Ground Control (1998)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Fantastic!

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

An incredibly suspenseful, high-excitement motion picture that will have you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. Director Richard Howard has done a stunning job of bringing this marvelous film to the screen, capturing the stress, agony, and triumphs of air traffic controllers with cinematic eloquence. The tension is at times overwhelming as a burned-out traffic controller "plugs in" again after a horrific experience a few years previous. Played by Kiefer Sutherland, the character is one of true depth and touching humanity, a tortured soul who rises to the extreme challenges of one crisis filled night in the tower. It is one of Sutherland's greatest performances. In fact, an all-star cast give uniformly superb performances with stand-out work done by Henry Winkler and Robert Sean Leonard. Special mention should be made of the actor who plays the pilot of a troubled airliner,Drew Snyder , a familiar character actor who does what amounts to an Oscar worthy turn in his role. As the older flier who remains calm and courageous, the kind of man we all want in the cockpit, he is brilliant. Intense, intelligent, and terrifically produced, prepare yourself for a story of fragile humanity in extraordinary circumstances. That is the film Ground Control.

This movie has glaring continuity errors. Like Sutherland tapping on a laptop which vacillates between being on and off.And its clichés - the ex-air traffic controller involved in a previous disaster who's brought back to save the day. Groan. It really didn't need worn out clichés which only made me think "Airplane!". A regular guy in the job would have sufficed. And moments like the instant brewing romance lacked subtlety too.Set those flaws aside though and this is a good movie. Most of the acting is convincing. And even though the plot is simple it kept my interest and had me rooting for them till the end.Despite its flaws it drew me in. A simple story and for the most part, well told. Well worth watching.

I am no air controller. Have'ent got any idea of that business. But the set looks like scraps from old 60's movies. The music sounds like a keyboard, and is genuine not that good. The cast does not shine, it looks like amateur night at the theater. Including Kiefer. The plot circles around little green dots on a round screen, and a whole lot of talk.Why should I care, there is no deeper investigation in human nature, just blah blah blah. Jack is a haunted man, but why, non of it was his fault, man take a bow and yawn. 2 out of 10. The 2 star goes to the mechanic!! Yes I am a Trekie.

If any airport in the US were this badly maintained, it would be shut down before you could say 'Thrust Reverser'. The number of thing that go wrong here and the jury-rigged way this tower is put together is almost comical.Having said that, Keifer's acting is rock solid as always. Kelly McGillis is not so bad, and Buffy takes an unusual turn as a nerd. Not anything I would go out of my way to see, but not bad if you come across it on TV either...Note: The steering by way of using the thrust on the engines was a real life incident. Unfortunately, the results were not quite so good.BTW, why didn't Fonzie just bang his fist on the computers to fix them? Ayyyy!!!