Flight of the Phoenix

Rated PG-13

Starring Dennis Quaid, Giovanni Ribisi, Miranda Otto, Tyrese Gibson

            “Flight of the Phoenix,” a remake of the 1965 James Stewart film of the same name, is, if anything, a completely mixed bag. The movie is full of rotten clichés, some truly bad acting, and a few scenes where the audience giggled with unintentional laughter. As the movie went on, however, I warmed up a bit to its premise and found that the majority of the audience was rooting for the film’s heroes.

            Dennis Quaid gives the strongest performance in the film as Frank Towns, a jet pilot who finds himself and his oil-worker passengers stuck in the middle of a China desert after a destructive sandstorm crashes their plane. After endless bickering about water and supplies, an offbeat ‘airline designer’ named Elliot (Giovanni Ribisi) tells the passengers he believes he can build a new plane out of the old plane.

            With a somewhat strong supporting cast that includes Miranda Otto and Tyrese Gibson, “Flight of the Phoenix” has as many thrilling scenes as it does cheesy scenes. As many problems as I had with the film, however, I still would recommend it to mainstream audiences, especially since I seemed to be the only person at the film screening who wasn’t whooping and hollering by the movie’s end.

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