Turbulences 2

This is a fairly awful film, a purported "sequel" (in name only, methinks) to the Ray Liotta film "Turbulence"m made in 1997.

Well, its three years later, and Liotta is nowhere in sight, but this goofy film, about a group of "fear of flying" types who are beset on their voyage by hijackers, bad weather, and pretty much anything else that can go wrong on a flight, also goes by the name "Turbulence II", probably for video purposes.

Alas, this "Fear of Flying" ain't a film version of Erica Jong's novel, just a very silly film that uses about a half dozen sets, some really comical performances, and some not-too-great visual effects that would make Ed Wood envious.

Its really odd seeing good actors like Craig Sheffer, Jennifer Beals and Tom Berenger trying to work with this bad script.

Even more bizarre (for me, anyways) was the sight of Jeffrey Nordling, of the ABC dramedy "Once and Again", sporting an inept European accent, attempting to bonk Beals in the lavatory of the plane, which, in my experience, are hardly big enough for one, let alone two people coupling !

Oh well, what else can I say ?

The portentous music, horrible acting,bad plotting,and terrible effects make "Turbulence II:Fear of Flying" a film experience that will cause all Ed Wood fans to rejoice - He lives !

The first Turbulence movie really reeked (ie. it stunk out the whole cabin), mostly because there were large portions of the movie where nothing much exciting happened. They fixed this problem for Turbulence 2 with wall-to-wall non-stop heart-pounding action. OK, the action isn't heart-pounding but it's certainly wall-to-wall. There's always somebody fighting, running away, chasing, blowing something up, shooting, dying, trying to escape or, of course, flying the plane in turbulent conditions. Oh yeah, and falling...

The wall-to-wall action is flanked closely on both sides with wall-to-wall stupidity, but to its credit the movie does not take itself too seriously. How could it? A fear of flying group takes a ride in a plane with a bunch of terrorists with a bomb on board which then heads towards a storm. Ha ha, yeah right. Now, it's up to the fear of flying passengers & crew to save the day which they do with varying degrees of success. When ANOTHER crew member gets shot attempting to overthrow the bad guy the bad guy says something along the lines of "Aargh! what's wrong with you people?". It's delivered beautifully.

Actually, the acting in general is really very, err, well capable. I was going to say good, but in the context of this movie it wouldn't quite fit. I'm only giving this movie 4/10, but it's a fun 4/10. Chill that beer, microwave that popcorn, hand over your $2 to the video shop, switch off brain, press play, enjoy.

"Fear of Flying: Turbulence II" does not pretend to be anything it is not. It is simply a formula airline-that-must-be-brought-down-by-passenger-taking-direction-from-the-ground-whilst-sitting-in-pilots-seat-where-said-pilot-is (insert one):dead/predisposed/poisoned etc.

This runs along the lines of the great 70's era tragedy films like Airport '77, Towering Inferno and the like. "Fear" has plotted this along that very formula, so much so that the inevitable hero of the movies son races out onto the tarmac as the inevitable plane is safely guided to the ground at the climactic ending with music crescendoing and you knew this would happen all along. So what? I cannot deny I was truly entertained. The dialogue was humorous-intentional at times- and I did find myself and colleagues arguing about who the actual terrorists were on the flight through out the film-is it him? No, it's gotta be him! Of all the critically acclaimed movies I have seen, this one is not by far, but it is fondly remembered. Kill an hour and a half or so with this.

All airplane flicks tend to throw in the kitchen sink to fill the time but this may have surpassed even the spoofs in having a "and then what happened" motif. How many times can the passengers rise up against the villains and then back down like sheep can you handle? How many shots can you fire in an airplane and not lose pressure? Do you believe you can throw a passenger from a plane at 10,000 feet and have the body crash through the control tower landing in front of the "good guys"? Kidnapping, toxins, fights, missiles but they won't toss the luggage until they find the exact baggage. Gosh that's better than most airlines on a normal day. And so it goes. Acting level? Well, find any one who wasn't a caricature.

Its bad but it starts to turn the corner and just be laughable and that is about all that can make you sit through this movie. Now the real question is what was Turbulence 1 like that they made another one?

Actually this movie is a bit better than the ridiculous first part, which was nothing less than shameful. But when I saw this I actually had a good time. Now I thinking seriously about renting part 3, but who knows...