kristophus I think that they spent all of their money on the actors. The end is interesting. wow really, ten lines?is the minimumOK,, i just wanted to leave a small comment about a movie i watched. this, is ridiculous By submitting this comment you are agreeing to the terms laid out in our Copyright Statement. Your submission must be your own original work. Your comments will normally be posted on the site within 2-3 business days. Comments that do not meet the guidelines will not be posted. Please write in English only. HTML or boards mark-up is not supported though paragraph breaks will be inserted if you leave a blank line between paragraph.

zardoz-13 Everybody went slumming for paychecks in this amateurish "Firefox" clone. The surprising thing is that writer & director Phillip J. Roth and his three scenarists, Jonathan Raymond, Jon Meyer, and Terri Neish, weren't sued for copyright infringement. "Falcon Down" appropriates the plot of Clint Eastwood's "Firefox" and part of the plot of "Firefox" novelist Craig Thomas' sequel "Firefox Down." Watching this improbable aerial thriller once must have convinced the "Firefox" people to forego any lawsuit. "Falcon Down" is abysmal from take-off to landing and wastes the talents of Cliff Robertson, William Shatner, and Judd Nelson. The opening credits are enough to turn you off as we watch a scanner locate different parts of the Earth and then watch as the names of cast and crew emerge for what seems forever. The special effects just barely make the grade, probably because the jets are filmed against night skies. A perfunctory romance between leading man Dale Midkiff and soap opera beauty queen Sandra Ferguson barely heats up."Falcon Down" opens with insubordinate Captain Hank Thomas (Dale Midkiff of CBS-TV's "The Magnificent Seven") and Captain Bobby Edwards (Ken Olandt of "Digital Man") flying at night. They disobey their superior officer, Major Robert Carson (William Shatner of "Star Trek") and enter forbidden airspace. No sooner have they trespassed than some inexplicable force blinds Captain Edwards and his jetfighter crashes. Not long afterward a 747 encounters the same effect, similar to electrocution, with rays wriggled all over the aircraft fuselage before it crashes and 200 people perish. When Thomas demands to know what happened to Edwards, Major Carson refuses to divulge any details and brings Thomas up on court-martial charges. Three years later, after the Air Force has dishonorably discharged him, Thomas is working with his father, Buzz Thomas (Cliff Robertson of "633 Squadron"), who has gone into debt and needs $200-thousand to bail him out. Thomas' nemesis from yesteryear shows up and makes our protagonist an offer that he cannot refuse. It seems that a top secret supersonic jet--the Falcon--with a special combat weapons system needs to be stolen and Carson is shelling out the cash. He represents a group of C.I.A agents, including Sharon (Jennifer Rubin) and Harold Peters (Judd Nelson), who need to steal it. Thomas is such an idiot that he believes them. They break into the plant and steal the jet. When U.S. Air Force interceptors scramble and come after them, Peters activates the micro-wave weapon and starts knocking them off. During the aerial firefight, the Falcon takes a bullet in its wing tank and starts losing fuel. Thomas crash lands the jet on the ice cap while a Red Chinese sub with Major Carson on board cruises underwater toward them for a rendezvous. Unfortunately, for the villains, the plane sinks with the pilots and the traitors on board. The Red Chinese had planned on towing the jet underwater back to their base, but efforts to tow the plane fail and it drags the sub down to destruction.If this plot synopsis makes "Falcon Down" sound provocative enough to watch, look out! Director Phillip Roth never generates any suspense and the dialogue is as forgettable as the plot is preposterous. Roth appears to have cloned some of the imagery from "Firefox," such as the shot where the jet wheels out of the hanger before take-off. Jennifer Rubin keeps her clothes on the entire time and adds nothing to the plot. Dale Midkiff looks hopeless as a so-called 'ladies man' in a movie that went straight to video and has nothing to distinguish it. Dull, dull, dull! I bought my DVD copy of "Falcon Down" for $2.00 plus tax from Movie Gallery during a discount sale. If I had known how egregious this pseudo-thriller was, I'd have put it back on the shelf.

CLINT-15 It's long been considered that Government organizations cover up many incidents. Probably the most infamous are the whispers that The Government actually has proof of alien beings and has their DNA, spacecraft and who knows what else hidden in an area in Roswell, New Mexico called Area 51. Then there are some of the 'apparently' factual incidents investigated by TV shows such as "The X Files". As for the military's involvement, there's only speculation - but it's believed they are present in most of these theories in some respect.In "Falcon Down", it's the Military and the Government that are responsible for such a large scale cover-up. So large scale, that eye witnesses who have claimed to witness something related to the operation have been erased. Many of these people claimed that it was some kind of Alien spacecraft that was being kept quiet by the Government. In the film, we discover that it's something a little more close to home. Or Earth if you will.Two airforce pilots come face to face with an unforseen terror in the skies. One of them suddenly goes blind and his jet falls to a fiery death. Nearby, a commercial airline also goes down.Wanting answers and bewildered by what has happened, the surviving airforce pilot, Hank Thomas (Dale Midkiff) is discharged from service following a fiery meeting with the rather suspicious, Major Robert Carson (Shatner). Several months later, Hank is bullied into leading a top secret operation, run by his old foe, Carson. The mission involves stealing a super-jet called the 'Falcon' (complete with underneath weapon, hence the blinding of the pilot) and then, as he is ordered, take it to a rendevous point where it will be dismantled so no one else can be harmed by it's terror.Joined by a group of mercenaries - one a 'trigger-happy' Rambo-type, another an intellectual yet green faced player (Judd Nelson), a straight player and femme fatale (Rubin) - Hank skillfully takes control of the stolen jet and finds himself followed by the U.S airforce and other unforseen threats. With fuel running out, it seems the only option Hank has is to land the plane on Ice. And as we know, Ice eventually melts.Labelled as a B-Grade film, the most surprising thing about "Falcon Down" is that it is notches above it's direct-to-video companions. The visual effects are well done, the characters are more than the one-dimensional lot we usually see in films like this, and overall, it's an entertaining ride. Just when it looks to let up, it throws in another surprise, or plot twist. It also provokes a talking point..do top-secret cover-ups like this happen?

Andreas First of all: the story with the „microwave - weapon' and the super - plane „Falcon' isn't very realistic in my opinion. But that doesn't really matter, because the rest of the story is mostly complex and logical. In fact I was afraid of seeing once again a film like „Land of the free' which was highly unrealistic, but that didn't happen. „Falcon Down' is exciting, there are many action scenes, but they are realistic. Furthermore the important thing about the movie is not boring fight scenes, but solid excitement and entertainment. The special effects , the shots of the plane and the explosions are well done and give a dark and mystique touch to the movie. Unfortunately all characters are full of cliches and they lack depth. The center of the film is Dale Midkiff and the excellent special effects, all the other actors have more or less minor roles. Midkiff plays the fired pilot very well and the cast is positively supported by the wonderful Jennifer Rubin. And William Shatner is just excellent as the strict and egoistic Major Carson. The „over - acting' Shatner is often blamed for will not be found in this movie. And another positive aspect: The music beautifully supports the excitement and is a joy for the ears. So: „Falcon Down' is an exciting and entertaining Thriller and is besides of „Miss Congeniality' and „Free Enterprise' one of the best movies Shatner has acted in since „Star Trek Generations'. It is a pity that the movie hasn't been published in the USA yet but I'm sure here in Germany it will be a success.