Even behind enemy lines 1 is considered bad. All the scenes are
exaggerating.
Here's are some reviews.
Possible "spoilers", if it's even possible to spoil a film like
BEL. This is by far one of the worst war movies I have ever
seen, especially in terms of realism. As a former Naval
Flight Officer who was stationed on a carrier in the Adriatic in
the early 90's, I can say with absolute certainty that this story,
the dialogue and just about everything else was complete hogwash.
It pains me to think that some hack writer actually got paid big
bucks for this script, probably much more than I ever made in full
year in the Navy. Anyway, I could obviously point out a million
things wrong with this picture, but I'll limit to a few
laughers:
First, I flew EA-6B's, not F-18's, but apparently
nobody else did. Every EA-6B (and non-F-1
shown in the film was tied down to the flight deck. In
fact, I don't recall any other jet being launched or recovered in
this film from that carrier deck other than that 2-seat F-18. Back
then, the Hornet squadrons on my boat (yes it's a "boat"
not a "ship". Only blackshoes called it a ship. Even had a
'shoe Senior Chief "correct" me (a lieutenant) in that regard once.
Get real.) only had one seat, one pilot and no navigators/rios.
Only Marines flew those D-models. At least they could have used an
F-14.
-Some Master Chief running around the boat chastizing an Admiral
and telling him what to do/not do. Yeah, right.
-The bad guys are shooting SAM's at our "heroes" who survive quite
a while before getting bagged. Only after getting safely on the
ground with their big, bright, colorful (!) parachute canopies, do
they decide to interrupt the Admiral's meal to tell him a jet's
been engaged. Oh, I better get up and see what's going on! That
boat would be at General Quarters the minute the first missile was
in the air. And missiles, which normally travel at many times the
speed of a Hornet in burners, would either hit or miss, not follow
you all around the sky. And a search & rescue mission would be
in place IMMEDIATELY regardless of what some pseudo-Italian
knucklehead who thinks he's in charge says.
-Guys walking around the flight deck with no head/ear
protection immediately before, during, and after flight ops? Uh,
no. At not playing football either.
-Flight crew (officers) eating meals on the enlisted men's mess
decks rather than the dirty-shirt wardroom? I suppose it's
technically possible, but are they out of their minds?
-A Navigator/NFO threatening to leave the Navy to go fly for the
airlines? Sorry, even if one had a civilian pilot's license (most
do NOT) all those backseat hours in the Hornet count for squat in
the eyes of the FAA. There are way too many military PILOTS that
compete for commercial pilot jobs, that a navigator sure as heck
wouldn't get one.
-A downed pilot sitting there in an open field in enemy territory
not even making an attempt to hide/evade. The other guy just
leaving him there to find higher ground? Didn't you guys learn
anything in SERE school? Also, a single fighter going feet dry in
potentially hostile territory with no other escort, support
aircraft, or SARCAP? Hah!
you get the picture...
SPOILER ALERT ! This was the sorriest movie I can ever remember
seeing. I realize that everybody is still in shock from 9-11. I
personally lost a family member because of it. But that doesn't
mean I'm so starved for patriotism that I would blindly love this
crap. A US Navy pilot and navigator disobey orders then get shot
down. Suddenly he can dodge automatic fire from assaults
rifles, 20mm cannons, and grenade launchers? He
runs in the daytime, stops to transmit in open territory, and
suddenly knows the area better then they people who are chasing
him? His commanders are unwilling/unable to help him. The end is
the worst, he's running around in between crossfire of his rescuers
and his pursuers without ever getting hit? Grabs some disk
of pictures that would have been transmitted automatically to base
as soon as he took them anyway? Then runs and jumps off a cliff to
someone hanging from a helicopter rather than having the stupid
helicopter land for 3 seconds to pick him up. I realize that some
people may need a boost of patriotism but we can do much better
than this crap. See 'Saving Private Ryan' again if you're that
desperate.