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Flight of the Phoenix (2004)
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Reviews Counted:26
Fresh:5
Rotten:21
Average Rating:4.4/10
Consensus: What this update lacks in tension, it makes up for with generic action.
Rated: PG-13 [See Full Rating] for some language, action and violence.
Runtime: 1 hr 53 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Theatrical Release:Dec 17, 2004 Wide
Box Office: $20,900,803
Synopsis: Originally a 1965 Jimmy Stewart vehicle, this FLIGHT gets a rough and ready updating for the new century, with the stalwart Dennis Quaid now inhabiting the title role. He's a pilot on a routine... Originally a 1965 Jimmy Stewart vehicle, this FLIGHT gets a rough and ready updating for the new century, with the stalwart Dennis Quaid now inhabiting the title role. He's a pilot on a routine trip out to investigate some remote oil rigs in the Gobi Desert, but things go wrong and he makes a crash landing in the middle of nowhere. For him, and the men along for the ride, a slow, tortured, thirsty death seems certain, unless the plucky mechanic in the crew (Giovanni Ribisi) can design a whole new plane from the wreckage. As with the original, this is a manly adventure of rugged survival and mechanical ingenuity, only this time there's a woman on board, Kelly (Miranda Otto) who generates some romantic sparks. Some of the other survivors are played by: Tyrese Gibson, Sticky Fingaz, Bob Brown and Kirk Jones. The men and one woman have to tangle with murderous desert raiders and numerous sandstorms in addition to the frequent squabbling amongst themselves. Director John Moore gets a lot of mileage out of the desert backdrop and Ribisi is solid as the mechanic with a troubled past. It was produced by William Aldrich, whose dad Robert directed the Stewart original. Edward Burns (THE BROTHERS McMULLEN) co-wrote the new screenplay. [More]
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Giovanni Ribisi, Tyrese Gibson, Miranda Otto
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Giovanni Ribisi, Tyrese Gibson, Miranda Otto, Hugh Laurie, Kirk Jones, Bob Brown, Sticky Fingaz
Director: John Moore
Director: John Moore
Screenwriter: Scott Frank, Edward Burns
Producer: William Aldrich, John Davis
Composer: Marco Beltrami
Studio: 20th Century Fox
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Reviews for Flight of the Phoenix
By film's end the adventure appears less a matter of base survival than a beach barbecue gone slightly sour.
The wonderful character actors in the original ... are succeeded by a fairly anonymous bunch.
Other than Dennis Quaid, none of these characters leaves so much as a footprint in the sand. We don't know them. We don't care about them.
This time out, there's not much out there to look at besides sand, and even it doesn't look real.
Despite a basic premise that's ripe with promise, the film leaps way over the top with a key performance while also succumbing to some silly cliches.
A movie so literal that the character who wears an eye patch is named Patch, and where everything that happens is spelled out with the subtlety of a first-grade teacher introducing the alphabet.
I'm not recommending it for those who know the original, but it might work nicely enough for those who have not.
A sporadically diverting thriller that has the personality of a Diet Coke ad.
There's nothing like dumbing down a movie grown-ups love so it can be 'sold' to teens who aren't going to go anyway.
Shows both how far Hollywood's tech departments have advanced in 40 years and how shallow the pool of solid action thesps has become.
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| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 77% 77% | The Hangover |
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
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