hughman55 It was bound to happen eventually. The awesome Giovanni Ribisi who etched his talent into films such as; "Saving Private Ryan" (most moving death scene ever), "The Gift", "Heaven", "The Dead Girl", "Cold Mountain", and many others, succumbed to the weight of this giant sand turd, the remake of "Flight of the Phoenix". I saw the original in a theater in 1965 when I was ten. They should have left well enough alone. Or rather, I should have left well enough alone. The "buhya's", high fives, "and the crowd went wild" roars, are supposed to pass for dramatic tension and exposition. They don't. Dialogue is flat.Towns (Quaid): Ya think this thing'll fly?Elliot (Ribisi): It'll fly.Towns (Quaid): It better. Riveting.It's no knock on Giovanni Ribisi that he's terrible in this film. His character, Elliot, is actually altered in this remake from a cooky genius ('65) to murderous sociopath here. And yet, he's no worse than anyone else who is also terrible in this film; as is the writing, the jungle drum music score, and the ever so derivative "oogabooga - dead hand reaching out and grabbing a woman's ankle" moment. Yes, they filmed that. And then it made it out of the editing department. Can you just imagine what was left on the floor.If you're interested in a good film called "Flight of the Phoenix" check out the 1965 version.

wizkidpete I read a previous post that really had nothing good to say about anything regarding this movie. That's cool but I don't share that sentiment. I loved the movie I thought it was great. I enjoyed everything about it. Its a light, funny and enjoyable movie, with a slightly inspirational vibe to it. Its not heavy or too dramatic in any way, just an easy fun to watch movie. I liked all the characters and the way they played their parts, no complaints from me. Each movie is different so I rank them for what they are, I think its a solid 7 out of ten. There are some great songs throughout the movie as well which I really enjoyed. All round a nice easy to watch movie.

ssobot3510 I suppose a remake can't be that different from the original, but watching the movie without watching the original gave me ESP, or the movie was just too predictable.Every event that occurred wasn't creative. The characters are not believable. The drama was way to scripted. I understand that it is a movie, but good ones take you out of the "I know what's going to happen" mindset for at least a few brief moments. Everything that happened could have easily been predicted without knowing beforehand.The most unpredictable thing that happened was the fact that the plane flew. No, I knew it was going to fly, but how they were going to do it was the unpredictable part: laying down and holding onto bars? Yeah, OK... I'd like to see anyone try that on any airplane without losing their grip at SOME point.In all truth, I enjoyed it, but it was so mediocre that I will soon forget about it.

SMicali This review is based solely on the 2004 movie. I have never seen the original so there will be no comparison. I picked this film to watch largely for the cast - in particular Dennis Quaid and Hugh Laurie - and had no idea until after I watched the movie that it was a remake. While this is certainly not an Oscar contender, it's not nearly as bad as people make it out to be. It's a decent movie with solid performances by the cast. No, there's nothing original about this film, but then again, when was the last time anyone made a truly original movie? My suggestion: if you've never seen the original, watch this one first - since it is apparently the lesser movie. If you have seen the original, then watch this movie for its own merits and try not to do a comparison with the original film.