Flight of the Phoenix (2004)

Director:

John Moore

Writers (WGA):

Lukas Heller (1965 screenplay)
Scott Frank (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

17 December 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

The only way out is up

Plot:

Survivors of a plane crash in the Mongolian desert work together to build a new plane.

Plot Keywords:

Desert | Stranded | Remake | Airplane Accident | Sandstorm

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Dennis Quaid	...	Frank Towns
Tyrese Gibson	...	A.J.
Giovanni Ribisi	...	Elliott
Miranda Otto	...	Kelly Johnson
Tony Curran	...	Alex Rodney
Sticky Fingaz	...	Jeremy (as Kirk Jones)
Jacob Vargas	...	Sammi
Hugh Laurie	...	Ian
Scott Michael Campbell	...	James Liddle
Kevork Malikyan	...	Rady
Jared Padalecki	...	John Davis
Paul Ditchfield	...	Dr. Gerber
Martin Hindy	...	Newman (as Martin 'Mako' Hindy)
Bob Brown	...	Kyle
Anthony Wong	...	Lead Smuggler

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some language, action and violence.

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

UK:12 (video rating) (2005) | UK:12A (original rating) | Canada:14A (DVD rating) | USA:PG-13 (certificate #41095) | Taiwan:PG-12 | Norway:11 | Iceland:14 | Malaysia:U | South Korea:12 | Australia:M | Brazil:12 | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Finland:K-11 (DVD rating) | Germany:12 | Ireland:12A | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:M (DVD rating) | Philippines:G | Singapore:PG | Greece:K-13 | Peru:14 | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Africa

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

The production built a "Phoenix" that could be taxied, but were unable to safely build a flying version economically. Mindful of the original production which did build a "Phoenix" that could fly, but was structurally unsound and crashed killing stuntman Paul Mantz, the flying scenes were done using a radio controlled model and computer graphics.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): The Captain is hailed as an extraordinary pilot who manages to save an aircraft that "not many pilots could save". However, at the time of the initial engine failure, he takes absolutely no action to shut down the engine or to feather the propeller.

Quotes:

[after having shot a wounded nomad who the group is debating whether to help]
Elliott: Well, that settles that.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Benchwarmers (2006)

Soundtrack:

Gimme Some Lovin'

A big disappointment

Back in 1964, Robert Aldrich stranded James Stewart, Richard Attenborough and Peter Finch in the desert after their plane crashed in the film Flight of the Phoenix. The movie was about a group of unluckies that band together to rebuild a new plane from the working parts of the wreckage. The film was fairly well done for its time and even grabbed two Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor (Ian Bannen) and Best Film Editing.

But were we really lobbying for a remake? Was there a demand or a group of picket sign wielding stampeders outside the studio office demanding that an update be greenlit?

Who knows? What we do know is that some 40 years later, fairly untested director John Moore was given a hefty budget to remake the film appropriately named, Flight of the Phoenix. Surprisingly however is that the film was a remake in almost every sense. With the exception of the plane crash (to which I give credit as being one of the best ever filmed) the movie updates the language, but everything else is relatively the same. Where in the original, there was such laughable dialogue as 'Mr. Towns, you behave as if stupidity were a virtue.', in the remake we get equally giggle generating script excerpts as, 'I think a bee stung going in your big dumb ass.' Hmmmm. Updated indeed.

If a remake is suppose to be bigger, badder and louder, I suppose Flight of the Phoenix 2004 fits the bill. But you can also add stupider to the mix since the writers decided not to spend any time in developing characters outside of the 40 year old script (that is unless you consider the crew dancing in the face of death to Outkasts' Hey Ya in a ridiculous MTV moment). And that is very irritating.

We had four decades to fix the kinks and iron out the wrinkles to make a superior film of what is an interesting concept. Instead we get cliché after cliché and improbable situations that are laughable to today's audiences. What do I mean as laughable, you say? Well, how about an electrical storm that ends as soon as it hits the only thing that is important to the survivors. Or how about a group of nomads that can attack at any time, but wait until the exact second that the newly built plane decides to take off.. I can go on, but what's the point.

Flight of the Phoenix was a major disappointment to the holiday theatre going experience.

Change that. Flight of the Phoenix was a major annoyance during the holiday theatre going experience.

Where psychologists agree that hostages and their captors develop a bond over a period of time, it is evident in this circumstance that people in need of each other for survival will begin to fight over petty trivialities if not dancing to the latest pop hit on the radio. All this did was leave me to care nothing about any of the characters and I couldn't give a rats ass whether they survived or not.

Flight of the Phoenix therefore falls in the same category as Get Carter, Sabrina, The Jackal., as films that were just mediocre when released decades ago and are amazingly given more of a disservice in the remakes for the new MTV generation. We didn't ask for a Phoenix remake and frankly, my life is worse off because of it. And for that. I give it one and half stars, not even enough juice to get it off the tarmac.

www.gregsrants.com