In the past I have taken back some bad things I said about John Moore after being subjected to Behind Enemy Lines after seeing his remake of Flight of the Phoenix and reading Armond White’s take on it, in which he nominates Moore “for Peckinpah’s retired jersey.” While I didn’t go quite as far as White did in praising Moore’s remake, I did think that Phoenix was a huge step forward from Enemy Lines, and I was interested in seeing where Moore was going.
This takes us to 6/6/06 with Moore at the helm of another remake. It’s not so much bad as it is dull, but it uses its 95% boring parts to its advantage for 4 cheap, jolting sting scares. So if you are looking for a recommendation, I simply ask: is one decent moment of gore and a sting about every half hour worth your ticket? It ain’t for me, I’ll tell you that.
There’s rarely any more damning with faint praise a reviewer can give a film than to discuss the intentions of the director and how at their core they are admirable. Well if there’s an opposite of that (Praising with faint damns doesn’t quite work), that’s what I’m doing. Moore really seems to be intent on making a serious, grown-up oriented, satanic-inspired thriller, and even tips his hat to that with the stunt casting of Mia Farrow, but he never gets even close. (more…)