- Introduction -
Behind Enemy Lines is a war drama set in the balkans (Bosnia, to be more exact). This movie stars Owen Wilson in a different role to his usual comedic or slower paced drama movies. I have to admit, I'm not usually all that keen on war based movies, so I hesitated to purchase ... Read review
Smart casting and sensible plotting makeBehind Enemy Linesan above-average military ... more
thriller. Perfectly timed to bolster US patriotism, the film is partly set (during a hypothetical "day after tomorrow") on the aircraft carrier USSCarl Vinson, which wa...
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In war there are some lines you should never cross. Behind Enemy Lines is a high-octane, ... more
visually spectacular, action-packed thrill ride, in the tradition of top gun, enemy of the state and speed starring academy award winner Gene Hackman and Owen Wils...
Smart casting and sensible plotting makeBehind Enemy Linesan above-average military ... more
thriller. Perfectly timed to bolster US patriotism, the film is partly set (during a hypothetical "day after tomorrow") on the aircraft carrier USSCarl Vinson, which wa...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
On a reconnaissance flight over eastern Europe disillusioned naval pilot Chris Burnett ... more
(Owen Wilson) and his partner Stackhouse (Gabriel Macht) photograph a scene they were not meant to see. When their plane is shot down and Stackhouse is quickly ca...
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Brace yourself for non-stop action and chilling suspense, because there's no turning back ... more
in this pulse-pounding sequel that takes you Behind Enemy Lines for another adrenaline-fuelled adventure!When a team of U.S. Navy SEALs is assigned to destroy a North Korean missile site and avert a possible nuclear strike, failure is not an option. But the mission is abruptly aborted, stranding four soldiers in enemy territory. Now, in order to survive, they must defeat the rebel forces that threaten their lives, their allies and the entire free world!
In this second sequel to the Owen Wilson actioner, the Navy SEALs return for some ... more
unfinished business. This time, the boys set their sights on the Colombian enemy by staging a harrowing infiltration to rescue a hostage and ultimately clear their sullied name. Joe Manganiello (SPIDER-MAN), the WWE's Ken Anderson, and Keith David (JOHN CARPENTER'S THE THING) star in this gritty war thriller directed by Tim Matheson.
Production Year: 1987 - War - Director: Stanley Kubrick - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Matthew Modine, Vincent D'Onofrio, Adam Baldwin
Production Year: 1965 - War - Director: Anthony Mann - Original Language: English - Classification: Universal - Starring: Kirk Douglas, Richard Harris, Michael Redgrave, Roy Dotrice, Anton Diffring
Advantages: Nice camerawork, atmospheric, some good dramatic scenes Disadvantages: Maybe a bit too 'American', quite political, which may put some off, some slow-ish scenes
...Introduction -
Behind Enemy Lines is a war drama set in the balkans (Bosnia, to be more exact). This movie stars Owen Wilson in a different role to his usual comedic or slower paced drama movies. I have to admit, I'm not usually all that keen on war based movies, so I hesitated to purchase or rent this movie. However, when I spotted that it was going to be shown on terrestrial TV last night, I thought I had to give it a watch and at ... ...cast) -
Behind Enemy Lines tells the tale of US Naval officer Chris Burnett (played by Owen Wilson), who is based in Bosnia, working for NATO.
Chris has become disillusioned with his role and working in the Navy and has a meeting with Admiral Leslie McMahon Reigart (played by Gene Hackman), after handing him a letter to ask for his resignation at the end of his current term/contract and he tries to persuade him not to ... more
- Introduction -
Behind Enemy Lines is a war drama set in the balkans (Bosnia, to be more exact). This movie stars Owen Wilson in a different role to his usual comedic or slower paced drama movies. I have to admit, I'm not usually all that keen on war based movies, so I hesitated to purchase or rent this movie. However, when I spotted that it was going to be shown on terrestrial TV last night, I thought I had to give it a watch and at least if I didn't enjoy it, I knew I wouldn't have paid for it (cheapskate that I am hehe). As it happens, it wasn't too bad. This is what its all about and what I thought about it.
- Main Credits (non-actors, which are mentioned further on in the review) - Source:- IMDB (see:- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0159273/fullcredits)
Director - John Moore Story - Jim Thomas, John Thomas Screenplay - David Veloz and Zak Penn Co-producer - Alex Blum Executive Producers - Stephanie Austin, Wyck Godfrey Producer - John Davis Cinematography - Brendan Galvin
- Story (incl. main acting cast) -
Behind Enemy Lines tells the tale of US Naval officer Chris Burnett (played by Owen Wilson), who is based in Bosnia, working for NATO.
