Whoever thought Owen Wilson could carry a major action film should be shot. He would have ruined even a good action movie, and this is not a good action movie. I can't think of any living actor more totally lacking in charisma or more irritating to listen to (where does he GET that nasal whine?). He's a godsend to his supporting cast; my eyes naturally long to go somewhere, anywhere rather than settle on Wilson, so the bit players get a lot more attention than they otherwise would. Unfortunately, a lot of this film shows Wilson out in the wild by himself, so my eyes cannot escape this thing, this sorry excuse for an actor, that is on the screen.
But the converse applies also; if Wilson would have ruined even a good action movie, not even a strong leading man (say, Joaquin Phoenix) could have saved this movie. There is only one good action set-piece, the missile attack against the Hornet fighter-bomber. For the entire remainder of the movie, we are subjected to Wilson stumbling through one stupid situation after another. Wilson skylines himself while trying to communicate with the carrier crew; a sniper misses him even though he is a perfect, stationary target; at another point a whole freakin' ARMORED COMPANY misses him with everything from small arms to 20mm cannons at a range of about 250 yards -and he isn't even taking cover! These stupidities are important even for a lowbrow action movie from which you expect no brains: the action scenes need to make you think, `Wow, isn't he good!' not `Wow, God looks out for fools and drunkards.'
Even the redoubtable Gene Hackman can't contribute much to this movie. With the best will in the world, it's impossible to miss the fact that Hackman is too old to lead young, strong men into combat. He belongs behind a desk, where his mind can save their lives; behind the controls of a chopper, he's apt to cost them their lives.
Worst of all, John Moore invests the military men he intends to glorify with a large dose of that most unmilitary of traits: self-pity. Every character gets his turn to whine - and yes, I'm afraid `whine' is the word - about the political rules that make their lives tougher and more dangerous. Get this, warriors: WARS ARE FOUGHT FOR POLITICAL GOALS. A war without political goals is mere pointless murder. No warrior has the right to expect the country to which he pledges his life to let him endanger GOOD policies (stopping genocide in Bosnia, for instance, or destroying al-Qaeda) in order to save his own skin or his comrades'.
Only one thing in BEHIND ENEMY LINES is consistently good. I have never seen a clearer portrayal of the immense devastation that civil war wreaked on the Balkans. Nathan Crowley presents us with a bizarre, surreal moonscape of broken, twisted metal, wrecked vehicles, destroyed buildings and ruined works of art. The sets hauntingly render the sheer waste and sense of loss.
Militarism is not merely the exaltation of the military virtues: courage, honor, loyalty, discipline, and teamwork. If it were, militarism would be a good thing. But true militarism is more than this. It is the belief that the nation exists to serve the professional military forces, rather than the other way around. And in this sense, BEHIND ENEMY LINES is a militarist movie in the worst sense of the word.
Rating: ** (an extra half star for the sets)
Recommendation: Watch on TV, but only if you appreciate fine production design.
But the converse applies also; if Wilson would have ruined even a good action movie, not even a strong leading man (say, Joaquin Phoenix) could have saved this movie. There is only one good action set-piece, the missile attack against the Hornet fighter-bomber. For the entire remainder of the movie, we are subjected to Wilson stumbling through one stupid situation after another. Wilson skylines himself while trying to communicate with the carrier crew; a sniper misses him even though he is a perfect, stationary target; at another point a whole freakin' ARMORED COMPANY misses him with everything from small arms to 20mm cannons at a range of about 250 yards -and he isn't even taking cover! These stupidities are important even for a lowbrow action movie from which you expect no brains: the action scenes need to make you think, `Wow, isn't he good!' not `Wow, God looks out for fools and drunkards.'
Even the redoubtable Gene Hackman can't contribute much to this movie. With the best will in the world, it's impossible to miss the fact that Hackman is too old to lead young, strong men into combat. He belongs behind a desk, where his mind can save their lives; behind the controls of a chopper, he's apt to cost them their lives.
Worst of all, John Moore invests the military men he intends to glorify with a large dose of that most unmilitary of traits: self-pity. Every character gets his turn to whine - and yes, I'm afraid `whine' is the word - about the political rules that make their lives tougher and more dangerous. Get this, warriors: WARS ARE FOUGHT FOR POLITICAL GOALS. A war without political goals is mere pointless murder. No warrior has the right to expect the country to which he pledges his life to let him endanger GOOD policies (stopping genocide in Bosnia, for instance, or destroying al-Qaeda) in order to save his own skin or his comrades'.
Only one thing in BEHIND ENEMY LINES is consistently good. I have never seen a clearer portrayal of the immense devastation that civil war wreaked on the Balkans. Nathan Crowley presents us with a bizarre, surreal moonscape of broken, twisted metal, wrecked vehicles, destroyed buildings and ruined works of art. The sets hauntingly render the sheer waste and sense of loss.
Militarism is not merely the exaltation of the military virtues: courage, honor, loyalty, discipline, and teamwork. If it were, militarism would be a good thing. But true militarism is more than this. It is the belief that the nation exists to serve the professional military forces, rather than the other way around. And in this sense, BEHIND ENEMY LINES is a militarist movie in the worst sense of the word.
Rating: ** (an extra half star for the sets)
Recommendation: Watch on TV, but only if you appreciate fine production design.