User Reviews

Although it's utterly ridiculous, I really, really enjoy this movie. Badham is a fine, if underrated action/thriller director; WarGames is great, Nick of Time is good, and his other notable movies include Stakeout, Saturday Night Fever, and The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings. He keeps Drop Zone moving quickly enough that suspended disbelief doesn't lift, which is a good thing considering that the bad guys are rogue skydivers. Seriously. Fortunately, the head bad guy is played by Gary Busey, who could make an interior decorator evil.

There's some great aerial photography, and it makes skydiving look awesome. It's extremely well-paced, the supporting cast is likable, and the script is enjoyably amusing. Snipes is one of the premier action stars of his generation, and his presence alone can elevate a movie from the mediocre to the above average. And Yancy Butler is absolutely smoking. End of story.

This movie is actually one of the more compulsively watchable to be released at the end of the action movie renaissance of the mid-'80s to mid-'90s. I'd watch it right now, even though I just saw it last night. My definition of a good movie.

The tale deals with U.S. Marshal (Wesley Snipes) who along with his brother (Malcolm Jamal Warner) are caring a convict (Michel Jeter) into a Boeing plane . Then he is abducted by a villain (Gary Busey) and underlings (Luca Bercovici and Claire Stanfield) and dropped in parachute . Snipes sets off in pursuit and is signed up in a skydiving airport instruction (managed by Yancy Butler) with the aim to resolve the issue .

It's an action-ride movie from start to finish and the intrigue is continued . This solid though predictable thriller contains dazzling airborne stunts which keeps you tied on the edge of your seat . The film mingles suspense , tension , thriller, action-packed and is very entertaining because happens several events . The final confrontation amongst the protagonist and enemies is stimulating and breathtaking . Mind-numbing and incredible storyline is redeemed by breathtaking skydiving scenes . If you can suspend you disbelief , this crime-adventure is just enjoyable and keep you entertained . The movie is fast moving and the action pace is rightly directed and for that reason the flick isn't boring , nor dreary but is bemusing . Of course , the spotlights and great climax of the film are the flight scenes , it is spellbound and overwhelming . There aren't special effects but ¨stunts¨ who make it astounding . Wesley Snipes interpretation is good , he is making an important step as an action movie hero-star (Blade) . Gary Busey plays very nice the nasty role , as usual , and Yancy Butler is enticing and enjoyable . Hans Zimmer music is fine but with too much tuning knob and little symphonic music .

The motion picture collaborated to create the ¨ skydiving genre film ¨ whose initial outing was ¨The Gypsy Moths¨(1969) by John Frankenheimer , thus has a certain remembrance to : ¨Break Point¨ (Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves) , ¨Terminal velocity¨ (with Charlie Sheen and Natassja Kinski) and ¨Cutaway¨ (Tom Berenger and Stephen Baldwin) . The motion picture was correctly directed by the veteran Joh Badham with assured and fast moving direction . Badham's breakthrough credit was the box office smash Fever Saturday night (1977) ; other hits on his resume include The Blue Thunder (1983), War games (1983), and Shortcircuit (1986). He's a nice director who achieved his greatest success in the 80s and 90s . He directed several hits (Nick of time , Skateout ,Point of No Return , Bird on a wire) , though today making TV movies (Jack Bull , Floating away) and television episodes (Crossing Jordan, Psych, Las Vegas, Standoff , Heroes). In addition , ¨Drop zone¨ film in which the action lovers will enjoy this ode to the skydiving sport, in spite of story deficiencies . Rating : Good , worthwhile watching .

i liked this movie,but i didn't love it.if you like watching people jump out of parachutes,you'll enjoy this one.there are a few good action sequences,including a involving bad guys kidnapping someone from a 747 at 38,000 feet and escaping with parachutes.Wesley Snipes is in this one as a U.S Marshal on their trail and he also has a personal stake in catching them.he has some decent fighting scenes,but he has been better.Malcolm-Jamal Warner also appears in a definite departure from his Cosby Days character of Theo Huxtable. Gary Busey is also in the movie,and is his usual reliable self.Michael Jeter is also good for some laughs.and of course,for eye candy,we have Yancy Butler,who is also a fairly good actress.at least i have always thought so.when you put everything together,the movie is pretty good though not great.still, i enjoyed it for the most part.my vote for "Drop Zone":7/10

