Behind Enemy Lines -- 2001

Behind Enemy Lines

(2001)

PG-13 violence, language

My Rating 4 stars

Owen Wilson

Gene Hackman

Gabriel Macht

Charles Malik Whitfield

David Keith

Olek Krupa

Joaquim de Almeida

Vladimir Mashkov

Marko Igonda

Eyal Podell

Does anyone else out there think that Owen Wilson rocks? :-) He's become one of my favorite actors of all time. It doesn't matter if he's a cowboy, family man, pilot, or cop, doing an action, comedy or serious part, he's fun to watch.

In this film, Owen plays the part of navigator Chris Burnett who has gotten so bored with the whole military system that he uses any excuse at all to get into trouble. In fact he gets onto his commander's nerves so much that The Admiral (Gene Hackman) sends Burnett and his buddy/pilot, Stackhouse, on a routine mission... on Christmas Day.

Both guys are pretty miffed at this but Burnett is especially since he knows The Admiral gave the orders because of him. So when their censors pick up some heat where there wasn't supposed to be any, Burnett convinces his buddy that they should check it out. Against orders, of course. Ten minutes later, they were shot out the sky.

US soldiers down in Bosnia. Were the natives friendly? Perhaps the majority. But Burnett and Stackhouse have evidence. And there was a man desperate not to have the evidence leave the country or fall into the hands of his contemporaries.

What I Liked:

1: The great acting. Everyone on this movie was excellent. It is one of the best military movies I've watched.

2: How realistic it is... or seems. If it's not, then I fell for it. Lol.

3: It's very well directed and the score is wonderful.

4: The relationship between Burnett and The Admiral. An interesting study.

5: Basically, 99% of the movie.

What I Didn't Like:

1: The language. It gets hairy sometimes.

2: There are two or three scenes/happenings that seemed pretty unrealistic. You could tell they only would have happened that way on a movie.

3: One of the directors favorite things to do was have Burnett get into a very tight situation and you wouldn't be sure if he got out because the camera goes to the enemy or something besides him... therefore, the viewer rarely sees how Owen gets out of the situation. Once or twice is fine but through the entire movie? Please. :-P

Do I recommend this movie? Yes... I do. It's not a film for children or for someone who is not used to action/violence but for those that like this type of movie, go for it. Makes for an enjoyable evening.