The Flight Of The Phoenix (DVD)

...off course and crashes in the middle of the Gobi desert and with no hope of rescue, a disparate group of people must band together to build a new one. Can they put aside their petty differences and work as a team? And more importantly, can they really make a new aeroplane out of the old one and get it off the ground.

Irish-born John Moore proves a capable director in this remake of the 1965 James Stewart movie. Having never seen the ...
...I am aware of how the new version differs from the old. The setting has been changed from the Sahara to the Gobi desert and whereas the characters in the original were soldiers, here they are oilmen. As disaster-cum-adventure movies go, this is a solid example. Moore has been canny enough to cast a lot of virtual unknowns in the movie so you're never sure who's going to survive and there are one or two shocks in that area. There isn't much preamble ... more

When their rickety plane is blown off course and crashes in the middle of the Gobi desert and with no hope of rescue, a disparate group of people must band together to build a new one. Can they put aside their petty differences and work as a team? And more importantly, can they really make a new aeroplane out of the old one and get it off the ground.

Irish-born John Moore proves a capable director in this remake of the 1965 James Stewart movie. Having never seen the original, I can't comment on how the two compare, but I am aware of how the new version differs from the old. The setting has been changed from the Sahara to the Gobi desert and whereas the characters in the original were soldiers, here they are oilmen. As disaster-cum-adventure movies go, this is a solid example. Moore has been canny enough to cast a lot of virtual unknowns in the movie so you're never sure who's going to survive and there are one or two shocks in that area. There isn't much preamble and you get the most basic of introductions to the characters before disaster strikes. There's just enough of everything to keep you gripped by this movie; character development, conflict, human drama, action and unexpected twists. It's Saturday matinee-making by the book, but it's an enjoyable and undemanding book and though we all know the story, there's something comforting in watching it unfold. Though character development is minimal, the director trusts his actors to fill in the gaps with the help of some skilful editing. The film is well-paced though there isn't a sense of time passing and Moore creates a nice sense of tension between different groups. When it comes to the visuals, he uses every trick in the book, from time-lapse photography, slow-motion, montages and miniatures to big budget CGI. But he uses them in moderation and they only ever serve the story, so it never feels like a special effects extravaganza. For instance, when we see the plane hit a sandstorm, it is scary because Moore uses a full-scale mock-up of the plane's interior so the actors look absolutely terrified because they really are being spun upside down and thrown all over the place. In fact it's the most thrilling plane crash since "Alive" and that's saying something. Otherwise, he shoots in an almost old-fashioned style, lingering on the endless desert like some latter-day David Lean.

The script by Scott Frank and sometime actor/writer/director Ed Burns is relatively sparse and compact. There are lots of characters and as a result, little cumulative screen time is given to each one. They are stock characters; the bureaucrat, the roughneck pilot, the hard man, the feisty woman, the mad scientist and so on and so forth. And each has his own particular skill that enables them to contribute to the group's survival and with a name like "Flight of the Phoenix", the ending is never in doubt. But as someone once said, it is the journey, not the arrival that counts and there are plenty of diverting mini-adventures to entertain. There is a sense of invention about the deaths that inevitably form a part of the film, whether people are falling out of the plane as it breaks apart, being flayed alive by sand or experiencing real bullet-time. There are some nice sequences that build affection for the characters, like the Bill Cosby and Bill Clinton take-off commentary by Frank and co-pilot AJ, or when Frank reluctantly gives in to the "hopes and dreams" speech. Some of the inevitable conflict that follows is a little over-ripe, but isn't bad enough to drag the film down. And the writers keep the mysterious Elliott's origins a secret until the very last moment.

The performances throughout are solid and unspectacular. Dennis Quaid continues to grow into his middle-aged curmudgeon persona, taking on the kind of role Harrison Ford was doing ten years ago. He's gruff and grizzled but thoroughly likeable as pilot and corporate cost-cutter Frank Towns, never allowing his pessimism to get in the way of a good argument. And he shows a pretty nifty right hook, too. Miranda Otto is underused in the role of Kelly, the only woman in the group. So obviously she plays up the "woman in a man's world" scenario by being feisty and determined and never giving up hope. Hugh Laurie goes all superior as company bureaucrat Ian. He's wound tighter than a clock and ever the administrator, works out the odds of being rescued. He softens slightly as the film progresses and becomes part of the team, but his would-be murderous rampage feels out of character. However, his most memorable scene is when he has a knotted hankie on his head, as if he were on the beach at Scarborough.

Giovanni Ribisi gives yet another fantastic performance as a sinister outsider. The character of plane designer Elliot looks as out of place as he is. Fashioned after the Aryan ideal, he is all bleached blonde hair and owlish glasses with immaculately turned-out clothes. He is a strange and possibly dangerous man, whose nebbish precision is symptomatic of closet megalomania. Ribisi is at his best in the scenes when he turns on the other members of the group, insisting they finish his plane, no matter what the cost to human life. He reveals himself as an amoral, unstable egotist and by refusing to help the others complete the aeroplane it is touch-and-go whether they will get out alive.

The rest of the cast consists of recognisable types rather than well-known faces (though if you're an Indiana Jones fan, Kevork Malikyan may look familiar). For once there is a decent ethnic mix, with black, white, Hispanic and non-specific middle-eastern faces. However they are more or less interchangeable and it's difficult to form any emotional attachment to them, especially as some don't last long. None stand out but that's as much to do with this being an ensemble piece as there being a generally good but non-descript acting style and level.

The special effects are of the Peter Jackson mix and match variety, using whatever technologies are at hand to get the desired effect. So although the effects team built a full-size version of the Phoenix, the flying version is actually a model, but it's such a good replica that you can't see the joins. Even when the effects are obviously computer generated, like when parts start to shear off the plane, it is done consistently and with such good editing that it is never less than seat-gripping. Similarly the time-lapse cinematography by Donal Caulfield is of astonishingly high quality and adds a lot of atmosphere to the film. It's also an unusual use of a technique more often confined to nature documentaries and high-end television dramas. Where the effects fall down is where they are conspicuous by their absence. Despite being trapped in the burning heat of the Gobi with little food and even less water, none of the cast members seems to suffer from loss of muscle mass, sunburn, exposure or sand blindness. Some of them look a little pink, but the majority start and end the movie looking exactly the same. And how does Elliot keep his roots so blonde?

The soundtrack is as eclectic as the casting with original music from Italian horror maestro Marco Beltrami, who knows a thing or two about elevating and maintaining a sense of tension through music. So there's plenty of insistent percussion to convey the idea that time is running out, didgeridoos add a sense of the exotic, mournful lone pipes convey solitude and reverberating music featuring Arabic vocals, sweeping strings and timpani ratchet up the tension when danger is near. The soundtrack incorporates a wide number of musical styles with country and western favourite Johnny Cash, Steve Winwood (thankfully in his blues soul period), and recent chart-toppers Outkast all contributing well-known tracks. Odd though it may sound, it's very effective.

This is the sort of movie that will appeal to you if you like perilous adventures or disaster movies with plenty of twists to keep you guessing. It's solidly made and the performances, though limited by the script are decent enough to keep you rooting for the team as the fight against time, the elements and each other to get out of the desert alive. A definite popcorn movie that will brighten up a dull Saturday afternoon.
 

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