Mayday

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 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 movie does not do justice to the original book from which it was taken. About 30 years ago Tom Block's name was on the cover, and he was credited with this original book. Recently his friend and fellow writer Nelson DeMille put his name on it. The movie barely mentions Tom Block. Tom is a retired airline pilot who knows his stuff. Read the book to see that. We can guess why this was done. Some asked about afterburners and rapid or explosive decompression. Read the book, but there was a lot of funny things going on in the film with all this. Funny and dumb to a pilot. Even with so many changes it was a half way interesting film. Too bad it might take readers away from the re-released book when it ought to help to make a lot more. Film viewers will be more than pleasantly surprised if they do read Tom Block's book (well, I guess Nelson DeMille did have a good part in the writing, after all he got his name on it finally). See the film, but definitely read the book.

Pacific Global Flight 52 is headed from San Francisco to Japan when it has to change course due to storms. The new route takes the flight dangerously close to a restricted zone where a missile test is taking place.

John Berry is a 'weekend pilot' who ends up having to fly a very complicated aircraft, under adverse conditions, and get it back to the ground safely. Sharon is the flight attendant who has to help him. They are among the few who were not in the main cabin or the cockpit and therefore not affected by what happened. There were also passengers in a conference room, but they seemed to contribute little to the situation.

Cmdr. Slan shows little emotion over what has happened and, in fact, he cares more about the navy's reputation than the passengers on the plane. Even worse, Beneficial Insurance agent Anne Metz only cares about potential liability, which will be less if everyone on board dies in a crash away from a populated area. If, for example, the plane crashes into buildings in a large city, her company and Pacific Global could both go bankrupt.

I thought Aidan Quinn and Kelly Hu did a good job showing they could take charge of the situation. Dean Cain delivered a detached and uncaring attitude, very military, occasionally angry (but restrained, and for all the wrong reasons). Charles Dutton did a fine job as the admiral observing the missile test. The actor playing the older airline executive did a good job, while the younger man who worked directly with Metz came across as an unfeeling buffoon. The air traffic controllers seemed very professional, as did military pilot Lt. Matos, who investigated the missile situation up close.

To me, the action in the plane looked realistic, though I'm certainly no expert on what should have happened. The big event was quite exciting and scary. And the excitement occasionally returned. The events in the cockpit were pretty amazing if not miraculous, and it's incredible the new crew had their calm moments. They did work well together. But much of the tension came from what the various parties didn't know about what was going on, and from our heroes having to figure out certain things.

It was entertaining, whether realistic or not. One hopes the people on the ground would have more concern in real life.

So let's see: The American Navy is testing a new missile, somehow manages to miss the fact that a passenger airliner is in the test airspace, missile hits plane. Explosive decompression somehow lasts TWO FREAKING MINUTES, and sucks many people out of the plane. It's powerful enough to rip a set of bolted chairs out of the floor and out of the plane .(It's about 15 minutes into the movie, and already you can tell the people making this movie have no clue about airplanes... or basic physics for that matter.) Captain dies from lack of oxygen and the co-pilot is in a coma for the same reason. (What?!) A "weekend pilot" takes over the controls and has to land the plane. Meanwhile, both the Navy and the airline's insurance company are independently scheming to secretly destroy the crippled plane, so they can hide their idiocy and save money, respectively.

Thanks to a "sympathetic" admiral, who for much of the movie stood by while orders to destroy the plane were given and almost followed, but then declared self-righteously that his report to the Pentagon would tell it "like it happened", we can assume that justice will be done.

Of course the heroic pilot manages to bring the plane in for a dramatic landing, everyone is happy, and thanks to evidence he gathered, the insurance guys will get their just deserts as well.

The plot is unbelievable to say the least. The actors are variously over-acting, under-acting, or acting dead. (The last group did the best job, I think.) The music screams: THIS IS THE EXCITING PART! THIS IS THE SAD PART! BE ANGRY! CRY! ON THE EDGE OF YOU SEAT, NOW! After a while you tune it out. The whole movie, I mean.

Save yourself two hours, and don't watch this piece of crap.

The only reason this is getting 2 out of 10 and not 1 is because I have seen a few movies that were worse... but very few.