Drop Zone is pretty much your typical action movie - at least plot wise. Wesley Snipes turns in another passenger 57ish performance, not great but competent. and Gary Busey is always competent playing a guy you always want to die no matter how bad the plot gets.

The movie however, is worth watching more than other bland action movies because firstly, the skydiving scenes are shot wonderfully. The cinematographer and the stuntpeople (unless thats Snipes in a free fall, which i doubt) are the true stars of this one. I really enjoyed watching the skydiving sequences in this movie.

plot wise, the movie kinda plods along, not a whole lot of suspense but enough of a story to keep people entertained. I think its worth watching at least once, purely for the skydiving and action sequences.

Also, besides being a fairly competent actress - one I can actually believe skydives - Yancy Butler is really hot.

It's always fun to watch these films focused around a particular subculture, in this case the subculture surrounding skydiving enthusiasts. And this one has plenty of action and stunts, many of them way over the top -- a prerequisite for any great action film. It reminded me of a typical James Bond film, without all the arrogance and bombastic dialogue.

The cinematography was spot on and the score was fantastic. The acting varied from great to mediocre -- about what you'd expect from a well-funded, major-studio, action-genre project. Wesley Snipes was great as the main character who was investigating the parachuting crime gang. Gary Busey (who played the bad guy) was a little over the top -- common for bad guys in this type of film. The dialogue was not forced and the editing was pretty good too, considering the difficulty of maintaining a smooth flow with all those incredible stunts.

The plot moved along at a good pace although it wasn't always credible, but that's par for an action movie -- if you're going to stretch credibility for all those stunts, who cares if the plot wanders from reality now and again? You're watching it for the action, not cerebral stimulation.

The violence was way too much, though. The plot could have been advanced and the characters developed without all that excessive violence. Less violence and less graphic, wanton violence would have made for a lighter feel for this film and been more consistent with its overall tone.

One thing I like about this film is the fair treatment for people of color. It was racially balanced with several black characters in the film, including the lead (Wesley Snipes), but it was not a "black film." (I don't like the way that producers arbitrarily segregate films into the category of "black film" for a black audience -- I thought we got rid of segregation back in the 60's). Also, the black characters were not relegated to playing subservient characters like waiters, porters or assistants -- they had substantial roles as protagonists. And they weren't forced to speak with substandard grammar and pronunciation as many filmmakers impose upon black characters.

Overall, if you like action films or movies about aviation, (and you can handle the wanton violence) this should be on your watch list.

Triggers: graphic wanton violence: guns, knives, hand-to-hand fighting, violence against women by the protagonist; some text (signage); airline disaster; drug crime and drug use

7/10 (submitted 12 June 2020, 4:50 p.m. EDT)

This movie was made at the same time as „Terminal velocity" with Charlie Sheen. Some people are complaining that one movie is a rip-off the other. To be honest I don't know who is right. I don't really care. Both movies are on the same level. Both are decent popcorn movies to kill some time. Nothing to write home about.

I have a soft spot for Gary Busey and I'm happy that he's the villain in "Drop zone" . Wesley Snipes as hero is nice , because he gives his rather generic hero some depth. You can obviously feel his pain.

The movie has some quite attractive photography and interesting music. It also gives us some insight at the skydivers community.

All in all it's not a bad way to spend a night. I give it 4/10.

