Just what I expected

Good concept, poorly executed.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Someone dusted off one of the old Airport scripts and decided to make a film of it in 2005. Though it was a genre left in the Seventies I have to admit that while quite unrealistic it sure did make for some exciting viewing.Billionaire Kevin Dobson charters a jumbo 747 for his bratty and spoiled daughter Briane Davis and the passengers are her equally spoiled and rich friends on a private party from Los Angeles to Sydney, a nice 13 hour flight. Hired to go along is Major Antonio Sabato, Jr. who is on ice as it were waiting out a hearing about a difficult Crash Landing he made.Who'd have thought his piloting skills as well as fighting skills would be needed. A group of terrorists kill the flight crew and board in their disguises and take over the plane. The object being one hefty ransom for Davis from Dobson. In that really big plane Sabato leads Davis to safety and then starts doing a number on the terrorists that would make Lorenzo Lamas sit up and take notice.Also helping out on the ground is an army team on a small atoll led by Michael Pare who race against time to clear a runway.I have to admit the film while not the greatest had a nice level of Indiana Jones type excitement. All the film needed to be an Airport sequel was George Kennedy as Joe Patroni.

In the history of low budget, low level, B and C movies, you've got to remember the name of Jim Wynorski well, because this writer/producer/director is undying icon if only some fair historians rediscover his work, just like it happened with Ed Wood and his masterpieces ! And why not, maybe Tim Burton would be alive to make a mainstream bio-pic named (The Great Wynorski) or (Jim the Dim) ! The first gem I've watched for such a master was (Final Voyage - 1999). It was a Die Hard copy but on a ship (closer to poor, very poor, man's Under Siege, strangely with its heroine Erika Eleniak !!). I felt "all right...this is super, the first action movie without any action !". Thereafter I've been infatuated by this director's work. I discovered that he could be really the new, extremely professional, Ed Wood ! (Crash Landing) is another Die Hard copy, yet in a plane. And when it comes to that I mustn't ignore the historical facts. The disaster movies that center on a plane situation were fashionable at the 1970s (one of the golden ages of the disaster movies). Yet after disastrous experiences at the end of the decade like (The Concorde...Airport '79 – 1979), and 2 parody movies already (Airplane! – 1980) and (Airplane II The Sequel – 1982), the planes' movies with the whole subgenre's blaze went to cool off. However, it took less than another decade to go from die down to Die Hard.It's just the formula that got changed. From a problem that hits a plane (natural disaster, technical accident, a bomb) to just terrorists with always mad leader and Only One Man who stands against them all. That led to (Passenger 57 – 1992), (Executive Decision – 1996), then (Turbulence) with rarely One Heroine this time, (Air Force One) and (Con Air) all in (1997). Simply the international success of most of them generated another wave however on have-not level !Movies like (Sonic Impact – 1999), (Mach 2 – 2001), (Air Marshal – 2003) aren't that famous, not because the no-publicity or the bad distribution, but because they're so uncomplicated movies with no-known stars, no-budget, no-artistic talents and nearly no-amusement as well ! It's an old trend of the B-movies, yet in the age of straight-to-video ones, that could form a subgenre named The No Movies !(Crash Landing) is No exception ! However you must estimate it rightly (basically if you got the powerful patience to complete it !) while keeping in mind the case's usual : The low production. The negligent naive directing. The too customary, slightly smart script. The weak performance, action, special effects. And, my personal nightmare, the forever narrow cadres. So, according to that (CL) is a well meaning small movie that wants nothing but to entertain. And it achieves that, but in a very light way. Though, DON'T BUY or RENT the VHS or the DVD (if they're brave enough to release one !). Just watch it through cable or TV !(Antonio Sabato Jr.) needs more to be (Bruce Willis) or anything good (more acting lessons, true roles, and a direction that gives a damn !), bad shirt by the way!. (Brianne Davis), the rich man's daughter, got here no talent, no charisma, and no role ! Since "Knots Landing" I didn't run into (Kevin Dobson) much, this movie was a nice chance to meet him again : it's always a pleasure to see you Mr. Dobson ! I didn't catch on the reason why the terrorists hijacked the plane ?? Yes, there are many rich people's sons and daughters there, but what were their plan or their demands anyway ???! How a pilot, who has been shot right in the heart, got the power to shoot one of the terrorists, kill her, and complete leading the flight ??! For the goofs section : there is a big board of publicity behind one soon-to-be-killed air hostess while she was exercising at her home, this very board you'd find it again at the so-called airport when (Dobson) was meeting his daughter ??!!Don't you ever go and blame the director! Definitely our dear friend Wynorski didn't have any time to create anything (I think he didn't have that time ever !). He's a very busy man, and how he could've had the time while he got at the same year 7, yes 7, more movies to be made ! FYI in 2005, aside from (Church Landing), big Jim directed (Bare Wench: The Final Chapter), (Alabama Jones and the Busty Crusade), (Lust Connection), (Sub Zero), (Komodo vs. Cobra), (The Witches of Breastwick) and (The Witches of Breastwick : Part 2) also ! So as you see the man got no time to sleep, not to create !It's not bad, it's just full of No elements. Not taking itself seriously. So, if you want a contra-Hollywood flick that needs from you No thinking, No criticizing, and No complaining; then this is the one for you. Otherwise, it's one of the most perfect times to say "NO" to a movie!If you're interested, at the same year (2005) there were 2 more movies with a plane, a danger and one heroine - not hero - as well : a semi-yes movie (Flightplan), and a big yes one (Red Eye). P.S : (Jim Wynorski) holds the record for the highest number of aliases a director used in the history of the American movies. He worked under countless fake names like (H.R. Blueberry), (Bob E. Brown), (Noble Henry), (Jamie Wagner), (Jay Andrews), or even (Tom Popatopolous) ! The question now is : Is it a way to perfect a tax evasion ? Or Is it a way to flee from the audience, and delude them with another movie of him?

I can't believe that someone actually paid to have this film made. Stupid, unrealistic, and stereotypical. Right from the take off of the massive 747 the pilot pulled the throttles back to increase speed. then you have 5 armed persons with semi to fully automatic weapons firing without so much as one bullet breaching the walls of the pressurized cabin at 38,000 feet. Then once below in the belly of the plane a stray bullet hits a FUEL line and we see the fuel leaking from the side of the plane. The acting was just horrid and forced. There just didn't seem to be any direction. I have seen some pretty horrid B movies in my lifetime but with the names that were in this film I was extremely disappointed.

I would have given this film a one star vote had it not been for the laughs I got out of it. Some of the dialogs were just plain so lame that they make you laugh!! How could some one have actually talked like this. Not to mention the fact that the bodyguard Majors (Antonio Sabato Jr.) flew a 747 like a pro and Michael Pare's team of whiners were able to dig a trench filled with gasoline and blow up a huge boulder in the nick of time. Did anyone notice the lame tribute to "Fantasy Island" with the guy saying "Boss, the plane!!" to Michael Pare just as the 747 comes in sight.The only saving grace were the cute girls and even cuter female hijackers. Not to mention that the main hijacker deserved to die the lame death that he did for being such a joker!! Imagine escaping from being tied up just to shot by a "crossbow". Hello.The poor pilot probably died in the plane while everyone was eating steak and having rum!! Just for laughs, they should make a sequel to show us how they all spend the night in the midst of a Category 3 hurricane on Neptune Atoll. Did I hear Michael Pare calling it the "best honeymoon resort in the Pacific." Now that would make an interesting movie!!