Surprisingly incoherent and boring

One of my all time favorites.

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Gene Hackman is one of America's finest actors. As for the rest of the mundane cast in this predictable fish-stink, 99% of it reeks.Owen Wilson (with his jacked-up nose and bad speech impediment) is featured as a navy flier who 'doesn't like to follow rules'.... gee, where have we heard that before? There's a Tom Cruise look-a-like on the ship and just like Cruise, this guy can't act either.Some of the idiotic shenanigans in the film include navy deck personnel playing football using the aircraft catapults, Wilson yelling out in enemy territory to his injured buddy, then leaving him sitting in an open field (instead of helping him to the cover of the nearby forest), navy enlisted fools holding push-up contests in the isles of the dining hall floor, and a moronic rescue underling punching a hole in the war room map.Hollywood half-wit film-makers' zillionth opportunity to take liberties in portraying the American military as a group of dumbbells.

This movie has a plot that could have been interesting if done right. Unfortunately it was done badly.A recon pilot and co-pilot disobey orders by departing from his assigned flight path over Bosnia. They get shot down by bad guys operating in a demilitarized zone where they have been murdering civilians. One of the two (didn't ever figure out which) is injured, found by the bad guys who shot down the plane. They shoot the good guy. The remaining good guy was climbing a hill to establish radio contact with his aircraft carrier. He sees the shooting. He screams out loud at the sight of it, thus betraying his position. The rest of the movie is about him evading the bad guys pursuing him. Of course he is a superman and the bad guys are knuckle-dragging idiots, so evil the Devil himself would shun their company. The admiral on the aircraft carrier overrides orders and sends out rescue mission of a few attack helicopters. Just as all admirals, he joins the mission. Acting as the modern day cavalry, the copters arrive just in the nick of time to save our hero from capture by the bad guys, blowing up tanks with their missiles and machine gunning lots of bad guys. The movie ends with some written remarks that try to give the impression this was a true story and the people in it were real.Another war movie in which the lopsided depictions of the two sides and the truly ridiculous ending add the final touches of banality to what otherwise was only mildly entertaining.Read the "Hated It" reviews for more details about the numerous failings.

This fluid, adrenaline-fuelled addition to the recent wave of war films to hit our cinemas in the wake of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN is less serious than most, instead preferring to simplify the characters and situations of the (real-life) war situation - and using them as a basis for what is pretty much a straightforward action offering, utilising the old-fashioned "chase" style plot as a basis for the continuous shoot-outs and battles between enemies. In fact the film has a minimalist style, preferring to keep things low key, as a sole man - played by Owen Wilson - must try and make it to safe ground before the stereotypical bad guys shoot him dead. BEHIND ENEMY LINES may not be a work of art, but as an action film it exceeds all of our expectations. The pacing never flags for a second and the action is plentiful and exciting.The highlight of the movie is undoubtedly the super-impressive airborne chase between our heroes in their Navy jet and two surface-to-air missiles sent to destroy it. Utilising modern digital effects, this air battle is portrayed as never before and extremely entertaining. From then on, the rest of the action is surface-based and concentrates on massive amounts of gunfire, explosions, tanks and even a sniper or two sent to obliterate our American hero before he can escape. Critics complain about the clichéd nature of the plot and the patriotic flag-waving from the US, but when the action is this good such trappings don't really matter. Watch out for an ambush in a minefield which is also a highlight of the movie.Stylistically, director John Moore is one of those MTV graduates desperate to pack the movie with as many camera styles, pans, tricks, sweeps and spins as possible. The widely contrasting methods of filming do become a little too frenetic and overwhelming but on a whole they're adequate and add to the realistic feel of the action. Owen Wilson has now matured from lame comedy and bad acting in THE HAUNTING into becoming an adequate leading man and the viewer gets to engage with his good-natured character as he narrowly avoids the enemy time after time. Gene Hackman is there for name value as a gruff admiral back at the base, who barks orders like there's no tomorrow and eventually proves to be a good chap after all (I told you this was clichéd). Despite whatever shortcomings, BEHIND ENEMY LINES is a fine piece of light-hearted cinema, an old-fashioned adventure with little or no moralising to get in the way. Shallow but very entertaining.

Thr negative reviewers must be watching a different movie. Yes it's not going to win any awards for originality. But it's still a great movie. Big fan of the cinematography used, nice hand-held footage that is not over the top. The acting is good, the action is good. There is nothing really to dislike about this movie. I think Owen Wilson did a commendable job in this movie and while he normally does comedies, I think he fits the role nicely. The bad guys are dis-likable too, not comical or over the top. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I thoroughly enjoy this movie. Worth watching.