Subscribers Only Content Area

Home

New Movies

All Movies

New DVDs

All DVDs

Newsletter

Search

Tell Others About This Page By Using This Button "FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX" (2004) (Dennis Quaid, Giovanni Ribisi) (PG-13) Alcohol/ Drugs Blood/Gore Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude Frightening/ Tense Scenes Guns/ Weapons Minor Heavy Extreme Moderate Extreme Imitative Behavior Jump Scenes Music (Scary/Tense) Music (Inappropriate) Profanity Mild Minor Heavy None Heavy Sex/ Nudity Smoking Tense Family Scenes Topics To Talk About Violence Mild Mild None Moderate Extreme QUICK TAKE: Action/Adventure: After crash-landing somewhere in the remote Gobi desert, a group of people set out to reassemble parts of the wreck into a new plane in order to fly back to civilization. PLOT: Captain Frank Towns (DENNIS QUAID) and his co-pilot AJ (TYRESE GIBSON) have flown their cargo plane to Mongolia with orders to cap an unsuccessful well and fly the small crew back home after the oil operation has been shut down. Company man Ian (HUGH LAURIE) is resigned to the news, but not chief roustabout Kelly (MIRANDA OTTO), who reluctantly and angrily boards the plane with the rest of the crew and the mysterious Elliott (GIOVANNI RIBISI) who's only recently arrived at the remote outpost. While in flight over the Gobi Desert, however, Frank and AJ encounter a massive and fierce sandstorm that eventually disables their plane, sending it careening toward the sandy Earth. Hundreds of miles off course and with no radio and only thirty days of water and even less food, the group -- including Rodney (TONY CURRAN), Jeremy (KIRK JONES), Sammi (JACOB VARGAS), Liddle (SCOTT MICHAEL CAMPBELL), Rady (KEVORK MALIKYAN), Davis (JARED PADALECKI) and others -- tries to figure out what to do. Some want to walk to try to find help, but Rady informs them of the perils of that. Frank wants to sit tight and wait for help, but Elliott comes up with a completely different plan. Stating that he's an airplane engineer, he believes that they can take salvageable parts of the wreckage and retrofit them into a new and flyable plane that might allow them to escape from their hostile environs. Frank initially doesn't think that's a good idea, but eventually goes along with the plan after weighing their limited options. With their life-sustaining resources dwindling, and upon learning that nearby smugglers might prove to be dangerous, the group tries to overcome those obstacles and their personal differences to build and fly the plane before it's too late. WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT? If they're into action/adventure films and/or are fans of anyone in the cast, they just might, but this one seems most attractive to tween and teen boys. WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG-13 For some language, action and violence. CAST AS ROLE MODELS: DENNIS QUAID plays the cocky cargo plane pilot who figuratively and literally finds his world turned upside down when a sandstorm forces a crash landing in the middle of nowhere. A reluctant leader, he has confrontations with the oil crew, ends up shooting and killing some attacking smugglers, uses some profanity and smokes a few times. TYRESE GIBSON plays his equally cocky co-pilot who looks down on that crew and uses some profanity. GIOVANNI RIBISI plays a coolly mysterious man who claims to be an airplane engineer with a plan to reassemble salvageable parts of the wreckage into a flyable plane. As he leads that mission, he becomes increasingly power-hungry and demanding of the others. He matter-of-factly murders a wounded man (who's the enemy) in order to preserve their water supply. MIRANDA OTTO plays the oil mission's chief roustabout who initially clashes with Frank but eventually settles down and helps with the effort. She uses some profanity. JACOB VARGAS plays a Hispanic cook who similarly assists. KIRK JONES plays another crew member who wears a patch over one eye and clashes with some of the others at times. HUGH LAURIE plays the "company man" supervisor who has to shut down the oil mission. KEVORK MALIKYAN plays a Saudi who's wise to the ways of the desert, smokes a few times and uses some profanity. JARED PADALECKI and SCOTT MICHAEL CAMPBELL play additional members of the oil crew who are left stranded in the desert. CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit? Then read OUR TAKE of this film. (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below). OUR WORD TO PARENTS: The following is a brief summary of the content found in this action/adventure flick that's been rated PG-13. Profanity consists of at least 1 "f" word, while other expletives and colorful phrases are uttered and several sexual references are made. Violence consists of several people being murdered via gunfire (seen and occurring off camera, including an execution), with some brief but rather bloody/gory results, while others are shot at, threatened or roughed up/punched by others. Several characters are killed or wounded in a traumatic plane crash that, like some of the other material, may be unsettling or quite suspenseful to some viewers. Various characters have varying degrees of bad attitudes, while some smoke, one references an alcoholic drink and a photo shows a man holding a bottle of liquor. Should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home, you may want to look more closely at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content. For those concerned with bright flashes of light on the screen, there are flashes of lightning at night that eventually become nearly strobe-like in intensity. ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE Jeremy briefly thinks about Bacardi (rum) and Coke in an "I wish I could have" moment. We see a photo of Sammi holding a bottle of liquor outside a restaurant. BLOOD/GORE Some people are bloody (to varying degrees) following the plane crash. We see a man's urine stream outdoors at night. We see a dead man buried halfway in the sand, with his skin nearly appearing mummified from being sand-blasted by high winds and sand. Frank finds a body lying face down over some rocks, stripped to his boxers and sporting various bloody cuts, gashes and apparently bullet holes (shell casings are found nearby and flies are heard buzzing about). Characters are seen heading off to what's presumably the "latrine" (marked by a vacant/occupied sign and the men carrying a shovel to and from the area, but no related activity is seen or heard). A mortally wounded man has blood on his face and shirt, and we then see the bloody bullet hole wound in his chest. Those who try to save him then have his blood on their hands. The now wingless fuselage rolls several times with most of the group inside it (they're bumped around but otherwise okay, although Kelly has a little blood on her head). Various members of the group have some bloody scrapes on various parts of their bodies following their ordeal. DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE AJ looks down on the oil crew members, calling them "goobers" and a "bunch of zeroes." He also refers to the mostly male oil crew members as "ladies." Various characters develop bad attitudes toward others under duress. Some viewers might not like a joke told about a rabbi and priest spotting a boxer crossing himself. The rabbi asks what that means and the priest replies, "Not a damn thing if he can't fight." Some viewers might not like Rady saying that spirituality is not religion and that the latter divides people while the former (and believing in something) unites them. Elliot progressively becomes full of himself and the power he's obtained. He tells Frank that everyone is indispensable except for him and later makes everyone plead to have him continue his work on the plane. The various anonymous thieves/smugglers have bad attitudes for trying to kill the various group members. FRIGHTENING SCENES Scenes listed under "Violence," "Blood/Gore" and "Jump Scenes" may be unsettling, suspenseful or scary to younger viewers and/or those with low tolerance levels for such material. Frank flies the plane into a sandstorm that only grows bigger and worse as they try to fly through, above and then around it. The turbulence gets quite bad and those fearful of flying will likely find that and the follow as unsettling and/or suspenseful. First, the aerial (antenna) rips off the top of the plane and then the plane bounces in the air, sending AJ up to the ceiling where he hits his head and is knocked out. The turbulence only gets worse and then one of the engines begins to come apart, sending the rapidly spinning propeller into the cockpit just behind Frank (nearly hitting him). After that, the plane goes completely out of control and rolls several times as it begins to plummet toward the desert. The back end rips off, with two men sliding toward the gaping opening (desperately trying to grab a hold of something) and at least one falling out (we see him smack into the sandy ground below). Material inside the plane then flies out and crashes through part of the tail section, with the plane then skipping and bouncing across various sand dunes until finally coming to a stop. At least one more crew member is dead in his seat and he and various others have varying degrees of bloody cuts and wounds on them. A man trips, rolls quite a ways down a dune and then finds himself lost at night in the desert. As Sammi waits in the fuselage, the other men try to lower the wing down to him along some diagonally aligned scaffolding. The chains holding it break, however, sending the large wing zipping down toward him, smashing into the plane's body (but Sammi is okay). An electrical storm approaches and the team races to ground the plane before it's struck by lightning (which would cause the fuel inside it to explode). After they attach the wire, Frank knocks Elliot off the plane just in time. When the group learns that someone has been taking more than their share of water, AJ pulls a handgun. We hear the sound of gunfire in the distance. Ian, Alex and AJ tentatively go to talk to a small group of men (possibly thieves or smugglers) that they've discovered camped nearby them, unsure what might happen. A smuggler shoots one of the men in the chest, blowing him backwards through the air and mortally wounding him. In turn, Frank shoots that man and two others (one of which shot at him with a machine gun). Elliot matter-of-factly shoots a severely wounded man in the head, killing him (we don't see the impact), stating that he would have died anyway after drinking all of their water. In turn, Frank punches Elliot in the face, knocking him to the ground. AJ picks up Elliot and then tosses him to the ground. Ian (who's gone over the edge) then holds a handgun on Elliot, threatening to shoot him (Frank talks him out of that). The group scrambles to take cover as a massive sandstorm approaches. We see a dangerous man watching the group from afar, so we know that trouble is brewing. Then, when the group tries to take off, many such men charge after them on horseback, firing various shots that hit the plane but nobody onboard it. During that, Elliot tries to fix a rudder cable that's come unplugged (by crawling back on top of the fuselage while it taxis down the "runway" toward a sheer cliff). GUNS/WEAPONS Handguns/Rifles/Machine gun: Used to threaten, attempt to kill or succeed in killing others. See "Violence" for details. Frank finds a body lying face down over some