Constant motion is the name of the game, be it the actors, the edits or the camera, which swoops and soars and circles round and around.
#OWEN WILSON BEHIND ENEMY LINES MOVIE#
In his feature directorial debut, commercials director John Moore favours the same kind of dizzying, zig-zag camera work high speed/slo-mo/stop-motion/skip-motion shooting style and lickety-split editing so common in today's commercials, music videos and Matrix movie clones.
Reigart, close to retirement, must decide whether to risk his career to save the cocky flyboy. Meanwhile, back on the USS Carl Vinson, Reigart is ordered not to try and rescue Burnett, lest the attempt muddy the waters of the peace process. He takes off running, with several hundred scowling Serb thugs in hot pursuit. Immediately they are set upon by surface-to-air missiles and forced to parachute to safety.īut the ground offers little comfort as Burnett watches horrified while men in Serb uniforms execute Stackhouse. Burnett notices some curious radar activity and convinces his buddy to fly their F-18 just outside the assigned parameters to investigate.
Partly as punishment, Reigart sends Burnett and pilot Stackhouse (Macht) on a reconnaissance mission to take aerial photographs over Bosnia. "I signed up to be a fighter pilot," he tells his commanding officer, Admiral Reigart (Hackman), a gruff veteran who sympathises with the younger man's passion but knows his place in the chain of command. Navy jet navigator Lt Burnett (Wilson) is part of a NATO mission based in the Adriatic, but is so frustrated by the lack of action while diplomats work on a peace treaty between warring Serbs and Bosnians that he tenders his resignation.
But one man's patriotism is another man's jingoism and while action-enthusiasts worldwide will thrill to the top-notch aeronautic acrobatics on display, few overseas viewers will embrace this very US-centric tale of heroism and derring-do with the enthusiasm of domestic audiences. More importantly, the film should find itself with an unusually seaworthy pair of legs. Given the patriotic fervour sweeping America in the wake of the current war in Afghanistan, 20th Century Fox can expect a gung-ho reception for its suddenly topical combat story, whose release was pushed forward from early 2002 to take advantage of the popular mood. "Captain O'Grady was also troubled that the 'hero' in the Fox movie used foul language, was portrayed as a 'hot dog' type pilot and disobeyed orders, unlike O'Grady," the lawsuit claims.The US military couldn't have asked for a more effective recruitment tool than this rousing, high-concept action feature about a young navy pilot trapped behind enemy lines in Bosnia, who must outwit and evade his legion of pursuers until the Marines can arrive to rescue him. But despite the name, many US reviewers noted the obvious parallels with Mr O'Grady, and the film was often described as being "loosely based" on Mr O'Grady's adventure.Įlsewhere, though, Mr O'Grady begs to differ with his alleged movie incarnation. The pilot spent six days hiding from Serb forces and subsisting on rainwater and grass until being rescued by the Marines.īehind Enemy Lines, which starred Owen Wilson and Gene Hackman, focused on the fraught experience of a US fighter pilot called "Chris Burnett". Mr O'Grady, who now works as a motivational speaker, became a media hero in the summer of 1995 after his F-16 jet was shot down over Bosnia.
#OWEN WILSON BEHIND ENEMY LINES TV#
He is also demanding unknown damages from the Discovery Channel, makers of the TV show Behind Enemy Lines: The Scott O'Grady Story. Scott O'Grady filed his suit against 20th Century Fox on Monday, alleging invasion of privacy. A former American fighter pilot is suing the makers of the recent action blockbuster Behind Enemy Lines, claiming that the film has made a wrongful profit out of his real experiences.