Behind Enemy Lines II: Axis of Evil

Looks like some producers at Fox remembered they made a pretty good little military thriller a decade or so ago; that film was BEHIND ENEMY LINES, casting the unlikely Owen Wilson as a soldier stranded in a hostile country and forced to fight his way out with help from the reliable Gene Hackman.

BEHIND ENEMY LINES II: AXIS OF EVIL has absolutely NOTHING in common with that movie. Instead this is a dumb, offensive and blockheaded pseudo-thriller that manages to offend everybody it depicts, from the Asian stereotypes to the knuckle-dragging US military. The plot, in which a crack squad are sent behind enemy lines in North Korea to destroy a missile, is as dumb as it sounds and the film is loaded with errors, both factual and otherwise.

You know you're in trouble from the outset, with James Dodson's direction winning the difficult position of being the worst thing about the film (and when the script is this bad, that's an impressive achievement). Dodson appears to be on speed throughout, cutting like there's no tomorrow and going in for dodgy/crazy shaky-cam effects throughout. The result is a film that's very nearly unwatchable.

The acting is pitiful and you end up feeling sorry for the recognisable faces who've clearly fallen on hard times; among them are Keith David, Ben Cross and Peter Coyote, a trio of former stars who must be wondering what sins they committed in a past life in order for them to appear in this. The action scenes are among the worst I've seen and the whole patriotic flag-waving stuff is vomit-inducing indeed. Give it a miss!

You pick a DVD like this up off the 'discount rack' for 5.00 you don't expect much. But this was a surprisingly good little movie made on a shoestring budget that doesn't look it. I liked the original Behind the Lines well enough but this movie is just fine in its own right. The actors/soldiers are young and Hung-ho which you'd expect. The plot moves along and doesn't have every cliché you usually see coming a mile away. The action scenes with their jittery camera work are rapidly paced & well done in my view. The political side of the story looks professional and pretty believable. Having seen every great war movie there is many times over, I give this movie a solid thumbs up and definitely worth a look.

Reviewer Ash from Victoria, Canada, said "I'm not normally one to gripe about movies, hell i even liked Waterworld, but this movie redefined the idea of rubbishy over exposed b-grade actors pretending at being SEALs."

and he took the words right out of my mouth.

Because of BEL 1, I rented this movie expecting to see a quality film, but I was thoroughly disappointed - So much so, that it prompted me to write my first review.

Poor - Script, Casting, Directing, Acting, Scene music selection, Camera shake (I hate that overused and inappropriate camera shake)

Script: Weak at best and unrealistic far to often. Simplistic dialog for such a serious subject.

Casting: Peter Coyote is totally unbelievable as President. No country would ever elect this man President. Some Koreans looked like Japanese, although I might be somewhat biased because I am surrounded by Koreans in K-town in Los Angeles.

Directing: In one scene, the actor playing the main Seal, gets a nail or spike driven through his hand, yet hours later he is behaving like it was simply a paper cut or something. Bruce McGill, who is a good actor, is a shadow of his ability. I can only blame the generally poor acting on the director. The entire film is totally void of any emotion.

Acting: Most of the actors in the administration and Whitehouse scenes sound like they are reading their lines. I got the feeling I was listening to the production meeting run through. Overall, they deliver their lines with no conviction.

Music: They seem to have no clue about what music to use where. An example would be when the Seals are sneaking up to the enemy at the missile site, where one might expect some quiet low key music. Instead they use the dramatic music like one would expect at the end of a film.

I'm probably being too hard on this movie, but i was expecting the production quality of the first Behind Enemy Lines. At best, this one is a bad made-for-TV movie.

North Korea is about to test a missile capable of reaching all of the US. The President (Peter Coyote) decides to send in SEAL team 1 to sabotage the missile. New intel forces him to change his mind and launch a pre-emptive strike. Four SEALs are left behind enemy lines to sit and wait for extraction. However they are found by the North Koreans.

This is a B action movie. The story is well and good for the limited movie. The production value is limited. The biggest problem is the editing of the movie. There are all kinds of crazy cheesy effects at work here. They have slo-mo fast-forward echoing effects with ethereal operatic music. Shaky cam is fine, but they shook way too much. The bad action scenes sucked out any possible fun from this movie.

A very poor sequel to a very good thriller, BEHIND ENEMY LINES: AXIS OF EVIL is about a small group of Navy SEALS attempting to take out a missile site in North Korea. Naturally, everything that can go wrong, does. Shot on the cheap in Bulgaria, this STV is pretty much one continuous firefight, and the battles are so poorly executed that it is hard to tell what is going on a good part of the time. The acting is strictly of the cardboard variety. The film reminds me of a Chuck Norris flick from his days with Cannon, only those films were better. Some old timers pull duty here, including Keith David as a SEALS trainer and Peter Coyote as the president of the U.S. No suspense, no real interest in anything going on. Stick with the original.