| Behind Enemy Lines |
| © 2008 by C. E. Murphy. All Rights Reserved. |
Owen Wilson has generally succeeded in carving a niche as a
sarcastic and sardonic screen presence in films as varied as Bottle Rocket,
Zoolander and Shanghai Noon. He has an engaging, boyish quality that
has served him well, whether playing a serial killer (The Minus Man) or a
substance-abusing author (The Royal Tenenbaums, which he also co-wrote).
So despite his versatility, one doesn't exactly think of him as an action hero,
but that's precisely what he has become with Behind Enemy Lines, a taut
and tidy war drama about a fighter pilot who veers off course on a routine
mission over Bosnia, discovers an atrocity and has his plane shot down.
Because he wasn't exactly following orders, Jack Burnett (Wilson) is in a
dicey situation. His commanding officer Admiral Reigart (Gene Hackman)
has been told that a rescue mission is out of the question. Pursued by
a deadly assassin as well as Serbian troops, Burnett has to rely on his
wits to survive until someone comes to rescue him.
The screenplay, credited to David Veloz and Zak Penn from a story
by brothers James Thomas and John Thomas, sets up a rather schematic
situation. Burnett is a fine navigator who is bored by the routine missions
he's asked to fly. Rather than seeing combat as he was promised, he and
his co-pilot Stackhouse (Gabriel Macht) pass time on reconnaissance
missions. Frequently clashing with his commanding officer, Burnett has
decided to opt out and plans to do so at the start of the coming year.
In contrast, Reigart sees the potential in Burnett, but is frustrated by
the younger man's impatience. When each is called to act when Burnett
gets into trouble, there is a parallelism in the story; both in a way are
stuck operating in hostile territories. For Burnett, it is literal; for Reigart
it is political.
Behind Enemy Lines was well-directed by Irishman John Moore, a
still photographer who honed his craft with a series of acclaimed
commercials. Employing various film stocks, handheld cameras and other
flashy techniques, Moore draws the audience into the story from the
harrowing moments when Burnett has to eject from his plane to the
horrors he witnesses firsthand. There are several sequences that are
immaculately shot and edited, for example, a sequence when Reigart's
crew hijacks a heat-seeking satellite and zeroes in on Burnett who is
hiding as a phalanx of Serbian troops approach. Appearing to be "dead"
(he's playing possum), Reigart and company become convinced he
has been killed -- until they see otherwise. It's an ingenious use of
technology and a nail-biting incident. Moore knows how to stage
battle sequences as well and the production has the "look" of a
war-torn land, whether it's the primordial forest through which Burnett
runs, a booby-trapped factory or a town under siege. Credit has to go to
director of photography Brendan Galvin, production designer Nathan
Crowley and editor Paul Martin Smith.
As in most action films, the actors aren't really called upon
to "emote." Wilson injects moments of his trademark smart-aleck persona
but they are tempered by his respect for the character. Hackman projects
the required authority and guts as the Admiral and David Keith is fine
as his right-hand man. Joaquim de Almeida lends the proper gravitas
to his role as a representative of NATO, while Olek Krupa and Vladimir
Mashkov are suitably menacing in their roles as a Serbian general and
a marksman out to kill Burnett, respectively.
Behind Enemy Lines revolves around heroism and that is something
which should strike a particular chord given the Zeitgeist. It shows that
courage, bravery and spirit are not necessarily in short supply. Perhaps
that lesson has been learned since September 11, 2001, but it's not a
bad thing of which to be reminded.
Rating: B
MPAA rating: PG-13
Running time: 110 mins.