trained so well. The remainder of the film is a fox and hound chase through the landscape to find a safe zone so he can be rescued.

I found the character development of both Burnett and his CO to be very well written and acted out. We began with a hotshot know it all not yet wet behind the ears and see him become a G-MAN out of necessity and survival. We have a cantankerous old Navy fart disgusted with complacent fly boys and see him turn into a real officer and a gentleman. They both get put to the test. The action is brief but the game keeps going non-stop. This is a real movie no stupid love story intertwined to distract you. Also in this film is David Keith (U-571)  as Master Chief Tom O’Malley and Charles Malik Whitfield as (Marine Sgt. Rodway). I gave Behind Enemy Lines an eight on the About-Movies.com rating scale.

Last updated: Saturday, October 28, 2006 05:37:36 PM

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