Behind Enemy Lines (2001)
Average Rating: 4.8/10
Reviews Counted: 130
Fresh: 48 | Rotten: 82
The plot for Behind Enemy Lines is more jingoistic than credible, and the overload of flashy visual tricks makes the action sequences resemble a video game.
Average Rating: 4.5/10
Critic Reviews: 33
Fresh: 12 | Rotten: 21
The plot for Behind Enemy Lines is more jingoistic than credible, and the overload of flashy visual tricks makes the action sequences resemble a video game.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 301,118
My Rating
Movie Info
A television commercial for a Sega game system that aired during the 1999 MTV Music Video Awards landed debut director John Moore a gig behind the camera of this military action thriller. Owen Wilson stars as Lt. Chris Burnett, a naval aviator aboard the U.S.S. Carl Vinson who's frustrated with the strict "hands-off" political policies that prevent him from experiencing combat against hostile Bosnian forces in his F/A-18 Superhornet jet. Burnett's commander, Admiral Reigert (Gene Hackman),
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Cast
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Gene Hackman
Reigart -
Owen Wilson
Lt. Chris Burnett -
Gabriel Macht
Stackhouse -
Charles Malik Whitfield
Rodway -
Joaquim de Almeida
Piquet -
David Keith
O'Malley -
Olek Krupa
Lokar -
Vladimir Mashkov
Tracker -
Marko Ogonda
Bazda -
-
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All Critics (148) | Top Critics (39) | Fresh (49) | Rotten (86) | DVD (32)
The filmmakers do their best to distract us, but eventually it becomes hard to ignore that Behind Enemy Lines is one long chase sequence.
Top CriticAn old-fashioned game of the cinematic cat-and-mouse, soldier-on-the-run variety.
The only thing certain about Behind Enemy Lines is that Mr. Wilson is in it for the chance to work with Mr. Hackman, and Mr. Hackman is in it for the money.
Action movie with intense peril and devastation.
From its prosaic title to its convenient timeliness, this valentine to U.S. military guys hamstrung by officious NATO bureaucrats could hardly seem less promising
That's just one of many reasons why I'm reluctant to call Behind the Lines entertainment. Propaganda, MTV-style, might be closer to the truth.
A satisfying enough piece of giddy-up entertainment that raises a few passing questions about the American 'cowboy mentality' before ultimately deciding it's a lot more fun to simply eat your action movie cake than try to have it too.
Behind Enemy Lines crosses into the ugly side of patriotism.
Plays more like a recruitment video for the US military than any serious examination of conflict.
Audience Reviews for Behind Enemy Lines
Super Reviewer
Very good movie! It's shocking to see Owen Wilson in this film since usually his roles are in comedies but he did quite good as a air force soldier. The story was interesting and in a few moments intense, not bat at all.
Lt. Chris Burnett has lost faith in his job in the Navy and wants to get out, and is even forced to do a reconnaissance mission with his friend Lt. Jeremy Stackhouse over Bosnia. During the mission, they fly their jet off course to check out a suspicious target that turns out to be the site of a mass grave that contains bodies of Bosnian Muslims. The main perpetrator of the massacre, Gen. Miroslav Lokar, has the plane shot down in order to avoid having the plane obtaining evidence of the massacre. Stackhouse ends up getting killed, while Burnett finds himself alone on the run from Lokar's ruthless soldiers. Burnett's commanding officer, Rear Admiral Leslie Reigart, has trouble gaining approval from his own commanding officers to carry out a search-and-rescue mission to save Burnett. From encountering a major battle in a war-torn town, to mine fields, to Serb soldiers seeking the pilot, and to a highly skilled sniper, will Burnett be able to escape Bosnia, or will he suffer the same fate of his comrade?
Super Reviewer
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- Lt. Chris Burnett: You've got to be shitting me!
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- Stackhouse: Yet another useless joyride at the cost of mere millions to the US taxpayer.
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- Reigart: Burnett! Zero six, you are a combat naval aviator. Start acting like one. You've been shot down. Life is tough. I am very sorry. Now you pull yourself together. You do whatever it takes. Create some angles between you and your pursuers. Use your training. Use your head. Evade and survive, and we will bring you home. Do you understand? We will bring you home!
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