This is fun. The premise is ridiculous -- really, a parachuting gang? But Wesley Snipes and Gary Busey liven it up. Don't take it too seriously, and you'll have a good time. It's one of my guilty pleasures. The idea of what's going on is a bunch of hooey, and really, Wesley Snipes hasn't made a lot of good movies lately, so this one is starting to look better and better. (Blade? Good. Blade 2? Pretty good. Blade 3?? Not so much.) He's better when he keeps it light, and this was before Gary Busey turned into a gigantic pile of mush and started to do reality television (gasp, ugh, barf). It's clever, reasonably well put-together, and goes down easy.

The only reason I gave this any kind of "stars" is that the story moves well, keeping one entertained. Otherwise, the dialog is so sophomoric and the characters so macho-idiotic, it might make one throw up. Also, the no one is likable in here and the Rambo mentality where the "good" guys never get shot while the reverse happens all the time just adds insult to injury.

In other words, this is a typical Wesley Snipes movie of the period.

I didn't care for the female lead, either, played by Yancy Butler, who is just too Hollywood '90s- tough and turned me off. An interesting film at times.....but extremely dumb.

The only reason to watch this movie is to enjoy the skydiving sequences. Really bad cinematography including bad artificial lighting, bad set design. and, further, why would anybody want to watch a movie with Gary Busey. I thought he had ODd long ago. Although it was fun to watch the work of Mr. Snipes, I think you may want to skip this one in favor of just about anything else with him in it. I was glad to see Yancy Butler in the film and hope that she continues to get work in Hollywood. I was really hoping for a better film when I selected this title from my online service and will write a similar review for them as well.

I watch this movie at least once a month, just for "the adreneline rush". Sometimes, as often as needed! Wesley really pushes to the edge in this one.

The entire cast were excellent! Including Mr. Busey, of course.

The writers and casters of the movie did really well with little details, like turf fights, base not on race, but on the fact that "you are not welcome here". Then there was "The Title On The Book" Wesley was reading while flying on the jetliner.

He didn't get the girl, but he did achieve more mile stones in the movie world for all of us, as one people.

I don't know if they meant it to be an action/comedy but I laughed through 80% of this flick. Plot holes galore, campy, and cringey line delivers; despite all that.. the movie was still entertaining.

Why in the world would anyone jump out of a perfectly good Airplane? Why in the world would anyone think that watching people jump out of airplanes for two hours would be interesting? With the exception of the requisite eye candy - Yancy Butler, one of Stuff Magazine's 2002 Sexiest Women in the World, and Claire Stansfield - this movie really didn't have much going for it.

Snipes seems to just walk though the movie with no real energy. It did have Gary Busey as the bad guy, a role he plays so well (Under Siege, Lethal Weapon), and i do get a kick out of Michael Jeter, but that's about it.

Drop Zone is an action ride from start to finish starring Wesley Snipes as a detective hunting down the men who killed his brother. No, the movie won't win any academy awards, but it is a thoroughly enjoyable action romp. The action is excellent, the girls are gorgeous, and the musical score is top notch. If you go in looking for a touching movie, don't bother. But if you just want something to enjoy for a couple hours of visual fun that requires little mental exercise, this will do quite nicely.

Ah, I enjoy 'Drop Zone'. The film has a distinct 80's TV series feel.

The film has a simple, straight-forward premise. I really enjoyed it for its simplicity. It really is more about skydiving than anything else, and that's what makes this film so special. The aerial photography is really good and the skydiving scenes are by far the film's draw-card. 'Drop Zone' also gives us an interesting insight into sky diving, and excellent in promoting the sport. The stunts are wonderful.

Wesley Snipes is wonderful as the protagonist; I just love this guy! He boasts great fighting skills, he is charming and quite funny, too. Gary Busey is pretty much typecast as the baddie. It was rather refreshing to see a film of this genre without a forced love interest. 'Drop Zone' builds to a thrilling, action-packed and suspenseful climax.

Would I watch it again? Yes.

