By EWAN McDONALD
(Herald rating: * * )
Be aware — you won't be able to miss it — that we are now in the period of movies that were in production on or about September 11. This is one such production, starring Owen Wilson in a non-comic role as Lieutenant
Burnett, a hot-shot Navy flier.
On a reconaissance mission over Bosnia, he and his partner, Stackhouse (Gabriel Macht), go out of their way and take photos of a mass grave and illegal troop movements. It's a Serbian operation in violation of a peace treaty and the Serbs fire missiles at the Americans.
The pilots eject. Stackhouse is found by Tracker (Vladimir Mashkov), who tells his commander to allow him to track Burnett. That sets up a cat-and-mouse game in which Burnett is chased by the entire Serbian Army who, being Serbian, are not smart enough to catch one clever Yank.
Back on the USS Vinson, Admiral Reigart (Gene Hackman) wants to fly in and rescue Burnett, but is blocked by his devious Nato superior, Admiral Piquet (Joaquim de Almeida) who, being European, is jealous of the Yanks and may not really be fighting on the same side.
Never mind, the noble admiral can count on the media to help him out of his jam. Particularly Sky TV. This is, after all, a Fox film and Fox is owned by Rupert Murdoch, who also owns Sky. Product placement, huh?
Once again, your reaction will depend on how much you want to suspend or move your perceptions of reality ...
• DVD features: movie (93min); commentaries with director John Moore and editor Paul Martin Smith, and with producers John Davis and Wyck Godfrey; 5 extended sequences; 2 deleted scenes; behind the scenes feature; animated storyboards of the remarkable ejection sequence; trailer.
Rental video, DVD: Today
