Owen Wilson stars in Behind Enemy Lines as a navy navigator whose plane gets shot down. He must find a way to survive behind enemy lines.

At the very opening of Behind Enemy Lines, the audience was immediately aware of who was the protagonist. This set the movie up and helped the audience to know who to focus on. The movie took its time to get into the action and set the stakes. This was a smart decision from the director because once the action began and the stakes were set, there was hardly a break from the action and the stakes were high.

Behind Enemy Lines took the audience on a wild journey. There was almost constant action, but not in a way where you felt that there was no room to breathe. There were a few slower parts of the movie but these wouldn't last long as something would always be on the verge of happening. The audience never knew what was going to come next and there were many twists throughout the movie.

The action seen in Behind Enemy Lines was exceptional. Because this movie is now quite old, there would have been a limit to the realism of special effects that would be included in the movie. Because of this, the director did not add in many action sequences which would require digital special effects. Instead, all of the stunts were ones that could be realistic using the technology of the time.

There were some questionable uses of effects though. This movie was made at a time when directors were experimenting with new effects such as slow-motion, fast-motion, and pauses. Consequently, Behind Enemy Lines made use of a lot of these effects and I didn't think that they were used in a good way. Some of the effects were overused and mainly made me uncomfortable. But this may be a subjective view as my dad who saw the movie with me enjoyed these effects. And there were a couple of moments where the effects were used in a good way. The poor use of effects didn't take too much away from the movie.

The music of Behind Enemy Lines was also marvellous and always reflected what was being seen on screen. I am yet to criticize a movie for using music in inappropriate ways but some movies use little to no music which doesn't take away from the movie, it just doesn't add as music should. This isn't what Behind Enemy Lines did, the composer ensured that he only added to the movie.

The two leads of the movie, Owen Wilson and Gene Hackman, both uniquely portrayed their characters. Although there were no backstories, the actors made it seem like they had a backstory in mind whilst creating the character and set up personal stakes. The audience felt like they could easily make up their own backstory for the character and the actors only made this easier by providing the audience with so much emotion. I also have to add that every time Owen Wilson opened his mouth, I kept hearing Lightning McQueen from the Cars movies.

Behind Enemy Lines is another excellent action movie. It had high stakes, both general and personal, as well as gratifying music. Although a clever use of practical effects avoided any necessary CGI, other effects such as slow-motion made sections of the film slightly less enjoyable for me personally. But otherwise a great film from John Moore.

Director: John Moore

Starring: Owen Wilson, Gene Hackman

Year released: 2001

My rating: 7.5/10

Review by Tristan Carr

Last edited: 18/07/2021