Behind Enemy Lines Blu-ray delivers great video and reference-quality audio in this fan-pleasing Blu-ray release
Fighter navigator Chris Burnett wants out of the Navy: he was looking for something more than boring recon missions he's been flying. He finds himself the lone Christmas day mission over war-torn Bosnia. But, when he talks pilot Stackhouse into flying slightly off-course to check out an interesting target, the two get shot down.
Burnett is soon alone, trying to outrun a pursuing army, while commanding officer Reigert finds his rescue operation hamstrung by politics, forcing Burnett to run far out of his way.
I'm not going to let that kid die out there while we sit around on this
ship!
If there is one truism I've encountered over my years of watching movies, it's that
if a movie has
Gene Hackman (Crimson
Tide) in it,
there
is reason to watch it. He's proven himself time and again to be one of the finest,
most
naturally-gifted actors of our time, and he once again earns my respect with his performance in
Behind Enemy
Lines,
a generic and predictable yet tense and exciting action film from 2001. Also
starring Owen
Wilson
(Drillbit
Taylor),
Behind Enemy Lines is a slick, fast-paced action extravaganza that is
better than a movie
like this deserves to be.
Admiral, you know I'd never pull a stunt like going behind enemy lines. Nope. Not me.
Owen Wilson portrays Lieutenant Chris Burnett, a naval aviator and the navigator on
board a two-man
F-18 Super Hornet fighter jet. He's decided to leave the Navy after seven years.
He no longer wants to play a "cop," particularly after several meaningless jobs he was ordered to
do during the Bosnian crisis.
After
a heated confrontation with his Admiral, Leslie Reigart (Hackman), Burnett and
his pilot
Stackhouse
(Gabriel Macht, The
Recruit) are
assigned the Christmas Day photo reconnaissance mission. The duo intentionally
veers off course
and into restricted air space to capture better, more telling photographs, are
subsequently
shot
down by a SAM (Surface-to-Air Missile), and find themselves behind enemy lines.
Burnett leaves
an
injured Stackhouse for higher ground to better communicate with their ship, the
U.S.S. Carl
Vinson, and Stackhouse is executed by the enemy. Burnett's life hangs in
the balance as he
is hunted down by enemy forces and forced to traverse to a new rendezvous point
that is dictated
more by international politics and intrigue than it is by ease, convenience, and
consideration
for Burnett's life.
Behind Enemy Lines would be a perfect choice for that old TBS show,
"Movies For Guys
Who
Like Movies." Featuring all of the things that any true-blue, red-blooded
American male
wants to see in an action extravaganza, including jet fighters, missiles, machine
guns, aircraft
carriers, helicopters, and tanks, Behind Enemy Lines is a nonstop barrage
of all things
military, with one man's struggle for survival amidst the chaos and confusion of a
war-ravaged
countryside as the central plot of the film. As a fan of movies filled to the brim
with the latest in
military hardware (with a few
notable exceptions), I found
myself pleasantly entertained by this movie that, by all accounts, should be far
less enjoyable than it
is. The basic premise of the film is grounded in plausible reality, but the
filmmakers have
embellished and stretched the boundary between reality and fantasy quite a bit.
After all, who
would buy a ticket to a movie that showed a pilot shot down, walking to the
extraction point
for 90 minutes with nary an exciting moment to be seen, followed by his rescue,
and the rolling of the end
credits? Not I. Perhaps that is
why this movie works so well as a mindless Saturday afternoon action flick. All of
my friends and
I grew up playing war, influenced by the war and action movies we so loved to
watch. Behind
Enemy
Lines is many a young boy's fantasy come true, that of a hero who is anything
but
larger-than-life, but his actions are. He is caught in the crossfire of a war-ravaged
country,
dependent on only
his survival skills, military training, and cunning to escape with his life through
cold, muddy, and
deadly terrain.
While Behind Enemy Lines clearly has "Hollywood" written over it, it's a
well-staged
movie that maintains a level of tension throughout its rather predictable story arc.
There is
nothing new here, but director John Moore (Flight of the
Phoenix)
keeps the material feeling fresh and captivating nevertheless. This film is
infinitely better crafted
than some of the lesser of the recent loud and fast-paced action extravaganzas,
like Stealth.
Sure, there
are a few laughably bad moments, such as the crescendoing hero music played as
Burnett once
again escapes the bad guys by donning the uniform of a dead solider and takes off
his disguise only
feet from the enemy. Owen Wilson is a fine actor, but Behind Enemy
Lines proves he's
better suited to stay away from the adrenaline-pumping action fare, sticking
instead to the
comedy roles that made him famous. Gene Hackman is once again likable and
plays his role well.
For those of you who enjoyed this movie, or find you like it after reading this
review and watching the film, you may
want to check out another Gene Hackman movie that is in a similar mold as this
one, but is a
decidedly superior film: Bat 21.
