Bosnians are doe-eyed victims, Serbs are scowling, mangy movie heavies, and American soldiers are the most important people in the world in this self-aggrandizing action movie, released theatrically earlier than planned to cash in on post-September 11th flag-waving and now being rushed to video. Vaguely inspired by the shoot-down and rescue of an Air Force pilot in 1995, the film stars ad-libbing wiseacre Owen Wilson (Shanghai Noon, Zoolander) as a cocky Top Gun-style flyboy. Downed over the former Yugoslavia, he's on the run from evil Serbs, while a barking-dog admiral (Gene Hackman) tries to mount a helicopter rescue with his hands tied by nattering nabobs of the U.N. peacekeeping force (how dare they put a delicate cease-fire ahead of one errant American solider!) The fact that director John Moore got the job based on a Sega video game commercial should tell you everything you need to know about Behind Enemy Lines and its ethnocentric, style-over-substance patriotism. Not a necessary purchase. (R. Blackwelder)
Behind Enemy Lines
Fox, 105 min., PG-13, VHS: $110.99, DVD: $27.98, Apr. 23 Volume 17, Issue 2
Behind Enemy Lines
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
Order From Your Favorite Distributor Today: