I need not even comment on the outrageous stereotyping of the Bosnian bad guys. The film is not entirely a showcase for technology: it pounds home one of the enduring themes of western civilization, that the individual is worth more than gun ships and careers, that saving one life is more important than saving face against the world?s weighty politics.īecause director John Moore comes from commercials, I expect he?ll eventually figure out that literate audiences long ago lost their patience with chase scenes where the hero evades innumerable rounds of ammunition or where a trained assassin can?t kill a guy squarely in the crosshairs. Satellite technology imaging the movements of the hero and his pursuers is downright hypnotic Owen Wilson is believable enough as the "Most-Dangerous-Game" kind of guy for me to accept his headlining the film over the durable Hackman.
#BEHIND ENEMY LINES OWEN WILSON MOVIE#
Shakespeare?s general Othello couldn?t have better described the sounds and energy of " Behind Enemy Lines" - the planes, tanks, and guns of the mightiest army on earth are gleefully displayed, along with the patented Gene Hackman sneer, for the pleasure of beating the crap out of bad-guy Bosnian Serbs (even the movie can?t adequately clarify who?s who in that mighty mosh-pit of hatred). Th' immortal Jove's great clamor counterfeit."
Another "B" film enjoyable enough on a dark winter day but not great enough to outlast the endless conflict in an inscrutable Mid-East.īy John DeSando, WCBE's "It's Movie Time"