Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Flight of the Phoenix, January 9, 2008
This is the WORST remake of any movie I've seen in my life. The original movie had SUPERIOR actors and paid close attention to ALL details pertaining to what life would really be like if this indeed happened. This remake includes wimps,stupidity and a list of ridiculous ideas and total ignorance of what it would be like trapped in a desert in conditions that are beyond most imaginations. I'm going to burn this DVD in my outdoor firepit first chance I get. You really need to see the original to understand just how bad todays movies are!!!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
42 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Saw it Saturday, December 20, 2004
Saw it Saturday at the Bridge theater in Culver City. In one word, my review would be, "awesome." I remember when I was a boy my dad taking me to see the old Robert Aldrich movie "The Flight of the Phoenix" at the tiny Kings Park Theater on Long Island. That as so long ago James Stewart could still play an action hero. I loved the picture then, and I think a lot of boys my age still will connect the movie with similar male-bonding experiences with their dads--maybe they should have released this re-make during Father's Day holiday instead of Christmas. Anyhow, the remake did not disappoint. Dennis Quaid is no Jimmy Stewart, but he's just as good in this as he was in THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW. Funny in this one he's always traipsing up and down over Gobi desert hills in Gunga Din heat sweating his balls off, whereas in TOMORROW he was all icy cold with ice forming over his face. What a year it's been for poor Dennis Quaid. In this film he plays Frank "Shut Em Down" Townes, a crack pilot who makes some unfortuante decisions early in the film and spends the rest of the time living them down and trying to righten things.
Miranda Otto looks completely different than she did in the final two films of the LORD OF THE RINGS tragedy. She plays Kelly, a tough as nails oil driller and physically she looks a lot like Evangeline Lilly who plays "Kate" on ABC's LOST. Everyone around me sitting in the theater was commenting on how much this film resembles LOST. Frank and Kelly are just like Jack and Kate in LOST, there's a quasi-Sayed guy who spouts a lot of mystic Kahil Gibran philosophy, a chubby guy sort of like Hurley, and strange monstrous creatures out there who are using the castaways as target practice. And of course, there is the shadow of the wrecked plane spilling out over the sands. But THE FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX is not a rip off of LOST, rather, the resemblance is the other way around. Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat its lessons, but for today, my tip is, if you like action pictures and don't mind the constant burning sun, see this film and try to figure out what twists and turns are coming next. And also, even if you dislike Giovanni Ribisi in other movies, don't let us casting here prevent you from seeing this film, because he shows another side of himself here and will really win your heart despite playing such a loathsome, racist, lying, manipulative and sociopathic character.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Don't book this flight., November 28, 2005
This is an awful remake of a magnificent film. Most of the elements that made the original a classic are missing. However, many other elements were added in order to "update" the story, including a female character (perhaps to provide potential romantic interest, although no romantic interest actually ever develops), a rock music soundtrack (which detracts from rather than adds to the story), a meaningless bandit cavalry charge to provide suspense (it doesn't), a character who philosophizes against the evils of religion, and the inevitable (in today's Hollywood) big bad corporate bigwig throwing his weight around against the poor victims of the big bad corporate financial interests that supposedly decided not to bother looking for their lost plane.
Additionally, the casting isn't very good, nor is the acting. None of the great acting and character development of the original are present here. The original had at least a half-dozen superb, memorable performances; this version has none. The main character should have been an over-the-hill retread like the plane he was flying, as in the original. Instead, a "romantic leading man" had to be cast as the pilot because there was now a woman cast opposite him, and the result is a character who develops no chemistry with either the female lead or the plot.
But possibly -- no, definitely -- the film's worst problem is the inept direction, which relies on technical gimmicks (camera motion, quick cuts, voice inaudibility during moments of action, etc.) in a failed attempt to replace the emotion that should have been provided by the story and the acting. This and the previously mentioned problems make it nearly impossible for the movie to gel in any way that could produce a meaningful emotional response in the audience. In all, this a miserable attempt at reviving a classic film -- one that never really gets off the ground.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