I am impressed. We have an intricate plot. We have exciting characters. And we have Busey. Busey dominates the film. I am thoroughly pleased by his hair and his cougar-like movements. Every scene allows a unique perspective of Gary. I am astonished at how the director was able to capture the wild animal inside this man. Many films boast Busey and then fail to really let him out of his artistic cage. Drop Zone verifies my theory that Busey is a fearsome wild animal. It is phenomenal, but I have come to believe that Gary is actually half-man, half-cougar. And this is the film that convinced me. Sure, I had an inkling when I saw Hider in the House. And Plato's Run did more than drop a hint to me that something peculiar was going on with this actor's genetics. But Drop Zone stole my rational response to an unbelievable hypothesis.

Snipes is satisfying. His wardrobe offers an intimate portrayal of character. The fashionable collarless tuxedo-style dress shirts reminded me of Monte Carlo or Naples maybe. Snipes seemed to say, "Hey show me a man that looks as good as me and I'll eat him." All in all: this film offers a chemistry between two men. Busey and Snipes embrace cinematic Parachuting almost as well as Reeves and Swayze embraced cinematic surfing. Remarkable.

Even if I wanna have my usual dose of daily sport (on telly that is) I never loved it that much in movies, especially not those baseballthings but good...from now on skydivers have their own movie as well, Drop Zone, sole thing that is sad is that this is one of the worst actionmovies I have ever seen... Let's start with the good things : Gary Busey and Wisley Snipes do a decent thing just because they can act, but all the other actors are ...hmmmm how do you say that?, beyond the lowest level. And then that story!!!! A 747 is hijacked by some skydivers who wanna have a computerexpert who can sneak into pc's and once they have the man, they jump out of the plane (after having murdered most of the passengers) to dissapear. Snipes who was there with his brother saw how his brother was killed and of course he wants revenge...and for doing that he has to get into the skydiverscrew... Voila, and the rest of the movie you just see some skydivers and that's it, apart from counting some fists from Snipes. Terrible, and saying this was directed by John Badham...phew....

Average movie, with some really exciting sequence with good BGM.

Drop Zone started out fresh and exciting. I could get behind a prison break at 38,000 feet no matter how improbable. It was something new and definitely extreme. Then it became a 90 minute skydiving video. Oh yeah, we got to see tandem skydiving, skydiving ground work, skydiving teams, skydiving hangouts, and of course skydiving jargon. I almost forgot that it was an action crime movie and that U.S. Marshall, Pete Nessip (Wesley Snipes) was after some bad guys.

If the movie wasn't already at the outer regions of believability there was a scene (one of many far-fetched scenes) where skydiving instructor, Jessie Crossman (Yancy Butler), decides to show the newby how hard skydiving is by dumping him out of the plane. Of course she jumps after him, attaches herself to him and brings them both down safely.

Why did that scene stick out to me and had me so uptight? Because I skydived before and NO instructor would do something so reckless. Even if the instructor caught up to the falling student, the student would be in perpetual propeller mode making him impossible to haul in. She would have been committing murder if she had really done that. To the movie's credit they did have Pete giving Jessie a left cross to the face after that stunt.

Still, the movie didn't have enough going for it. Snipes and Busey did their best but there wasn't enough to work with. I'm sure skydivers worldwide appreciated this movie while non-skydivers suffered.

I watched this movie on television on lonely Sunday night, and was I ever surprised. This movie is cool as hell. Wesley Snipes plays Pete Nessip, a rogue U.S. Marshall hot on the trail of the criminals who killed his brother during a prison bread aboard a passenger plane. The skydiving stuntwork is awesome, the action scenes are cool, and their are even a few funny parts to boot. All things considered, I would recommend this movie to any action fans.

If you're a skydiver, you'll love this movie. For everybody else, it's boring. It's not a typical action-packed Wesley Snipes movie. This one focuses on skydiving, and that's about it. Lots of skydiving, and then some more skydiving. They just threw in some token fight scenes at random to help tone it down, but it doesn't work. I gave it 4* because Snipes is in it. Without him, it would get 2*.

