CNET Networks Entertainment GameSpot | GameFAQs | SportsGamer | Metacritic | MP3.com | TV.com
Home | About Metacritic | About Metascores | What's New | Wireless Versions | Discussion Forums | Advertising Inquiries | Contact Us | RSS
Metacritic.com: We Deal With Criticism
     Help
> Switch to Advanced Search  
Film Video/DVD Music Games TV

Film

Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

 

Wide Releases

sort by name sort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

 

Limited Releases

sort by name sort by score

xx All of Us
53 Allah Made Me Funny: Live in Concert
57 Amazing Truth About Queen Raquela, The
63 Appaloosa
68 Ashes of Time Redux
68 August Evening
62 Baghead
81 Ballast
55 Battle in Seattle
xx Beer for My Horses
xx Billy: The Early Years
63 Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story
56 Bottle Shock
50 Breakfast with Scot
61 Brick Lane
xx Call and Response
49 Children of Huang Shi, The
47 Choke
43 Choose Connor
41 Cthulhu
62 Duchess, The
85 Edge of Heaven, The
66 Elegy
80 Encounters at the End of the World
26 Everybody Wants to Be Italian
64 Fall, The
28 Fireproof
65 Flow: For Love of Water
37 Forever Strong
82 Frozen River
73 Girl Cut in Two, A
73 Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
51 Good Dick
82 Happy-Go-Lucky
44 Henry Poole is Here
31 Hounddog
53 Humboldt County
72 I Served the King of England
71 I.O.U.S. A
40 Igor
64 In Search of a Midnight Kiss
xx Just Buried
62 Kabluey
63 Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
78 Last Mistress, The
xx Lower Learning
63 Man Named Pearl, A
89 Man on Wire
62 Mister Foe
86 Momma's Man
80 Moving Midway
53 Nights and Weekends
73 Obscene
xx Phoebe in Wonderland
55 Ping Pong Playa
76 Pool, The
82 Rachel Getting Married
55 Religulous
57 RocknRolla
55 Save Me
72 Secret, A
45 Shoot on Sight
57 Sixty Six
82 Tell No One
63 Thousand Years of Good Prayers, A
57 Towelhead
72 Transsiberian
83 Trouble the Water
83 U2 3D
84 Up the Yangtze
52 Virtual JFK: Vietnam If Kennedy Had Lived
79 Visitor, The
xx W.
61 Wackness, The
xx Whaledreamers
66 When Did You Last See Your Father?

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

 



Printer-Friendly Version Email This Page Discuss In Our Forums

Behind Enemy Lines
20th Century Fox Film Corporation

Behind Enemy Lines reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 49 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
6.5 out of 10
based on 29 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 31 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for war violence and some language

Starring Owen Wilson, Gene Hackman, Joaquim de Almeida, David Keith, Olek Krupa, Eyal Podell, and Elizabeth P. Perry

A Navy pilot (Wilson) is shot down over enemy territory, and struggles to survive the relentless pursuit of a ruthless secret police enforcer, a deadly tracker, and countless hostile troops. With time running out, the injured pilot's commanding officer (Hackman) goes against orders to carry out a desperate rescue mission. (20th Century Fox)


GENRE(S): Drama  
WRITTEN BY: David Veloz
Zak Penn
Jim Thomas (story)
John Thomas (story)
 
DIRECTED BY: John Moore  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: April 23, 2002 
Video: April 23, 2002 
Theatrical: November 30, 2001 
RUNNING TIME: 95 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

