Hey folks, Harry here with Quint and his look at BEHIND ENEMY LINES... as soon as my car returns from its three week heart transplant today, I'll be free to leave the house and venture forth and.... dare I say it.... SEE A MOVIE IN A THEATER OF MY OWN CHOICE!!!! Yippeee!!!
Ahoy there, squirts. 'Tis I, the crusty ol' seaman, Quint, with a little look at the Owen Wilson/Gene Hackman war flick BEHIND ENEMY LINES. I know that at this time of year, so agonizingly close to Fellowship of the Rings, a movie like BEHIND ENEMY LINES isn't first and foremost on the minds of us film geeks, but we shouldn't neglect these movies just because they don't have hobbits or Balrogs in it... Hmmm... Baaallllrooooggg.....
Sorry... Anyway, the flick comes out today. I'll keep it short and sweet (if I can). Basic story is about a young navigator who is tired of doing nothing but drills and sitting around all day on an aircraft carrier floating somewhere off the Middle Eastern Coast. He's constantly butting heads with the commander, Gene Hackman, who acts like a parent who doesn't know how to handle their ADD afflicted child. Owen Wilson's character wants some excitement, wants to fly. He's bored and the result of that boredom is some acting out, some tomfoolery if you will.
Up comes Christmas aboard the ship and wouldn't you know it... during the one day he wants to dick around and do nothing, Hackman assigns him and his pilot to do some RECON, nudging up to the NATO assigned boarder. This is when the movie kicks into gear. The missile attack on the jet is intense as all hell. The effects are great, the pacing's great, the camera work is great. Great sequence altogether.
If you've seen the trailer... or read the title for that matter... you know they crash behind enemy lines. Owen ends up on his own for the rest of the film, being pursued by the evil "enemy" whose line he's behind. I, for one, was glad to see him as the nearly sole lead of the film. I love Owen Wilson. He was one of the major reasons I didn't hate Zoolander like most did. I'll see anything Owen Wilson does... I haven't loved everything he's done (see Minus Man), but I'll definitely go and see everything movie of his. He could release a movie of himself picking his huge, glorious fucked up nose for 2 hours and I'd see it. Hell, I'd probably love the fuckin' thing.
Anyway, BEHIND ENEMY LINES is pretty good, but with some sizeable flaws. Gene Hackman is given almost nothing to work with here, playing a character we've seen countless times before, and there are some career worst moments during the film. Of course those are Gene Hackman career worst, which is still a step above career bests for almost everybody on the WB Network. There were some pretty clichéd moments in the film, but funnily enough most of them weren't in the major thrust, Owen Wilson running for safety, dodging his would be captors, etc. By clichéd moments I mean when anybody sets foot on the deck of the air craft carrier everything instantly and for no reason becomes slow motion. Walking to planes, walking away from planes, signaling planes, working on deck... Everything in slow motion. There's only one scene in the movie that happens above deck that isn't in slow motion and it's a comedic moment at the beginning of the film that gives a great and obvious homage to Castaway's brilliant co-star, Wilson.
I have to make sure you guys don't think I hated this movie. On the contrary. I love every moment of Owen Wilson's plot line. He takes this role mostly seriously and pulls it off well. It's not as funny as you might expect, but it has some awesome action scenes and some pretty intense moments that had my heart beating a bit faster. The politics side of things, the Gene Hackman storyline, is a bit more over the top and handled with less care. It's not terrible, but I always found myself wanting them to go back to Owen as soon as possible. His storyline was just more interesting, more taut and suspenseful... less clichéd.
Overall, I recommend this flick as a matinee. I heard lots of mumblings from audience members after the film and all of it was positive, some of it ridiculously positive like "That's the best movie I've seen this year!" I think most of you folks would enjoy the movie. It's a popcorny flick with some political statements smeared throughout, but it's very enjoyable, due mostly to Owen Wilson's chemistry... and nose.
That's it from me on this one, squirties. I'm gonna get writing on a really cool set visit report for you folks. Keep yer eyes on the horizon, mates, fer I also got some exclusive coolness comin' up for you folks very shortly. 'Til that day, this is Quint bidding you all a fond farewell and adieu.
-Quint
