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Movies / On DVD / Flight of the Phoenix
Flight of the Phoenix

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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

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Reviews for Flight of the Phoenix

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61 - 80 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

John Moore's remake doesn't come close to upstaging its predecessor...and yet it doesn't exactly humiliate itself either.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
12/19/04
Scott Weinberg
Scott Weinberg
eFilmCritic.com

Flight of the Phoenix is a rare breed. It joins the small group of films in which the audience may actually wish that the characters do not achieve their goal: to live.

Full Review Source: FilmJerk.com | comment Comment
12/18/04
Brian Orndorf
Brian Orndorf
FilmJerk.com

Everything that’s good [in the film] has a downside, and everything that doesn’t work has something that keeps it from failing completely.

Full Review Source: Aisle Seat | comment Comment
12/18/04
Mike McGranaghan
Mike McGranaghan
Aisle Seat

Mirrors the plot of the original point for point. All that's missing is little things like subtlety, nuance, characterization, and human interest.

Full Review Source: Decent Films Guide | comment Comment
12/17/04
Steven D. Greydanus
Steven D. Greydanus
Decent Films Guide

Plane and simple!

Full Review Source: Talking Pictures (U.S.) | comment Comment
12/17/04
Tony Toscano
Tony Toscano
Talking Pictures (U.S.)

Good with mechanics, bad with people, the film moves its one-dimensional characters around like stick figures in the service of a story whose outcome is hardly in doubt.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
12/17/04
Mark Keizer
Mark Keizer
Boxoffice Magazine

A phoenix may rise from the ashes, but the movie just crashes and burns.

Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com | comment Comment
12/17/04
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
TheMovieChicks.com

This is high-carb filmmaking at its finest.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
12/17/04
Michael O'Sullivan
Michael O'Sullivan
Washington Post

The first-act crash is admittedly spectacular and the ending adequately suspenseful, but what comes between is disappointingly routine and completely lacks the kind character complexity that made the original a thrill every step of the way.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
12/17/04
Ken Fox
Ken Fox
TV Guide's Movie Guide

This time out, there's not much out there to look at besides sand, and even it doesn't look real.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
12/17/04
Geoff Pevere
Geoff Pevere
Toronto Star

The filmmakers take a great yarn and reduce it to a good one.

Full Review Source: Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL) | comment Comment
12/17/04
Jeffrey Westhoff
Jeffrey Westhoff
Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)

A ham-fisted movie that doesn't tax your brain with a lot of pesky ideas and three-dimensional characters.

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
12/17/04
Mary Brennan
Mary Brennan
Seattle Times

The story is surefire, like a good Swiss Family Robinson episode revised for a boys' issue of Aviation Week.

Full Review Source: San Diego Union-Tribune | comment Comment
12/17/04
David Elliott
David Elliott
San Diego Union-Tribune

Loud, noisy, chaotic and overall unpleasant.

Full Review Source: Sacramento Bee | comment Comment
12/17/04
Joe Baltake
Joe Baltake
Sacramento Bee

The modernized Phoenix isn't a bad movie, but it's an obvious one.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Daily News | comment Comment
12/17/04
Gary Thompson
Gary Thompson
Philadelphia Daily News

The new Phoenix lacks the tension, the grim, sado-masochistic Darwinism of the original or the agonizing nuts-and-bolts of the ordeal.

Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | comment Comment
12/17/04
Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Orlando Sentinel

Despite its occasional nods to flashy editing and pop scoring, Flight of the Phoenix ends up feeling like the sort of leisurely man's-man adventure movie you used to be able to catch on Sunday afternoon TV.

Full Review Source: Oregonian | comment Comment
12/17/04
M.E. Russell
M.E. Russell
Oregonian

A painfully incompetent remake of a 1965 James Stewart adventure.

Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | comment Comment
12/17/04
Lisa Rose
Lisa Rose
Newark Star-Ledger

It seems less a remake than an alternate version.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
12/17/04
Jack Mathews
Jack Mathews
New York Daily News

In the 2 ½-hour original, smart dialogue and all-or-nothing acting keep the tension blistering throughout, but in this update, the movie merely seems to be stalling until its final test flight.

Full Review Source: Miami Herald | comment Comment
12/17/04
Peter Debruge
Peter Debruge
Miami Herald
 
 
61 - 80 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >> >|
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