Chris has become disillusioned with his role and working in the Navy and has a meeting with Admiral Leslie McMahon Reigart (played by Gene Hackman), after handing him a letter to ask for his resignation at the end of his current term/contract and he tries to persuade him not to leave so soon.
When he and his friend, Stackhouse (played by Gabriel Macht), are sent on a routine flight mission on Christmas day, Chris spots activity through the on board radar in an area out of their military zone but decides to make use of a new digital camera on board and flies into the zone to see whats going on. This causes real anger with the rebels below, who end up shooting down the jets.
Stackhouse get tracked down and is shot and killed, with Burnett hiding in the woods nearby. His reaction alerts those who had shot Stackhouse of his presence and so Burnett goes on the run, being advised to get to a safe zone so the Navy can reach him and take him to safety.
- Genre/Themes/Issues -
This is a political war drama, which covers the themes or issues of insurgency, keeping the peace in a volatile area and politics and other such similar issues.
- Thoughts/Opinions/Extra Information -
There are some pretty good special effects and some nice landscape/panorama type shots in this movie, in that sort of sense I felt it was quite atmospheric. There are also some pretty tense and dramatic scenes that makes you keep watching it and I also noticed in use ocassionally is this slowing down effect where everything is shown almost frame by frame and you can see whats about to happen, as it slowly unfolds. So basically I do feel that the camerawork used is quite good. The part when heat seeking missiles chase the two jets is quite thrilling and makes for good viewing, its tense stuff!
This is quite a political movie, so be aware of that, I can't really comment on how accurate any details may be, though I am aware of the unrest there was in this are of the world in the early 90s I believe. It is typically American in some respects, with talk of 'just getting our guy outta there and heck to the peace process'(!) you know, that sort of thing.
It can also be frustrating, when the action scenes of Chris trying to avoid his pursuers, suddenly cuts back to the Navy personnel, usually Admiral Leslie McMahon Reigart, discussing his location and the chances to rescue him, as well as the political implications any such rescue may have.
When there's action, though, the action is quite good and it is pretty atmospheric in places, as I mentioned briefly before, with it all taking place in a snow filled Bosnia in December.
Its always nice to see Owen playing a more dramatic role, something a bit different and I think he pulls it off okay in this, although personally I do prefer his comedy roles to this, I think he's more suited to that than to these kind of roles. I can't think of anything all that bad that I can criticise him for in this role but I do feel that his gestures and his expressions and so on, just work better in more comedic roles, or perhaps its just that im more used to seeing him in such roles. Thats not to say that he doesn't play the character at all unconvincingly, I think he does quite well in it.
- Certificate -
Behind Enemy Lines is rated 15 in the UK. This is due to some scenes of war violence, as well as some bad language. There is no nudity, sex scenes or drug taking present, the violence isn't overly graphic (from what I saw watching it on TV anyway, I can't be sure there wasn't any editing done to what was shown on TV) but there is one scene which involves brief footage of some decomposed bodies, or more skeletons, in what I believe was a grave site, which may disturb some, its not so much shown as implied but it could be disturbing to some perhaps.
- Official Website -
The official website for this movie doesn't appear to be working but incase its just a temporary problem and it does work later, the link, I gather, is:- http://www.behindenemylinesmovie.com/ otherwise, you can find information on it, as ever, from IMDBs entry for the movie, which you can find here:- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0159273/
- Conclusions -
The special effects (mainly explosions) and the camerawork is good and the actors do pretty well too (nothing outstanding but not bad), so its a pretty decent movie, if you don't mind the fact that it is so American-y and if the political edge doesn't put you off at all, otherwise I'd say give it a go, if it sounds like your sort of thing then you should enjoy it.
I hope that this review is useful and thanks, as always, for reading!
