Behind Enemy Lines

Just saw it today. Have to admit it was good. But some of the in-motion-directing had me dizzy a little, and the fast forward/flash-back scenes were a little abrupt as well, but otherwise good. I left impressed. Yes, the corny side is there, but in the end it didn’t matter to me.

The casting of Gene Hackman as the admiral didn’t surprise me after his stint in Crimson Tide. Well done Gene, good job.

Some of the technical points to nit-pick on though.

The SAM chase scene was pure Hollywood. No way the SA-9/Strela-1 missile is THAT slow, and at low level the Hornet is NOT THAT fast. The firing sequence of the SAMs was also too long. Although the Strela’s max. target speed is 300 m/s, which translates to Mach 0.9 roughly, so who knows, perhaps the Hornet could outrun and evade it below 5,000 ft.

The Super Hornet in the flick? Again Hollywood. And the USN had a chance to show it off, a few fancy touch screen buttons here, nice digital camera there, flew impressively and seemed almost invincible against the SAM, even two of them. Almost.:)

The Sniper missing a sitting target?!? Give me a break!

A French/UN Mil-8? They couldn’t get a Puma?

The Hueys with rockets and guns? Not that odd, some might think it is. They were Marine units coming off a CVN, and so had to provide their own support (no Cobras available). Hence the weapons, which they needed – badly.

The timing of the Super Hornet. They referred to a fictional ‘Cincinatti accord’ ending the Bosnian conflict, but this was actually the Dayton Peace Accord which was signed on Dec.14 1995. The Super Hornet was known then, although it had only just flown for the first time less than a month earlier. Again Hollywood.

My rating: 3.5 out of 5

It moved well, and entertained.