Mayday

I thought it was good. Though I also heard it is true, not too sure. Thats why I came to this site. I was wondering if anyone knew if there was any truths that this movie was the basis upon because if that is true then it should be opening a lot of peoples eyes to a lot of things.

I don't see why people are giving it such bad credit - I thought it was well plotted and well done. Not to mention it does keep you on the edge of your seats!

Does anyone know if there was any truths in it though? IT would be great to know for sure or not. Most of the movie was about correct on what would happen also. (air compressure, shock, and the like).

I seriously thought it was a good movie, and NBS was right to show it. It wasn't a waste of television, if you ask me.

Thanks.

This film may have been less far-fetched than the Nelson DeMille/Thomas Block novel on which it is based, but it lacks the tension which the authors provided so well. Director T.J. Scott is obviously constrained by the network-television format, which allows little blood and no coarse language -- still, he should have let the main characters look increasingly unkempt and sweaty after the accident. Other mistakes include a subplot involving several characters who weren't in the book, and some weakly interpreted villains (Johnson suffers the most; where is his swagger and sardonic humor).

This rates a 5 because the cast members do their best, the effects are good for a TV-movie, and there are a few nice touches (at one point the film refers to a change of terminology between the 1978 and 1997 versions of the novel). It's sad, though, that "Mayday" never got a big-budget blockbuster treatment.

-Tony

This is a film that has the mark of an effort which runs as if it is a mini-series but suddenly realizes that, "Hey, our two-hour allotment is almost up, better end this thing quick." The first half of the film runs well, and engrosses the viewer, but there are too many threads left dangling and not enough time to tie them up neatly. What happens to the insurance people who want the plane to crash so that they can wiggle out of liability? What happens on Wake Island? Will the report go in about the errant missile? And wasn't the missile still intact when it hit the plane? How will they explain that? Too many holes and a movie that needed to run three hours at the least.

I taped this movie so I could watch it after I read the book.The book was far better.In the book,the passengers who survived turned into zombies though oxygen deprivation and their actions threatened the survivors.One flight attendant was killed by them.There was a scene in the book where Kelly's character took off her pantyhose to close the cockpit door so the passengers wouldn't get in.Sadly that wasn't in the movie either.Also,I know that this was a TV movie,and that the acting wasn't going to be the greatest,but at least hire actors who can act well enough to get you caught up in the story,I'm specifically referring to Aidan and Kelly,somebody else said they acted like they were on a Disney World ride,and I agree.I kept looking at the tape timer to see how long it would be until it was over.If it comes on again,just tape it and watch something else.

If I hadn't read the book, I would have liked the movie better. The movie deleted much of the "controversal" stuff from the book and it muddied what happened to the passengers. There were technical errors about flying that were sloppy: why have the controller give a take off clearance twice when one should have been a taxi clearance. And what was with the group in the conference room on the plane? Totally unnecessary, wasn't in the book, added nothing to the movie. Aidan Quinn and Kelly Hu were good, not to sappy. Quinn was pretty faithful to the written character of the "weekend" pilot. Dean Cain was miss-cast. I don't see him as amoral as his character was supposed to be.