Personally, to my moral discomfort and despite knowing better, I kind of enjoy films like, say, Top Gun. It's fun, and that is as good a reason to watch a film as any.
However, I feel that by this point in time (well over ten years after Top Gun) the 'fun' excuse is wearing extremely thin as mitigation for the unleashing of badly-crafted, under-written, stupid and empty firework displays like this. I'm a guy, I can appreciate Big Gay Death Machines just like anybody else. I like to see rocket-powered phalluses tearing up the sky to a soundtrack of aggressive music as much as the next man, but I'm increasingly concerned at the nagging argument of my conscience that just because something is COOL! it is not necessarily therefore good, or worthwhile.
Behind Enemy Lines is the kind of film I could quite happily see exterminated from the fabric of existence. Not that it's especially awful, just rather offensive - a perfect example of how to insult an audience. Despite the cunning disguise of a handful of impressively-staged setpieces this is a lazy, stupid, and ignorant film that apparently sets out to propagate these very same virtues in the mind of a viewer.
Did you know that anybody who wants to avoid restarting a genocidal war in which a quarter of a million people have already died is a coward? Did you know that it's okay to run that risk to save one serviceman who got himself into trouble by disobeying orders? Did you know its okay to run that risk if the serviceman has photographic evidence of mass graves in a country where mass-graves are fairly thick on the ground and widely known about? Even though the effort of recovering these photos may actually result in lots more mass-graves which won't be captured on film? Did you know that Serb soldiers wore Croat insignia?
I knew none of this. Thanks to this film I have been re-educated.
However, I feel that by this point in time (well over ten years after Top Gun) the 'fun' excuse is wearing extremely thin as mitigation for the unleashing of badly-crafted, under-written, stupid and empty firework displays like this. I'm a guy, I can appreciate Big Gay Death Machines just like anybody else. I like to see rocket-powered phalluses tearing up the sky to a soundtrack of aggressive music as much as the next man, but I'm increasingly concerned at the nagging argument of my conscience that just because something is COOL! it is not necessarily therefore good, or worthwhile.
Behind Enemy Lines is the kind of film I could quite happily see exterminated from the fabric of existence. Not that it's especially awful, just rather offensive - a perfect example of how to insult an audience. Despite the cunning disguise of a handful of impressively-staged setpieces this is a lazy, stupid, and ignorant film that apparently sets out to propagate these very same virtues in the mind of a viewer.
Did you know that anybody who wants to avoid restarting a genocidal war in which a quarter of a million people have already died is a coward? Did you know that it's okay to run that risk to save one serviceman who got himself into trouble by disobeying orders? Did you know its okay to run that risk if the serviceman has photographic evidence of mass graves in a country where mass-graves are fairly thick on the ground and widely known about? Even though the effort of recovering these photos may actually result in lots more mass-graves which won't be captured on film? Did you know that Serb soldiers wore Croat insignia?
I knew none of this. Thanks to this film I have been re-educated.