Little Tony DeFranco
12-19-2004, 06:16 AM
Review: Flight of the Phoenix
http://www.browntownjohnny.com/index.php
Remake Alert! A lot of remakes of classic films have been thrown at us this year (Dawn of the Dead was fair) and more to come ('Assault on Precinct 13' looks pretty cool, Adam Sandler's "The Longest Yard"..maybe) so I was looking to "Flight of the Phoenix" as a good movie to remake (the trailer kicked ass!). The original motion picture from one of the finest journeyman filmmakers, Robert Aldrich (Dirty Dozen, Longest Yard, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane) was a classic survival tale about a desert plane crash and the crew set out to rebuild the parts of the plane into a workable model. Jimmy Stewart starred with a great cast (Ernie Borgnine, George Kennedy, and German Hardy Kruger stole the picture as the plane designer), and the audience would really care if they survived.
The new film is less successful for a slew of reasons. Casting Dennis Quaid was fine but the secondary actors are mostly forgettable except for Giovanni Ribisi in the Kruger role (he looks just like Kruger but is performed as an egghead twerp on an ego trip....Kruger was much more refined). Tyrese Gibson is awful! And the chick from LOTRings (Miranda Otto) is the token woman. The original had a real 'guy movie' feel to it, this one is a cardboard cutout of the first. Director John Moore did an entertaining and similar Owen Wilson/Hackman opus 'Behind Enemy Lines' a few years back and did a good job. This film is OK but not great. The story plot points are intact (saving grace) along with a bitchin' crash (CGI storm was silly) and the final act punch is rousing. I was disappointed by the tag-on ending because the first had the final landing of the makeshift plane, this new one was bogus. I will tell you to see the original movie because it was one of Aldrich's better films. Hope for better days ahead on the remake front.......maybe. BTJ
Movies (http://www.browntownjohnny.com/index.php)
Heartbeat is a Love Beat
http://www.browntownjohnny.com/index.php
Remake Alert! A lot of remakes of classic films have been thrown at us this year (Dawn of the Dead was fair) and more to come ('Assault on Precinct 13' looks pretty cool, Adam Sandler's "The Longest Yard"..maybe) so I was looking to "Flight of the Phoenix" as a good movie to remake (the trailer kicked ass!). The original motion picture from one of the finest journeyman filmmakers, Robert Aldrich (Dirty Dozen, Longest Yard, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane) was a classic survival tale about a desert plane crash and the crew set out to rebuild the parts of the plane into a workable model. Jimmy Stewart starred with a great cast (Ernie Borgnine, George Kennedy, and German Hardy Kruger stole the picture as the plane designer), and the audience would really care if they survived.
The new film is less successful for a slew of reasons. Casting Dennis Quaid was fine but the secondary actors are mostly forgettable except for Giovanni Ribisi in the Kruger role (he looks just like Kruger but is performed as an egghead twerp on an ego trip....Kruger was much more refined). Tyrese Gibson is awful! And the chick from LOTRings (Miranda Otto) is the token woman. The original had a real 'guy movie' feel to it, this one is a cardboard cutout of the first. Director John Moore did an entertaining and similar Owen Wilson/Hackman opus 'Behind Enemy Lines' a few years back and did a good job. This film is OK but not great. The story plot points are intact (saving grace) along with a bitchin' crash (CGI storm was silly) and the final act punch is rousing. I was disappointed by the tag-on ending because the first had the final landing of the makeshift plane, this new one was bogus. I will tell you to see the original movie because it was one of Aldrich's better films. Hope for better days ahead on the remake front.......maybe. BTJ
Movies (http://www.browntownjohnny.com/index.php)
Heartbeat is a Love Beat