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!

The 1998 titled Beyond Enemy Lines was a very good movie with excellent production standards, character development, story, and the patriotism appropriate to a military movie. B.E.L. Axis of Evil has none of this.

Director James Dodson is perhaps the poster boy for today's airhead directors, a heavy dose of LSD along with the morning Starbucks. The first 50 minutes jumps around like Access Hollywood in fast-motion, none of it amounting to anything. The story doesn't come into focus until the final 40 minutes, then being only meaningless drivel. Making matters worse is Dodson's senseless trick of filming sequences thru color filters, the first being an orange filter for the South Korea scenes. Hey, guess what? South Korea is no more orange than South Dakota, you dope! Other scenes are through red filters, blue, et cetera. Dodson must think these tricks cover over the simple fact that he has no clue as to how to make a movie.

In the introductory voice over, the movie absolutely trashes the thousands of American soldiers who served and lost their lives in the Korean War 50 years ago. I think this was not so much Media Spin as that the filmmakers attended public schools and might have been taught doctored-history. They seem unaware that America was fighting not so much North Korea but Red China and Russia, or that General MacArthur had pushed deep into North Korea before the war ended.

I confess to owning 200 shares of stock in 20th Century-Fox; hence my sky high and bloated vote of 2. A zero would be more honest.

North Korea has developed a nuclear long range missile that can reach America. It's almost ready for launch, and the American president has few other options but ordering a military strike to remove the threat.

A navy seal team is put together and sent to the missile site to go undercover and destroy the facility, making it seem like an accident thus preventing provoking North Korea into retileration, which could quickly blow up into a full scale war causing millions of lives lost.

A very real world scenario, and it's a good background for a thrilling movie. However, with all this realism you would want more realism from the plot. There are so many holes in the plot, if the movie was a bucket, it would have water pour straight through the bottom.

For example, why would a surgical strike with stealth bombers be more provokative than sending a team of trigger happy seals behind enemy lines, blasting everything sky high for everyone to see? Yet, the whole tension is about the navy seals finishing their mission in time before the surgical strike is the only option left, naturally with no communication abilities with HQ to report about progress, and the usual war hungry American military adviser pushing for the most dangerous options.

The movie is also way too political correct. There are no bad-guys, South Koreans work together with the Americans, and even the North Koreans are good guys who are secretly on the Americans side. Only one person is left as the bad guy, Kim jong Il, North Koreas dictator.

I was also surprised to see how poor the special effects were. Reminded me of something from the early 80's. Blood splatter from gunfire was clearly just painted on top of the movie during post processing, and having a poorly done 3D model of the nuclear missile rotate around on a screen in the presidents conference room just made it look comical.

All in all, messy, inaccurate and most of all, predictable and pretty boring stuff. The first behind enemy lines was just a million times better in all aspects.

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.