So, exactly why do you want to see this movie? Need a patriotic war fix because we don’t get to see much real action during this hunt for Bin Ladin? Or, are you just an action picture fan and this looks like a good one?

It’s funny, there’s all these media stories about what you’re able to handle at the movies since September 11th, and they’re all mostly stupid. It seems they were wrong. They delayed the releases of all pictures with blood and figured you wanted just “feel good” stuff. Then when nobody showed up, they decided you wanted violent stuff. That has led to a pushed up release date for this movie, which was scheduled to come out in January. That was a warning sign to me, because January is usually a graveyard spot for the movie studios to dump off some pretty horrible movies.

All in all though, “Behind Enemy Lines” isn’t too bad. It’s set during the Bosnia situation from a few years back and centers on the efforts of a Navy aircraft carrier crew to retrieve a missing navigator whose plane was shot down , well, shot down, “Behind Enemy Lines”. I will put it that way, but just like that crazy time, it’s hard to figure out who the enemy really is. That was the time of Croats, the Serbs and the Muslims, remember? The “ethnic cleansing” and all that.

Owen Wilson plays the navigator, a Lieutenant Burnett. Gene Hackman plays the aircraft carrier’s commander, Admiral Riegart. Yes, Hackman is once again in a lot of movies right now. At least three by my count. And, Wilson seems like a mistake in casting. He’s too surfer dude, give me another drag on that joint kind of guy. The more he keeps his mouth shut, the better. And that’s because there are some awesome action sequences in this movie. Great slow-mo shots of the plane coming apart as it’s shot down, and the same for some land mine explosions and shoot outs. I was riveted. I’ve never been to Bosnia, but with the snow and the mountains and the blown-up cities, this passes for as close as you can get without being there.

If you’re a patriotic kind of person, you might get a kick out of the coalition stuff. The Admiral has to report to a NATO commander, who is appears to be from Spain and could give a damn about rescuing our guy, he’s more concerned about the peace process. Annoying Europeans! I give this movie high marks for navigating through the tricky waters of the politics of coalition building, while still trying to maintain a level of exciting “Americans in action”.

I give “Behind Enemy Lines” a “7.0” , but believe me, I did want to take off a point because the ending is so ludicrous. But then I figured, that could actually be a tribute to this movie because until that point, I must have felt it was so realistic. But the guy does pull off some escape stunts that made my eyes roll. But you flag waving folks will love that ending.