I personally don't think Wesley Snipes ever really got his due. He was a very likable, charismatic actor who had the physicality and charisma to do action movies, but the range and abilities to do more than just action. He wasn't wooden, like a lot of action stars, and he felt more relatable. He made a lot of good and underrated action movies, and he seems to not be as appreciated as a lot of other stars. I definitely prefer him over Seagal or Van Damme.

"Drop Zone" is one of Snipes' more well-regarded vehicles, though that isn't saying a whole lot since a lot of Snipes' action movies weren't very well-regarded. I actually really enjoyed this movie, and I think it's as good as "Passenger 57". Please don't crucify me.

This is one of those rare action movies that breaks away from the formula, at least a little bit, and I think that's why a lot of people didn't like it. There wasn't a ton of action aside from like, three or four scenes. I even noticed it while watching, but continued on. I felt like I should be bored with it, but weirdly, I wasn't. The film sort of grabbed me, and I was just interested. Skydiving is one of the film's central themes, as the plot pretty much revolves around it, and the movie almost forgets it's an action film for a good part of the film, embracing the skydiving concept and the drama that comes with it. It almost feels like the screenwriters realized they had to include some action sequences after finishing writing it, so they went back and peppered some action into the script. This is an action movie that doesn't seem to care that it's an action movie, and on that level alone, I enjoyed it. It was brave enough to try something new, without caring about audience expectations.

Peter Barsocchini and John Bishop are credited as the screenwriters, and they did a pretty goods job. This film took a break from the action and actually let its story play out naturally. The pacing is good, and it felt natural that we actually see Snipes' character becoming slowly better at skydiving. It was a good story, the protagonist was given a personal stake that while contrived, was still believable. Bishop has done a lot of other work, and is responsible for script rewrites of "Clear and Present Danger", "Primal Fear", and "Beverly Hills Cop III", and for writing "The Package". So he obviously knows what he's doing.

The film greatly benefitted from John Badham's direction. He's a very skilled, capable action director who I feel is very underrated. He has "Stakeout", "The Hard Way", "Blue Thunder", and "Point of No Return" to his name, and "The Hard Way" is actually one of my personal favorites. He is very adept when it comes to crafting an interesting action sequence, and the scenes in this film are no exception.

The action scenes are pretty entertaining here, with the plane hijacking, bathroom fight scene, and final battle all being well done, especially the final battle. The fight scene between Snipes and Busey was worth the buildup. I also appreciated that though the supporting players assisted Snipes against the bad guys in the end, the story gave them an actual reason to be there, and they weren't just there in the end. That is to say, it didn't feel forced, as the supporting players were actually as invested as the protagonist, to a point. There was also this very short bar fight that felt forced, and it ended way too quickly. It was one of the only awkward scenes in the movie for me.

There are also a lot of skydiving scenes (seriously, there are a lot, I'm not joking), and they're all actually pretty cool. None of it is fake, and the stunt doubles are pretty hard to tell for the most part (some are easy to spot at parts, but that doesn't take away from the novelty of the scene).

Everyone's performances were fine, but Wesley Snipes and Gary Busey are obviously head and shoulders above the rest. Snipes continues to be charismatic and likable in his role here, and I especially liked his acting when his character is introduced to skydiving. He humbles himself here in a way many other action stars either couldn't or wouldn't, and he screams like a girl and is completely afraid. He feels much like an everyman here, which is one of the things that made him so endearing. I read in the trivia tab for the film on here that Steven Seagal was originally going to be the lead here. I can't imagine him or anyone else acting the way Snipes does here, but whatever it would've looked like, the film would not have been as good. Busey shines as the villain, and he is obviously a very good villain actor. He proved this in "Lethal Weapon", and the very underrated "Surviving the Game", which also came out in 1994. Rex Lin is also in this, known for "Rush Hour" and "Breakdown", and I think he's very underrated. If he got bigger roles around this time, he probably could've proven himself.

I recommend this film. It's another hidden gem from Wesley Snipes, worth your time if you're a Snipes fan or just an action buff. Some may be bored by it, but it being rather slow and plodding is the only justifiable reason I can fathom for the 5.6 rating. Check it out and judge for yourself.

