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Flight of the Phoenix (2004)
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Reviews Counted:113
Fresh:33
Rotten:80
Average Rating:4.8/10
Consensus: What this update lacks in tension, it makes up for with generic action.
Runtime: 1 hr 53 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Synopsis: Originally a 1965 Jimmy Stewart vehicle, this FLIGHT gets a rough and ready updating for the new century, with the stalwart Dennis Quaid now inhabiting the title role. He's a pilot on a routine... Originally a 1965 Jimmy Stewart vehicle, this FLIGHT gets a rough and ready updating for the new century, with the stalwart Dennis Quaid now inhabiting the title role. He's a pilot on a routine trip out to investigate some remote oil rigs in the Gobi Desert, but things go wrong and he makes a crash landing in the middle of nowhere. For him, and the men along for the ride, a slow, tortured, thirsty death seems certain, unless the plucky mechanic in the crew (Giovanni Ribisi) can design a whole new plane from the wreckage. As with the original, this is a manly adventure of rugged survival and mechanical ingenuity, only this time there's a woman on board, Kelly (Miranda Otto) who generates some romantic sparks. Some of the other survivors are played by: Tyrese Gibson, Sticky Fingaz, Bob Brown and Kirk Jones. The men and one woman have to tangle with murderous desert raiders and numerous sandstorms in addition to the frequent squabbling amongst themselves. Director John Moore gets a lot of mileage out of the desert backdrop and Ribisi is solid as the mechanic with a troubled past. It was produced by William Aldrich, whose dad Robert directed the Stewart original. Edward Burns (THE BROTHERS McMULLEN) co-wrote the new screenplay. [More]
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Giovanni Ribisi, Tyrese Gibson, Miranda Otto
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Giovanni Ribisi, Tyrese Gibson, Miranda Otto, Hugh Laurie, Kirk Jones, Bob Brown, Sticky Fingaz
Director: John Moore
Director: John Moore
Screenwriter: Scott Frank, Edward Burns
Producer: William Aldrich, John Davis
Composer: Marco Beltrami
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Reviews for Flight of the Phoenix
Competent, watchable remake that improves on the special effects and running time but loses the moral complexity and the character work of the original.
It's never more than ridiculous popcorn fun, but the fun is thin on the ground.
Frankly, it's painful to watch such a strong cast struggle so desperately to hold the film together while it falls apart around them
If there's one thing you can be sure of, modern remakes of older movies always have better crashes.
Resolutely, gloriously old-school in every regard, The Flight of the Phoenix is a reminder that disaster films don't need the threat of global annihilation to be good entertainment.
It’s a serviceable adventure film that does the job in less time than the original film.
The story is surefire, like a good Swiss Family Robinson episode revised for a boys' issue of Aviation Week.
...as a piece of pure escapist entertainment, you'd be hard-pressed to find a more enjoyable way to spend two hours.
Effective action, solid suspense, excellent Ribisi, plus enough cliches to equal the grains of Gobi sand that fill the screen.
A movie about people sitting around the desert with nothing to do runs a high risk of being dull, but Phoenix has enough wit, energy and charisma to keep soaring.
Tension-filled story showing how a diverse population can work together to save their lives.
By the time we get to this Phoenix, it looks like numerous days of scorching sun and blasts of sand are pretty much good for the complexion.
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