Final Approach (2008)

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

A virtual 'who's who' of almost-famous actors... I did not rate it as 'awful' because of the unintentional comedic aspects... But in this jewel, Hollywood demonstrates its absurdly delusional grasp of the politically correct to avoid reality. AGAIN---instead of the terrorists being portrayed as 'radical Muslims' which have actually engaged in ALL reported hijackings in recent decades---the terrorists are contrived and overly exaggerated Hollywood caricatures of conservatives, LOL... But while there IS a middle eastern man...who tries to help...the plane is actually saved by Ernie Douglas (My Three Sons) and Superman (Deano).Then we have "Growing Pains" chick (Tracy Gold) starring as an action- reporter, while 'Back to the Future''s Lea Thompson is utterly masterful at the absurd. It was also freakishly uncanny how much Ms Thompson looks like the "old version' of herself from 'Back to the Future"And the computer generated airplane & sky used were laughably sophomoric. Bravo Hollywood. LOL

As has been pointed out by fellow reviewers this is a bit of a clichéd/hackneyed film, full of hokum and nonsense.This is true; however as a rainy Sunday afternoon film it isn't that bad. Yes, there are some really wincingly bad plot features: the Super Agent fired for one punch, the passenger coincidences that put them on this ill-fated flight, the ANNOYINGLY competent, plucky rookie stewardess (she was late for her first flight, yet when all this goes down her more experienced colleagues reduce to tears whilst she runs around like Halle Berry (another Executive Decision reference)). And the whole sub-plot with the White Supremacist although it started well, sort of got lost especially with the prison visit and faded to nothing. The producers were trying too hard at the Red Herring aspect.Another thing, a handsome face means you are good, true, brave and to be trusted without question - cue Dean Cain saving them all.Oh, and at the mind blowing running time of 2 hours and 46 minutes, this film was almost in real time for the flight. Even Lord of the Rings struggled to keep your interest over times like this, so this film had no chance. Maybe, a little editing could have saved some of the groans and heightened the tension.Two good features of the plot were the "Chase the Ace" sequence with the vans at the beginning, nicely done and the concept of them parachuting out of the jumbo before it came in to land.Next, in answer to points raised in previous reviews, the Nuclear Bomb was a fake (as was explained in the disarming sequence. They managed to get guns on board using the luggage carriers (luggage is scanned BEFORE it goes into them not after so it would be possible to unlock them and hide in there).Finally, to the cast, most of them are faceless crowd workers with the occasional line of dialogue. Dean Cain is turning into a bit of a Julia Roberts in that his whole acting arsenal consists of a smile. Obviously, he uses his more than Julia to win over Men, Women, Good Guys and Bad Guys alike, but I would liked to have seen a little more depth in his character. Lea Thompson, how she ended up in that role I don't know. She was quite wasted in the role and looks as uncomfortable delivering some of those lines as she did in that male-fantasy tight short skirt. Definitely, not Desert Storm Combat gear. Anthony Michael Hall, well at least he put some effort into his role (wasted overall on the rest of the film). His role started off complex and menacing and then faded to shallow and two dimensional. A wasted opportunity.So, like I said, not a bad rainy day film but could have been much, much better.P.S. Does anyone else think that Anthony bears more than a passing resemblance to Steve McQueen? (Or am I suffering altitude sickness?)

To me movie is just a bit better than awful! the movie is about a hijacked plane that is somehow cliché these days. The problem is that you see the series of illogical event through the movie that can hardly happen together in real life. the previous comments went through some of those.The hilarious thing was the way the top authorities were dealing with such a terrorist attack. The movie depicted the officials as naive people that changed their mind on some unreliable resources. You can see the authorities and important character did not control the situations but the flight attendant and Jack's wife had lots of influences and handle the that serious nuclear threat. To me it could be a good news for terrorist that the main challenge they would have is facing with some brave flight attendants and passengers over hijacking rather than sophisticated officials.The ridiculous thing was that the Jack's wife was taken on the operations to fight with the dangerous villains. Imagine a lady with a miniskirt and high-heeled shoes and make-up was walking on the battlefield. Do not miss that! As nobody knows when such a scene repeats over the cinema history!To me, if you wanted to tell the movie in a phrase you would say it is Bollywood version of hijacking that was made in US.

Statistically speaking, Hallmark should be able to make a decent action film once in a while. It doesn't have to be high art, but anything would top this turkey.A group of stereotyped terrorists (possibly the same ones from 'Nowhere To Land' and 'Executive Decision') hijack a passenger plane (wow, really?) and threaten to detonate a nuclear device over L.A. (also pinched from 'Nowhere to Land' and 'Executive Decision') unless there white supremacist leader is released (also like 'Executive Decision') and only an FBI agent who just happens to be aboard (ooh, like 'Passenger 57') and save them.Hallmark have dragged out every cliché (terrorists somehow get past security, there's a bomb on board, the FBI agent's wife coordinates things from the ground, an FBI agent just happens to be aboard, a passenger has to land the plane at a small airfield...) and injected a very, very small amount of originality (but it's so little, if you blink, you won't notice it).Someone tell me how your VFX team can present THREE different liveries on the same CG plane? Someone hit the wrong key back there or something? The gunfights are boring and routine, the action is minimal and the plot is so contrived and copied that it hardly entertains. It's not a patch on RCI's 'The Poseidon Adventure' (2005), and that's saying a lot. Forget this movie, and watch something else. Like the grass grow.