80
Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan
Its real agenda is rip-roaring adventure, and that it delivers all wrapped up with a bow.
Read Full Review
80
Washington Post Rita Kempley
War is hellishly entertaining, especially in Behind Enemy Lines, a 21-gun salute to the commitment and preparedness of the U.S. military.
Read Full Review
75
Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
Simplistic and jingoistic. But it's also explosively fun.
Read Full Review
75
Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach
It's plenty thrilling, and it appeals to the flag-waving patriot in all of us.
70
Time Richard Schickel
The journey is never boring, and it's morally satisfying too. O.K., the movie is what Hollywood likes to call "a ride." But it's one worth taking.
70
The New York Times Stephen Holden
As intense an immersion in military ambience as a Hollywood movie could hope to provide in just over 90 minutes.
Read Full Review
70
Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
A Hollywood production that appeals to our patriotism while respecting our intelligence.
67
Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan
Although at times ridiculous, Behind Enemy Lines nevertheless thrills, inspires.
Read Full Review
63
New York Post Lou Lumenick
A slickly entertaining war movie that's sometimes striking, sometimes silly -- but never, ever boring.
Read Full Review
63
Miami Herald Charles Savage
The conflict (in Afghanistan) makes this updated Rambo-esque thriller seem at once dated and yet relevant in ways its creators could not have envisioned.
Read Full Review
60
Variety Robert Koehler
An unembarrassed, high-octane demonstration of the virtues of a U.S. military with a mission, the latest war pic from 20th Century Fox -- a studio with a proud tradition in this field -- couldn't be better timed to fit the popular mood.
Read Full Review
60
Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
As a director, Moore is like an energetic puppy who's all over you all at once. You admire his energy, and it's awfully hard to get angry at such high spirits, but you can't help but wish he'd calm down just a bit.
Read Full Review
58
Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
The script's labored efforts to push the proceedings into a thought-provoking military drama -- and draw some clear moral issue -- are, at best, flimsy.
Read Full Review
50
Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
You get the feeling the filmmakers didn't want to make anyone think too hard about what's going on here behind the scenes of the main storyline, and that's more than a little insulting.
Read Full Review
50
Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
A pumped-up, flag-waving, outrageously hokey and ridiculous -- but sometimes incredibly exciting -- war movie.
Read Full Review
50
Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
Sometimes stylish flashiness can be fun, and the movie does have a terrific, bleached-out, ice-blue look. But anyone who cares about what actors do has a right to be distrustful of a director who puts more emphasis on the look of his movie than on the performances.
Read Full Review
50
Village Voice Jessica Winter
Though Wilson gives a customarily sympathetic, engaged, and unpredictable performance, his work is drowned out by pyrotechnics and orchestral paroxysms of patriotism.
Read Full Review
50
USA Today Mike Clark
There's nothing very rockin' about seeing Gene Hackman give a rare indifferent performance as a Navy admiral trying to effect a rescue for which his hands are tied.
Read Full Review
50
New Times (L.A.) Robert Wilonsky
The film desperately wants to play like "Three Kings," a war film with a guilty conscience, but it's too pat and familiar to earn its high-minded stripes.
Read Full Review
50
New York Daily News Jack Mathews
There aren't many better examples of how commercial intuition sabotages story integrity in today's Hollywood.
Read Full Review
50
Boston Globe Jay Carr
As it is, Behind Enemy Lines will satisfy only those in search of a rousingly, if simplistically, patriotic bloodbath.
42
Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
We, the people, are meant to cheer in response, but the spirit isn't willing. War is hell, but so is peace -- at least when it comes to movies in a no-man's-land like this one.
Read Full Review
40
LA Weekly Manohla Dargis
A slag heap of outrageous coincidence and shimmering be-all-that-you-can-be posturing, the film is for all intents and purposes another Top Gun retread, which is why its lies don't register as deeply or offensively as those put forth by films like "Mississippi Burning" -- it's too silly to take seriously.
Read Full Review
40
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
The film's flashy visuals (apparently geared to engaging video game-impaired attention spans) are entertaining, but its cynicism is distasteful.
Read Full Review
38
Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
A mediocrity at any time, because of its implausible script and bland characters.
Read Full Review
38
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
This is not the story of a fugitive trying to sneak through enemy terrain and be rescued, but of a movie character magically transported from one photo opportunity to another.
Read Full Review
30
Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector
The end justifies the means as long as everything turns out OK for the not-too-obedient American soldier and everyone else who enjoys Coca-Cola.
Read Full Review
25
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Behind Enemy Lines has a wretched script and a director (first-timer John Moore) who either has no taste or doesn't know what he's doing.
Read Full Review
20
Film Threat Gareth Von Kallenbach
Sadly, it seems that the people behind this film saw a quick buck over quality and gave audiences a turkey.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 6.5 (out of 10) based on 31 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jared C. gave it a7:
Finally a follow-up to Saving Private Ryan, its a war movie that doesn't have the guts, it has actual American-can-do spirit in it. It may be a very short movie dissapointingly but it is crafted in a way Saving Private Ryan wasn't.

D K gave it an8:
Some great action sequences and two strong central performances make this a superior blockbuster. John Moores direction is perfectly suited for this sort of fair and the critical reaction of 49 really is a bit shocking.

Heather gave it a10:
fantastic film, one i could watch over and over again

Sam gave it a9:
It has great effects and performances, but without Mr. Wilson and Hackman, it just wouldn't have been as good.

Bob P. gave it an8:
Pretty much a bonehead action movie, but entertaining nonetheless.

Max H. gave it a10:
This is a great movie.

Jeremy gave it a 3:
A mismash of incomprhensible direction, a huge miscast in Owen Wilson, a few good moments by Hackman, and every war cliche you can think of times three.

Read more user comments...

Discuss this movie in our forums

Return to top of page
Home | FILM | DVD/VIDEO | MUSIC | GAMES | TV | Forums | About Metacritic metacritic.com

Popular on CBS sites: Fantasy Football | Miley Cyrus | MLB | iPhone 3G | GPS | Recipes | Shwayze | NFL

About CNET Networks | Jobs | Advertise

© 2008 CNET Networks, Inc., a CBS Company. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use