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The
potential for Behind Enemy Lines doesn't seem at all
promising. You've
got a first-time director working from a script penned by Razzie
winners for Wild Wild West and
Last Action Hero featuring an overly patriotic story plus
a release date shifted forward to either take advantage of
American sentiment or distance itself from Ridley Scott's
military movie Black Hawk Down (January), while still
beating Croatian Oscar contender No
Man's Land to theatres by a week.
The
comparisons are appropriate because Down is set in 1993
Somalia, Land in 1993
Bosnia, and, although it never makes this clear, I think we're
supposed to assume Lines takes place around the same time
in Bosnia (it's loosely based on the 1995 story of Air Force
Captain Scott O'Grady). Lines'
similarities to Land
include making NATO peacekeepers into bumbling buffoons and
manipulating the tale through the use of opportunistic
television news reporters.
In
Lines, Owen Wilson (Zoolander)
plays Lt. Chris Burnett, a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Superhornet
navigator whose frustration over being a beat cop working a
neighborhood that nobody cares about boils over into a cynicism
that threatens to stall his once-promising career.
Though the U.S.S. Carl Vinson's mission in the Adriatic
is winding down, Burnett gives his commanding officer, Admiral
Leslie Reigert (Gene Hackman, Heist),
his two-week notice because he's tired of trying to figure out
who they're fighting and who they're protecting, since it seems
to change every day.
As
punishment, Reigert sends Burnett and his partner, Lt. Michael
Stackhouse (Gabriel Macht, American
Outlaws), on a Christmas reconnaissance mission while
the other soldiers gorge themselves on turkey and mincemeat pie.
Thanks to some bad intelligence, they find nothing, but
the jet's radar picks up activity in what is supposed to be a
demilitarized zone. Burnett
and Stackhouse check it out, even though it's in an area over
which they're not supposed to fly, and, as they photograph troop
movement, find themselves being chased by two surface-to-air
missiles.
Long
story short, the plane is hit, the pilots eject and land in
unfriendly territory. Stackhouse
is executed by the Bosnians, while Burnett manages to escape and
radio back to the Carl Vinson for help.
Trouble is, Admiral Reigert is forced to sit on his hands
when NATO advises him a rescue attempt could jeopardize the
fragile peace process in the area. Also, his name is Leslie, so, like, how tough can he be?
Meanwhile, Burnett is being hunted by a deadly Bosnian
sniper (Vladimir Mashkov, 15 Minutes)
because the jet recorded damaging photos of a mass grave in the
area.
Lines'
action scenes are surprisingly effective, especially the scene
where Burnett's plane is taken down by the Bosnian missiles.
Irish director John Moore, who has an extensive
background in tech-heavy commercials and has worked with Jim
Sheridan and Neil Jordan, throws a lot of visuals at the screen,
and most of it sticks in an audience-pleasing fashion.
I never thought for a second Lines would evoke
memories of Saving Private Ryan,
but some of Moore's choppy, handheld camera work (not to mention
the story) looks like it came from Spielberg's editing room
floor. Moore shoots
the Bosnian scenes with what has become the standard whitewashed
look Hollywood gives to any Eastern European country involved in
war atrocities.
There are parts of the
film that are very schmaltzy and unbelievable.
The big finale is particularly hard to swallow (unless
you believe Bosnian soldiers have the firearm accuracy of Mr.
Magoo), as is a scene where Burnett meets up with a rag-tag
bunch of rebels whose ranks include an Elvis impersonator, a kid
with an Ice Cube t-shirt, and a girl with a bottle of Coca-Cola.
When Burnett and Stackhouse crash, they don't seem at all
frightened, even though they're marooned in a country controlled
by the people who shot them down.
The
highlight here is Wilson, who, as he did in Shanghai Noon,
either retools his lines into uncanny comic gems (remember, he's
an award-winning screenwriter) or pumps enough life into the
typical monosyllabic action dialogue to make it enjoyable.
He and Hackman will be re-teamed next month in The
Royal Tenenbaums, which Wilson co-wrote.
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for
war violence and some language |
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