Advantages: Entertaining the whole way through Disadvantages: Slightly on the budget side
Last night Behind enemy lines was on Film Four and I thought I’d give it ago, I had never heard of the film before and so did not know what to expect, I always give the info on the TV a read before getting into a new film as unfortunately I am one of the Biased people of the world who find a film more worth trying if it has good actors and a good synopsis. Judging a book by its cover and all that (slap on the wrists). First impressions Before the ... ...out of the bag with Behind Enemy Lines, therefore the film was given my full attention the full way through. Plot The story is about a Navy ship which is stationed near Bosnia with Gene Hackman as the admiral and Owen Wilson plays an uncomfortable Navy Lieutenant plane navigator who is looking to leave the force for good in a fortnight because the Navy offers him no excitement. He is paired with his partner ‘Stackhouse’ who is his close friend and ...
amyloop 17.07.2009 (23.07.2009)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Behind Enemy Lines (DVD)
Advantages: Some good action, spectacular locations Disadvantages: Nasty tacky plot, insensitive towards subject matter.
...Ryan, Black Hawk Down and Behind Enemy Lines, which is actually quite a novel concept. Watching three movies from one genre in as many weeks offers plenty of opportunity for comparisons and probably helps the good ones stand out – and the same goes for the turkeys. Of those three movies, I find myself compelled to write about Behind Enemy Lines, purely because it prompted the strongest response- though please don’t think for one moment ... ...it very carefully. Sadly, with Behind Enemy Lines, I don’t think either of these things applied and what we have instead is a clumsy attempt at an action movie, with historical events thrown into the mix with an effortless and often offensive irregularity.
Where the film goes terribly astray is in its clumsy approach to the complexity of the situation. In Behind Enemy Lines, we are introduced to the conflict very much through the eyes of the ...
LostWitness 29.09.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Behind Enemy Lines (DVD)
Advantages: Fast pace combat action Disadvantages: More fiction than fact
...filmmakers to do their thing. Behind enemy lines is based on an incident that occurred in the Bosnian conflict. Using some artistic license, this film tells the story of a pilot navigator who is shot down with his pilot and forced to find his way home.
Cast/Characters
***************
Owen Wilson – Chris Burnett
Gene Hackman – Lesley Riegart
Gabriel Macht – Stackhouse
Charles Malik Whitfield – Rodway
Joaquim de Almeida – Piquet
David Keith ... ...Chris Burnett is bored with flying the routine missions over War torn Bosnia. Life can be meaningless for a navy fighter plane navigator when all you do is fly the same pointless missions every day. Feeling his time is being wasted, Chris hands in his resignation, much to the disgust of his commanding officer, Lesley Riegart. Reigart believes that his men should tolerate the boredom and that every mission is important.
Reigart takes Burnett’s resignation ...
Judgee 04.07.2002 (05.07.2002)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Behind Enemy Lines (DVD)
...my normal chick-flick genre - Behind Enemy Lines - an action war movie, directorial debut from John Moore and starring Owen Wilson. --- Plot. ----
Owen Wilson plays Chris Burnett, a US Navy pilot bored of life on ship in war-torn Bosnia. He hands in his resignation to Admiral Leslie Reigart (Gene Hackman) who takes the resignation personally. As a result, he puts Burnett and his partner Stackhouse on the Christmas Day routine flight - taking pictures ... ...And Wick Godfrey. - Behind The Scenes Featurette. - Ejection Sequence. - Additional Main Title And Original End Title Sequences. - Alternate Take Off Montage. - 4 Directors Cuts.
Buy It: Amazon.co.uk - DVD £8.97, VHS £5.99.
WHSmith - DVD £6.99.
If you're a Sky Movies subscriber keep an eye on your TV Guide, the next showing is on Sunday (09/05/04) and Monday-week (17/05/04).
--- Taglines. ---
- Mission: to evade and survive.
- His only weapon ...
damncoldnightdotnet 06.05.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Behind Enemy Lines (DVD)
Advantages: No Brain action flicks at their best Disadvantages: More Plot Holes than Swiss Cheese
...down and they are stuck behind Enemy Lines with no real idea of how to get out. The situations gets steadily worse as Burnett has to leave Stackhouse, who now has a broken leg, and head for higher ground to radio for help. Of course while he’s scrambling up the hill the troops have closed in on Stackhouse and eventually execute him. Now Burnett must flea and contact the base and hope that his actions haven’t signed his own death warrant ... ...with only 4 films to date to his name and this being the biggest box office draw of them all. However that said its obvious he has a talent for film making as the direction is fairly smooth and everything is done meticulously well. He seems to have got the best out of all the actors, which really is no easy task when you have a script with as many plot holes in it. While the basic plot was easy to follow and worked well some of the locations and ...
