Behind Enemy Lines (2001)
Review by HTQ4
Film:
DVD:

Written by Jim Thomas and John Thomas
Directed by John Moore
Starring Owen Wilson, Gene Hackman, Gabriel Hacht, Vladimir Mashkov, David Keith

Features:

• Running audio commentary by director Moore and editor Martin Smith
  
• Running audio commentary by producers John Davis and Wyck Godfrey
  
• Extended/Deleted Scenes with optional commentary by Moore and Smith
  
• Behind the Scenes Featurette
  
• Pre-Vis Ejection Sequence storyboard feature with optional commentary by Moore and Smith
  
• Minority Report Trailer
  

My Advice: Rent It

Boy, being in the military just isn't the G.I. Joe/adventure of a lifetime/chance to save the world (or at least a corner of it) ride that it used to be.  That's how Lt. Chris Burnett (Wilson) feels about his tour as a navigator in the United States Navy.  Admiral Leslie Reigart (Hackman) really wants him to understand that being in the military is about much more than all that hoopla.  Burnett winds up on a holiday reconnaissance mission over parts of Bosnia, but when they fly over and realize there's nothing to recon, they decide to change their mission a bit and check out some activity in another sector (the No-Fly-Zone, nonetheless) and get themselves shot down.  While Burnett runs for his life on the ground, Admiral Reigart fights several political battles with the heads of the U.N. Allied Forces in order to be able to rescue his downed man.

You know what?  This movie isn't all that bad.  It's very formulaic, but some of the imagery used is really quite stunning.  Wilson proves that he can carry a movie all by himself (although some of us have thought that for a long time), and Hackman proves that he can walk on screen and act the hell out of some otherwise trite dialogue (but I'm sure everyone knows that by now).  The action sequence with the F-18 being shot down is a visual and aural feast, but after that, you really get left kind of flat.  Also, there is a style at work in this film that I don't think lends itself to the story at all (even though the director defends it in his commentary--more on that later).  Some of the sequences are shot and edited in that trendy "Let's switch from slo-mo to high-speed" kind of way, that you see in a lot of commercials and music videos today which, quite honestly, I'm getting rather tired of.  Most of the music chosen for the soundtrack are rather oddly placed (and yes, the director defends that, too).  There is really trendy sounding dance music playing at some of the weirdest places; supposedly to emphasize how out-of-place and disoriented Burnett is supposed to be. In my case, it didn't work.  I found myself being being out-of-place, then disoriented and finally disconnected from the movie.  With all of this in mind, the movie is pure entertainment.

The DVD itself is okay, too.  It's filled with your usual action movie DVD fare.  Interestingly enough, I thought the producers' commentary was more interesting than the director and editor's commentary.  I don't know whether that has anything to do with the fact that this is Moore's freshman effort or not.  Don't get me wrong, I think he did a bang-up job with the film, but it seemed to me that he spent most of his commentary track talking about how great the actors were.  The producers' commentary is more interesting because they seem to go into more of the background of how and why they decided on locations, the difficulties inherent in shooting on location on an active aircraft carrier, and the negotiations they had with the Department of Defense in getting some of the shots they wanted actually in the film.  Also, this is where we actually discover that not only is this Moore's first film, but that his resume is filled with commercial and music video direction; which I guess counts for that certain annoying style I mentioned earlier. 

The extended/deleted scenes are available to view both with and without the commentary.  Watching them without the commentary you really see why they were cut or shortened.  Watching them with the commentary, you really don't gain any insight into the director or editor's choice behind cutting them.  In fact, they really talk on top of one another a lot during their commentaries (both the feature commentary and the deleted scenes).  After a while, they kind of settle down and start telling you some stuff that you really might be interested in.  The Behind the Scenes documentary is your typical short montage of brief interviews with the actors, producers, and the technical advisor talking about what a hostile environment working on an aircraft carrier is and how authentic this "military" movie is. 

The Pre-vis Ejection Sequence is the digital effects supervisor commenting on how they put all the pieces together to make the "money shot" of the film work the way it did while they show the unfinished scene for you.  I must say I did find it rather odd that there is a trailer for the new Tom Cruise/Stephen Speilberg film Minority Report.  I know it's just promotion, but you would think that there would be a trailer for this film on the DVD, wouldn't you? 

All in all, it's a good treatment of the film. For the military action movie buff, this is a must see (and probably must own), but for your average DVD enthusiast, I would just say pick it up at your local rental place.