Gene Hackman Movie:

Editorial Review:
Smart casting and sensible plotting make Behind Enemy Lines an above-average military thriller. Perfectly timed to bolster patriotism, the film is partly set (during a hypothetical "day after tomorrow") on the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Carl Vinson, which was on alert status in the Persian Gulf when this film was released. Proving his versatility as an unconventional movie star, Owen Wilson plays a navy navigator who is shot down over Bosnia during a reconnaissance mission. Pursued by rebel Serbian forces, Wilson must fight for survival while his commanding officer (Gene Hackman) plots a daredevil rescue. After a successful career in TV commercials, Irish director John Moore makes a promising feature debut on Slovakian locations, borrowing a few techniques from Saving Private Ryan while adding impressive flourishes of his own. The gung-ho ending's a foregone conclusion, but it works like a charm after the movie's exciting game of cat and mouse. --Jeff Shannon

Behind Enemy Lines [Region 2] Reviews:
Typical predictable patrioatic hollywood trash.
2009-07-14 - This movie is utterly devoid of facts and realism. This is reminiscent of the Arnold movies from the 80s & 90s, which wouldn't be so bad if this movie wasn't trying to be realistic and factual. I guess it should have been obvious from the Owen Wilson casting... this is someone thats good in comedies, not war (or action) movies. this movie i guess isn't too bad if you want a cheesy Hollywood action movie, but please do not expect anything else. this movie is unrealistic and factually retarded through and through.

Realistic? Heck no. Fun? Definitely!
2009-05-26 - Navy pilot Lt. Chris Burnett (Owen Wilson) is bored out of his mind. All he ever does is run exercises or fly routine reconnaissance missions for a war he doesn't even truly understand. Until one day when he and his co-pilot, Stackhouse, are shot down by two surface-to-air missiles over Serbia. After parachuting down, Burnett begins to walk up a hill to try and get a better signal on his radio. As he nears the top of the hill, he notices that Stackhouse is being questioned by a Serbian rebel army. When the Serbs are through questioning Stackhouse, the hunt for Burnett begins. Lost in unfamiliar territory, Burnett runs for his life from the Serbs trying to get to an open area to be rescued. But what Burnett doesn't know is the politics that are being played out behind the scenes. Because the two pilots flew into a no fly zone, the navy can not just go in and rescue their men unless they want to cause a full blown war. Hopefully Burnett will be able to survive long enough for the red tape to be cut, and the Navy can send in the marines to rescue him.

"Behind Enemy Lines" can be way over the top, but it really brings back the memories of the good 80's action movies where you left behind your brain and loved to believe that a man in a red head band could single handedly bring down Vietnam, North Korea, or the whole darn continent of Asia if he wanted to. Or when a man with bare feet could take down a terrorist group with witty lines inside a sky scraper. Or even when the governor of California came back through time to destroy the man that would destroy the future that hasn't been created yet. Ok sure it's nowhere near as good as Rambo, Die Hard, or Terminator, but it is a lot of fun. While those movies are great, there are always parts where you can pick them apart and say "Oh come on". "Behind Enemy Lines" is filled with a lot of cool scenes, and some tense moments. From the mine field, to the fight in a war torn city (a tank inside a building blowing the crap out of things), and to the final moments with a sniper honing down upon Burnett, the movie never really lets up. There were so many things though that I could tell you was wrong, but why really? When it comes down to action films, as long as they aren't trying to be very realistic (like Saving Private Ryan or Black Hawk Down), you just have to sit back, grab the popcorn, turn up the volume, and watch the crazy explosions, the blazing guns, and all the crazy car chase or dog fight scenes.

While I like the "Behind Enemy Lines", it's definitely not the best movie out there, but it is a very fun action movie. It's close to a 3.5 stars than a 4 star, but hey, I gotta help it out some. Definitely recommend for the action fans. And definitely on Blu. Heard it has incredible video and superb audio.

P.S. - Definitely the best part of the movie to me was the scene where the 2 SAMS were chasing down the F-15. That was some cool stuff there.


Not very believable.
2009-05-06 - The hero is a reckless fool, and the villians are all incompetent. This movie is somewhat entertaining, but is just not in any kind of reality.

When he's being shot at hundreds of times, and goes through a minefield, he wouldn't have made it. It's called shrapnel.

Even forgetting about shrapnel, the darn explosions hit him directly half a dozen times and he keeps running.

Gene Hackman, and the jet plane scene were the highpoint. You might squeeze 2 1/2 stars out of me because I was atleast entertained. Not a keeper for my collection.





Uhhhh, why did I get this?
2008-08-08 - This is a one time rental movie and thats about it. I will say that the sound effects are very cool and even better when in surround.

Great title for action fans...Awesome sound effects even in Dolby Pro Logic Surround
2008-06-28 - I first saw this movie on DVD the first time several years ago and then when I saw that it had come to Blu-Ray, I knew that I had to buy it. I was kind of disappointed with the picture quality, but then again I was only using 1080i due to a problem with my monitor. If I can manage to find an HDMI-DVI cable that works in 1080p I might post another comment in here so stay tuned. A few scenes were awesome in high definition especially the ones where the F-18 is being pursued by a couple of SAMS (surface to air missiles.) The audio quality on the other hand was outstanding! During the scene with the gunshots where the main pilot gets executed by the Serbian army, the shot was so LOUD I felt like I was standing right there in the field. My friend Mark was watching this movie with me (my first day playing Blu-Ray discs) and he said WHOAA with a capital W.! He said that he couldn't follow the story very well, and I was like, "Dude how could you not?" Basic search and rescue plot with a good story to boot. I believe this movie was based on a true story that happened in the late 90's if I'm not mistaken...