Behind Enemy Lines flies onto Blu-ray in a very nice looking 1080p,
2.35:1 framed
transfer. The detail here is remarkably real. Look at chapter two when the pilots
are eating a
meal in the ship's cafeteria. Their uniforms look so natural in both color
reproduction and detail
that they may as well be hanging on a hanger in front of my television. This same
scene does
exhibit some print anomalies, including black specs and a rather large white
blotch that was
visible for only a split-second. There are times in the movie where these splotches
are rather
heavy, but again, they only last for a second or two. The vast majority of the film
is free of this
debris. Flesh tones are fantastically accurate, as are black levels, which are a true
inky black and
never overly gray or bright. There is an ever-so-fine layer of film grain that is
barely noticeable
over the entirety of the movie. Softness is visible in several shots, especially in
the cold, isolated,
winter forests. Bare tree branches during medium-wide shots can appear
somewhat undefined,
but the vast majority of the film is focused and razor-sharp. When the movie
shifts to the cold,
dreary exteriors of enemy territory instead of the clean, well-lit interior of the
carrier, the image
quality never suffers. It dulls a bit, but that's more due to the overcast and cold
conditions
outside than anything else. It holds up well, and shows us exactly what is meant
to be seen.
Behind Enemy Lines offers a wonderfully cinematic transfer. It's not the
best, but I've
seen worse, both on Blu-ray and in theaters. While I enjoy the crispness and
cleanliness of a title
like Fox's recent release of I,
Robot, I also enjoy
movies that, like this one, aren't perfect but remind me of what movies looked like
at the
two-bit theaters I saw them at growing up.
Behind Enemy Lines rocks Blu-ray with a relentless DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack. This
disc offers a natural, engaging listen in both the quieter, dialogue-driven scenes and the
numerous action extravaganzas scattered throughout the film. The football scene
at the
beginning of the movie features a surround presence that is so natural and
flawless that I was
100% convinced that my sofa was on the deck of the Carl Vinson.
Likewise, every time
a jet takes off from the carrier, the listener is placed squarely on the flight deck.
The effect is
loud, powerful, and wonderful. If you ever wanted to experience being on the
deck of an aircraft
carrier, this film's soundtrack serves as a decent substitute to the real thing in a
few scenes.
When a fighter jet flies over an area in the movie, it flies over our shoulders at
home. The jet
screams from front to rear and side-to-side with wonderful clarity and definition.
Surround
presence throughout the movie is virtually nonstop: machine gun fire is often
heard in the back,
and when it isn't we often hear a stiff, cold breeze blowing through the back
channels that
sounds real enough to make you want to grab a sweater.
Here is a funny story. My next door neighbor has a very annoying dog that barks
at anything
and everything all day long. I often hear it barking outside while I watch movies
for review, and
in chapter 16 of this film, a dog is heard barking just over my right shoulder
where I usually hear
the real-life dog. It wasn't until the character on-screen turned to look for the dog
that I realized it
was Blu-ray, not reality. Of course, just after that comes one of the most intense,
loudest, and
exciting moments in the movie where a series of booby-traps explode, pounding
the viewer into
submission. Almost all of the action scenes are just as impressive as the rest, but
if I had to give
an edge to one, it would be that found in chapter 20. It's absolutely perfect in
placing the
listener squarely in the middle of the battle with screeching bullets and pounding
explosions rocking
your listening area, and the effect is a frightening and realistic one that might
have you dodging and
looking for cover. When all is said and done, Behind Enemy Lines is now
one of my
favorite soundtracks, and it is reference-grade material all the way. In the future,
when I have
company over and they want to know what Blu-ray is all about, this is one of the
first discs I'll be
grabbing off the shelf for audio demonstration purposes.
Behind Enemy Lines infiltrates Blu-ray with two commentary tracks and a
few trailers, but
nothing else. The first track features director John Moore and editor Paul Martin
Smith. Despite
both participants being hindered by a head cold, they waste no time in discussing
edits, changes to the
pictures, what worked, what didn't, and the like. Both prove fun to listen to, and
this film's target
audience will likely enjoy listening to this track. The second commentary track
features producers
John Davis and Wyck Godfrey. This track never feels superfluous. There is new
information to be
heard, and these producers add valuable insight into all aspects of the movie. In
fact, I found
myself more engaged by this track than I did the first. Rounding out the
supplements is Fox's usual
barrage of 1080p trailers, this go-round including Behind Enemy Lines,
The League of
Extraordinary
Gentlemen, Kiss of the
Dragon, Fantastic
Four, Speed,
and Phone
Booth.
I make no apologies for Behind Enemy Lines being one of my favorite
guilty pleasure
movies. It's far from the stuff of cinema legend, but it's an entertaining action
extravaganza sure
to please its target audience, of which I am unashamed to be a part of. Slick, silly
action movies
are, have been, and always will be right up my alley, and they serve as a
wonderful departure from
the likes of The English Patient, The Remains of the Day, and
even more highbrow war films like The Thin Red Line. "The world needs
ditch diggers, too,"
Judge Smails once said, and Behind Enemy Lines is just that, a working
man's action movie
that transports us to another world where male childhood fantasies come to life
and the brain can
be shut off for some mindless entertainment. Behind Enemy Lines is
another first-rate
release from Fox in the audio and video departments, offering up a solid picture
and an explosive
audio mix. Unfortunately, the studio continues to skimp on the extras, but the
two commentary
tracks available are both engaging and informative. Behind Enemy Lines
is recommended for action
movie lovers.
All countries