rocks, stripped to his boxers and sporting various bloody cuts, gashes and apparently bullet holes (shell casings are found nearby). We hear the sound of gunfire in the distance. IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR Phrases: "You're a funny f*cker," "This is bullsh*t," "Get your sh*t packed," "Sh*thole," "Try not to sh*t yourselves all over my plane," "No bullsh*t," "How do I know you're not full of sh*t?" "Holy sh*t," "Useless bullsh*t," "What the hell is this sh*t?" "I'll sh*t myself if it does," "Screw up," "Getting my balls broken," "Goober," "What the hell /was that/are you laughing at/is he talking about/are you doing/is the matter with you/are they waiting for?" "Get the hell back to your seat," "Bloody," "Oh, shut up," "How screwed are we? Pretty screwed," "Go wake his ass up," "How the hell could we lose someone?" "Sit on your ass and do nothing," "Pretty freaked out," "Don't be pathetic," "Screw this," "Big dumb-ass head," "I'll be damned," "Jeez," "Bastard (s)," "Get the hell away," "Having a hell of a time," "What kind of crap is that?" "Sure as hell" and "Let's get the hell out of here." AJ looks down on the oil crew members, calling them "goobers" and a "bunch of zeroes." He also refers to the mostly male oil crew members as "ladies." Both AJ and Alex have tattoos on their arms. JUMP SCENES A barrel of oil suddenly explodes in a somewhat quiet scene. A man presumed to be dead suddenly grabs Kelly's foot. MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE) A heavy amount of suspenseful and ominous music plays in the film. MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE) None. PROFANITY At least 1 "f" word (and another possible one), 26 "s" words, 17 hells, 7 asses (3 used with "hole"), 4 damns, 1 crap, 1 S.O.B., 7 uses of "Oh God," 5 of "Jesus," 2 each of "For Christ's sakes" and "Oh my God" and 1 use each of "G-damn," "For God's sakes" and "God." SEX/NUDITY While preparing to take flight, Frank imitates Bill Clinton with various bits of innuendo, such as saying that he likes having something strapped to his lap, and after AJ mentions something about injection, Frank continues by replying, "That's what she said." One of the guys says he's recognizes Sammi's wife/girlfriend's photo while holding it upside down (presumably a joke on the "69" position). SMOKING Alex and Frank smoke several times, while Jeremy takes a drag off Alex's cigarette and a photo shows Alex with a cigarette in his mouth. TENSE FAMILY SCENES None. TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT Resiliency and determination. Dealing with others' egos. Elliot matter-of-factly shoots a severely wounded man in the head, killing him (we don't see the impact), stating that he would have died anyway after drinking all of their water. VIOLENCE AJ pushes one of the guys to his plane seat. Frank flies the plane into a sandstorm that only grows bigger and worse as they try to fly through, above and then around it. The turbulence gets quite bad and those fearful of flying will likely find that and the follow as unsettling and/or suspenseful. First, the aerial (antenna) rips off the top of the plane and then the plane bounces in the air, sending AJ up to the ceiling where he hits his head and is knocked out. The turbulence only gets worse and then one of the engines begins to come apart, sending the rapidly spinning propeller into the cockpit just behind Frank (nearly hitting him). After that, the plane goes completely out of control and rolls several times as it begins to plummet toward the desert. The back end rips off, with two men sliding toward the gaping opening (desperately trying to grab a hold of something) and at least one falling out (we see him smack into the sandy ground below). Material inside the plane then flies out and crashes through part of the tail section, with the plane then skipping and bouncing across various sand dunes until finally coming to a stop. At least one more crew member is dead in his seat and he and various others have varying degrees of bloody cuts and wounds on them. Some of the men briefly struggle over a large container of water. Sparks from the plane's construction land on a large barrel filled with fuel. Moments later, it suddenly explodes in a massive fireball with the shockwave knocking some people off the plane. Frank grabs Elliot by the shirt with the latter throwing some paper back at him. A smuggler shoots one of the men in the chest, blowing him backwards through the air and mortally wounding him. In turn, Frank shoots that man and two others (one of which shot at him with a machine gun). Elliot matter-of-factly shoots a severely wounded man in the head, killing him (we don't see the impact), stating that he would have died anyway after drinking all of their water. In turn, Frank punches Elliot in the face, knocking him to the ground. AJ picks up Elliot and then tosses him to the ground. Ian (who's gone over the edge) then holds a handgun on Elliot, threatening to shoot him (Frank talks him out of that). The now wingless fuselage rolls several times with most of the group inside it (they're bumped around but otherwise okay, although Kelly has a little blood on her head). We see a dangerous man watching the group from afar, so we know that trouble is brewing. Then, when the group tries to take off, many such men charge after them on horseback, firing various shots that hit the plane but nobody onboard it. Reviewed December 14, 2004 / Posted December 17, 2004

Advertising Info

Info/FAQ

Mail

Sneak Previews

Parenting Food Health Home Pregnancy Beauty News

Privacy Statement and Terms of Use and Disclaimer
By entering this site you acknowledge to having read and agreed to the above conditions.

All Rights Reserved,
©1996-2010 Screen It, Inc.