Andy.mack 08.03.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Behind Enemy Lines (DVD)
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I really like this DVD, bought mine last year. Basically, I am a fan of any special forces that exist in the world and my favorite would be the SAS (Special Air Service). Inside the DVD, they will reveal all the tricks of the trade including the five S's of camouflage: shape, shine, shadow, silhouette and spacing. From surviving hostage situations to coping with brutal interrogations and torture the team show off their skills. Find out how to set up a covert observation post, learn the secrets of firepower tactics or just pick up some tips on how to escape and how to evade the enemy.I also like the style they make this story, using a series of mini-dramas and reconstructions on the ins and outs of survival techniques taught to the elite group, which to me, seems really realistic.
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Advantages: A few good action sequences Disadvantages: Not gritty, unbelievable, poor direction.
wilderness, it soon becomes a game of cat and mouse as he is hunted down by the illegal Bosnian army; his only hope is that the Admiral on the U.S.S. Vinson will be able to send in a rescue team to retrieve him.
►►► Opinion
Before picking up "BehindEnemyLines" I had heard absolutely nothing about it, but having read the synopsis on the back cover I was expecting a gritty war drama in the same style as "Black Hawk Down". But sadly I was completely let down, as although this is definitely a war drama it is anything but gritty. Instead you have a war drama which spends more time trying to impress with artistic camera techniques and over choreographed action sequences than being gritty and realistic.
► The Story
The concepts behind the film are actually quite good with the main element focussing on the stranded ...
Advantages: It's a reasonably good idea for a film Disadvantages: The execution of that idea is incredibly poor
When a nuclear war head is spotted on American Satellite being loaded into a North Korean missile bunker, the American's are unsure what to do. The president green lights a Navy SEAL's operation behindenemylines, but when it comes to the crunch and the SEAL's are in position to jump the President pulls the plug on the mission. By this time it's two late and one way or another 4 of the team are already out of the plane. Now the team must do what ever it takes to keep themselves undercover and survive until they can be rescued or escape.
After the surprise success of the first film staring Owen Wilson I suppose it was inevitable that someone would make a follow up. Of course this isn't so much a sequel but more a similar premise for a script that's been given the same name as the 2001 hit. Whether this is due to someone having no ...
When pilot Lt. Chris Burnett is shot down in a remote area of the Balkans, his commanding officer sets out to rescue him.
Release details
DVD Region
DVD
Studio(s)
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment; Deluxe Video Service - Fox
Release date
02/09/2002
No of Discs
1
Catalogue No
22233 DVD
Barcode
5039036010146
Languages
Main Language
English
Hearing Impaired Language
English
Technical information
Special Features
Audio Commentary By Director John Moore And Editor Martin Smith, Audio Commentary By Producers John Davies And Wick Godfrey, Behind The Scenes Featurette, Pre Vis Ejection Sequence, Additional Main Title And Original End Title Sequences, Alternate Take Off Montage, 4 Directors Cuts, Scene Access, Interactive Menus
Aspect Ratio
2.35 Wide Screen, 16:9 Wide Screen
Sound
DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1
Dubbing Sound
DTS 5.1 English Dolby Digital 5.1 English
DVD Description
On a reconnaissance flight over eastern Europe, disillusioned naval pilot Chris Burnett (Owen Wilson) and his partner, Stackhouse (Gabriel Macht), photograph a scene they were not meant to see. When their plane is shot down and Stackhouse is quickly captured and executed, Burnett must struggle to survive in unfamiliar hostile territory with a cold-blooded assassin and hundreds of enemy troops on his heels. Meanwhile, on an American battleship in the Adriatic Sea, Burnett's commanding officer, Admiral Reigart (Gene Hackman), attempts to negotiate his soldier's return amidst tense political and military maneuvers. Soon Burnett discovers exactly why he's being hunted, making his situation--and Reigert's actions--even more perilous. Benefiting from Wilson's straightforward performance and Hackman's typically engaging presence, BEHIND ENEMY LINES proves itself with a solid story (loosely based on real-life events) and excellent action sequences. Shot in a cold, icy light, John Moore's film features a nail-biting aerial chase, a tense race across a grenade-filled wasteland, and a stunningly explosive final battle. Wilson, typically cast in quirky comedic roles, is an unlikely action hero who turns out to be the movie's secret weapon. By avoiding excessive macho posturing, BEHIND ENEMY LINES is smarter, more exciting, and better looking than most Hollywood military thrillers.
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