Watch Flight of the Phoenix For Free

Why so much hype?

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Memorable, crazy movie

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It's always a risk with a remake of a successful film, but Phoenix succeeds with flying colors. Quaid as the Captain delivers just the right mix of toughness, compassion, and comedy, when needed. The cast of characters was well thought out, with a nice mix of thinkers, doers, and listeners. They even cast a woman in a lead role, which I think worked well. The plot takes you aboard this plane that has mechanical issues and crashes in the desert. OK, now what do we do, they ask. the question is interestingly played back and forth, with some results, until the inevitable hopelessness compels them to try the one impossible task to rebuild the plane. While the ending is somewhat predictable, the movie is quick moving, finely acted, has a good pace, with breathtaking cinematography. This kind of movie always inspires the question - what would you do if this were you? If you enjoy survival type movies against all odds, rent this movie. You will really like it. Enjoy.

"Flight of the Phoenix" is a 1964 novel, based on an incredible true story of survivors of a plane crash in the middle of the desert. If there was any way to do the book justice when attempting to make a movie out of it, it was in 1965 and starred James Stewart and Richard Attenborough. The film was a flop, yet has gone on to receive a large cult following.I like the overall look of the new film, but sadly this remake doesn't deliver anything decent enough via. acting or the tension that made the original so well loved. Dennis Quaid and Giovanni Ribisi are decent choices, but both are just a stone throw away from descending into awfulness themselves . Final Verdict: Do your self a favour and avoid, but I do recommend seeking out the original. 5/10.

Sure it has Dennis Quaid (The Big Easy), Giovanni Ribisi (Saving Private Ryan), Tyrese Gibson (Four Brothers), and Miranda Otto (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King), but it also had Hugh Laurie from House. That's enough to get me to watch, no matter what. No, Quaid is not better that Jimmy Stewart was in the 1965 version, but he still sizzles. Ribisi, with his Nazi undertones, really adds to the pic.It is an inadequate remake, but it has Hugh Laurie. Two things that puzzle me: How come no one gets a sunburn working in the desert without a shirt, and how come Otto doesn't hook up with one of these shirtless hunks - especially Hugh Laurie.

The new Flight of the Phoenix suffers from a common remake problem – the writer, producer and director just don't understand what made the original so successful. First, the original had Jimmy Stewart, and there are few, if any, current actors up to this level. Second, the original played on the popular post-war stereotype of Germans, as brilliant, logical, but flawed by an complete absence of empathy and humanity. The audience knew everything there was to know about Hardy Kruger the moment he opened his mouth and out came the German accent. But that German stereotype is long gone in popular culture Third, movie screwed up the key scene. The entire story hangs on the moment when Dorfman makes the big revelation about his background. In the original, it is clear that Dorfman, the logical German with no sense of humanity, never attempted to hide anything and that he was surprised at the reaction. Big or small, it was all the same to him. In the remake, it is clear that Dorfman/Elliot was hiding and ashamed, or at least defensive, about his background. The revelation lacks all the power of the original because it doesn't have the German stereotype for support. They try to compensate by having Dorfman/Elliot usually appear in alone shots, but it misses the point. It's not that Dorfman/Elliot is different or an outside. It's that he's German. The people who made this movie just didn't get it. To make matters worse, Giovanni Ribisi was just terrible in the Hardy Kruger role. He should stick with "My Name Is Earl." The other problem is the annoyingly predictable and calculating political correcting of the original. Where we had the extraordinary supporting all-star cast of Hardy Krüger, Peter Finch, Ernest Borgnine, George Kennedy, Dan Duryea, Ronald Fraser, and Ian Bannen, the remake has second rate bodies whose main virtue is falling in the proper demographic.