Turbulence 2: Fear of Flying

"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.

The plot of this film is just so preposterous it makes "Airplane!" look like a slice of gritty realism. Nervous flyers on a plane in a terrible storm with evil European terrorists (no clue as to what their cause was, other than "being evil"), deadly nerve gases, dead cabin crew, drugged ice cubes, gun fights, a missile attack, and an ordinary Joe who has to land the plane (he has a dead wife, and an impossibly cute little son, of course).

As the action lurched from this implausible random plot twist to that piece of clunky, cliche-ridden dialogue, I found myself being charmed by the sheer awfulness of it all.

My favourite part is when a terrorist starts babbling in Czech, and Jennifer Beals offers to try and interpret since she learned a few words of Polish from her Grandmother as a child. Seconds later she is in full swing: "He says that there is a deadly nerve gas in the hold, and he will press the detonator killing everyone within a 5 mile radius"....Whatever did her grandmother talk about all the time that she picked up that vocabulary?

How can you look at this film and not consider it ingenious?!

1) I turned this movie on right as they got on the airplane. When the crazy Russian guys entered the plane, the dark and scary music started playing, trying to convince you that it was them who were terrorists. They make it kind of like Air Force One, but a little more prejudiced. 2) As you look at the characters, you can guess the hero of the day is going to end up being Jeffrey Nordling and that the nerdy and weak guy Craig Sheffer is the type of guy that gets killed immediately for disobeying "Elliot's" rules. 3) Was the Russian guy and "British Intelligence" guy in on it together?

A:Well they had to be. What "two sets" of terrorists enter on a plane, especially when it happens to be for people who are awarded a free flight for the last flight? B: No Way it can't be. The Russian chap claimed that the other guy was lying. Additionally, the other Russians were dozed by the ice in the water. C: But wait!! They had to be! They both had those ridiculous wolverine-like claws that were incredibly original.

4)This plot was simply humorous. An anthrax bomb to destroy everything in a 5000 mile radius. WHATT!!!?!?!?!?! So Random. Hey and remember those claws? That was cool.

5) After we discover that Elliot isn't British Intelligence, he changes his accent from that English accent. Clever.

6) We can clearly pick up Elliot's inner insanity when he goes "Ok I need a volunteer, anyone? Come on! You all have a right to vote!" That is what I call sweet acting.

7)Elliot takes out his anger on the lawyer because he hates all lawyers stereotypically because of his past. Simply Stunning. He throws him out of the plane and he happens to land in the air traffic control center. And what's even more brilliant, Elliot knew it was going to happen as he says something like "send them a message for me!"

8) When the girl resists before he tries to throw the guy off the plane, he is already a little angry at her for her little performed plan in the upper compartment. Realistically, he wants nothing to do with her and he goes "will you stop it! UGH! I'm sick of you!" THAT KILLED ME.



ONE OF THE FUNNIEST MOVIES I'VE EVER SEEN.

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.

"Turbulence II: Fear Of Flying"

Released by: Trimark Pictures. Release date: August 2nd, 2000 (VENEZUELA; theatrical release), Fall 2000 (USA; video premiere).

I saw the movie in theaters here in Venezuela and i thought that the movie was pretty good. The movie has a pretty bad plotting and Bad/Good acting. This movie was the first Trimark movie to be released in theaters in Venezuela. Although that the film's ending was pretty bad, they're making "Turbulence III" which has a bad plot and will be released on video and (internationally) in theaters.

I rate "Turbulence II": *** out *****