Behind Enemy Lines review

It's laudable to make a film that questions war against a senseless foe. "At least give me a fight I can understand", states Lt Chris Burnett (Owen Wilson), disillusioned with his role of a navy flight navigator during the Bosnian conflict. Sadly though Behind Enemy Lines soon abandons any pretensions towards a moral standpoint and instead becomes a slick but ultimately insubstantial glorification of war.

The choice of Wilson, who's better known for his comedy roles in films such as Shanghai Noon and Zoolander, suggested director John Moore might be prepared to take a few risks. Again these hopes are soon dashed as Wilson sheds his offbeat sensibilities and slips effortlessly into the role of the stereotypical hero. The shackling of Wilson is akin to hiring U2 for your wedding and then asking them to do the catering. Moore does however imbue his feature debut with a palpable energy, but is less interested in developing the story than impressing with the bag of tricks he acquired directing commercials.

A disturbing trait of American war movies is to manipulate circumstances in order to turn a military defeat into a national victory. It's evident in Ridley's Scott's Black Hawk Down and here, where events are loosely based on the real life story of Scott O'Grady. O'Grady is embodied by Burnett, whose passion and potential have been eroded by seven years of routine and inactivity. "We go out, we fly round and we come back". It's why he's quitting. But not before his commander, Admiral Reigart (Gene Hackman) sends him and his pilot Stackhouse (Gabriel Macht) out on one last mission.

Going against orders they take pictures during a reconnaissance flight over the demilitarised zone in southern Bosnia and, in the film's best sequence, desperately try to outmanoeuvre two surface to air missiles. Ejecting to apparent safety, Burnett finds himself running for his life when his partner is summarily executed by Serb troops. His hopes of a swift rescue are dashed when Reigart is forced by his superiors to abandon Burnett to his own devices. What follows is an increasingly absurd pursuit, with Burnett running deftly through mine fields and fortuitously avoiding volleys of gunfire and mortars while his every bullet finds a target as he attempts to reach safety.

The constant need to up the stakes is an all too common failing of action movies as the plausible quickly shifts to the possible before plunging into the improbable. With enough good ingredients to offer the promise of something more substantial, it's a shame that Behind Enemy Lines didn't trust that the event that inspired it was sufficiently dramatic to sustain it.