Gary Busey once again proves that nobody is as sneaky as Busey. We have ourselves another prime example of this in Drop Zone. Busey's character Ty Moncrief had it all. He was an evil genius, the greatest skydiver known to man, beautiful and of course, sneaky. Gary Busey is so sneaky that he is able to appear from thin air, grab Yancy Butler and growl in her face like a wild animal with nobody ever noticing him. To a man like you or I, this seems almost supernatural. To a cougar man, that's just everyday living. It is clear that Busey is well versed in hunting prey with his animal instincts. Another poster believes that Busey is half man half cougar. I've long thought this myself. Recently, however, I'm starting to believe that Busey is more cougar than man. How else to explain his mane? It's so unkempt and wild. No man, no matter how down and out or crazy has hair that wild. And Busey's grunts and growls are as fierce as any animal you would find in the wild. Certainly no man has ever growled quite like Busey. As time goes on it is becoming more and more clear that Gary Busey is a super species created by science, or from his determination and will power to become part cougar. The only thing that can stop him is if his thirst for the ultimate hunt takes over and the cougar dwelling inside him takes over the man inside him. If this were to happen, may god help us all. For, not only would we lose won of the greats of all time, he would probably eat all of our babies. Truly terrifying and impressive to think about. As for Snipes, he gives a nice performance of a man avenging Theo Huxtable. He goes undercover in the skydiving world to catch Busey. (I know, it's comical to think that somebody could hunt Busey. But movies are fantasy.) In a memorable montage scene Snipes learns all there is to know about skydiving in about five minutes. From there it's a fight between Snipes, with his intense training now the 2nd best skydiver, and Busey the world's greatest skydiver. Who will survive? How many people will Busey eat? How many pairs of drawstring pants will Snipes wear? How many crotches will Snipes punch? I won't give anymore away.

Federal marshal Pete Nessip (Wesley Snipes) and his brother; fellow marshal Terry Nessip (Malcolm Jamal Warner) are escorting a prisoner to Atlanta when the plane they are travelling on is hi-jacked by a bunch of sky-diving criminals led by former DEA agent Ty Moncrief (Gary Busey)The Nessip brothers' prisoner is taken from the marshals custody by said sky-diving criminals (in order to carry out cyber crimes on their behalf). With the help of professional sky-diver Jessie Crossman (Yancy Butler), Pete sets about stopping Moncrief and his crew whilst he simultaneously tries to avenge his brother's death...

As far as action films go then Drop Zone is probably about as generic as they come; there is very little in the way of originality offered up here and no real surprises in store, but what really lets it down is that, for the most part, it just isn't much fun to watch....

It begins with a bang and sets itself up as a tongue-in-cheek action film (which given the material and the rather sub-standard performances this is the only way it can really be looked upon), but it isn't consistently fun and it wavers wildly between dumb-ass cringe-inducing dialogue, back to serious plotting and then back to dumb-ass cringe-inducing dialogue. The director doesn't seem to know how to play the film out and by wildly switching between tones the film never really works and is either embarrassing to watch or just plain dull (and I'm still not sure what is worse).

The performances are pretty poor as well; Busey just embarrasses himself although he does at least look like he's having fun here. Butler is very wooden and brings virtually nothing to the table, but it's Snipes that was the real surprise and given how energetic he can be I was surprised by how much he underplayed the role here - although again this could be the director's fault rather than Snipes.

Drop Zone isn't a total waste though and some of the action scenes (particularly the ones at the start) give the film some life and energy and some of the sky-diving sequences are quite good (although some of these sequences seemed a tad over-indulgent - what exactly was the point of showing all of the sky-divers holding hands in a circle at several thousand feet on numerous occasions??

I really wanted to like Drop Zone as I do normally enjoy a bit of action cheese and hoped that it would be a film that I could say was 'So bad that it's good', but unfortunately, it's mostly just bad.