Behind Enemy Lines II: Axis of Evil (2006) (V)

User Rating:

4.6/10   

Director:

James Dodson

Writer:

James Dodson (writer)

Release Date:

17 October 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Thriller

Plot:

Navy SEALS, headed by Lt. Bobby James, are dispatched to North Korea on a covert mission, all in an effort to take out a missile site...

Plot Keywords:

Soldier | Sequel | North Korea | US Navy | Korea

Cast

Nicholas Gonzalez	...	Lt. Robert James
Matt Bushell	...	MCPO Neil 'Spaz' Callaghan
Keith David	...	MCPO Scott Boytano
Denis Arndt	...	CIA Director Weylon Armitage
Ben Cross	...	Cmdr. Tim Mackey
Bruce McGill	...	Gen. Norman T. Vance
Peter Coyote	...	President Adair T. Manning
April Grace	...	Ellie Brilliard
Shane Edelman	...	Campbell Dunleavy
Glenn Morshower	...	Admr. Henry D. Wheeler
Eyal Podell	...	Ens. David Barnes
Mykel Shannon Jenkins	...	CWO Lawrence Meideros
Michael Simpson	...	PO2 Corey Schulteiss
Ken Choi	...	Ambassador Li Sung Park (as Kenneth Choi)
Joseph Steven Yang	...	Cmdr. Hwang

Also Known As:

Behind Enemy Lines II: Land of the Morning Calm (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and lanaguage.

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:R | Finland:K-15 | Singapore:NC-16 | Argentina:13 | Norway:15 (TV rating) | Netherlands:16 | Australia:MA

Filming Locations:

Bulgaria

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Goofs:

Factual errors: When the stealth bombers are approaching the missile site, the pilots are talking to CENTCOM. PACOM is responsible for the Asia-Pacific region. Also, SOCOM would be a major contributor if it were a SEAL mission.

Movie Connections:

References Taxi Driver (1976)

Unrealistic thriller based on real world tension

North Korea has developed a nuclear long range missile that can reach America. It's almost ready for launch, and the American president has few other options but ordering a military strike to remove the threat.

A navy seal team is put together and sent to the missile site to go undercover and destroy the facility, making it seem like an accident thus preventing provoking North Korea into retileration, which could quickly blow up into a full scale war causing millions of lives lost.

A very real world scenario, and it's a good background for a thrilling movie. However, with all this realism you would want more realism from the plot. There are so many holes in the plot, if the movie was a bucket, it would have water pour straight through the bottom.

For example, why would a surgical strike with stealth bombers be more provokative than sending a team of trigger happy seals behind enemy lines, blasting everything sky high for everyone to see? Yet, the whole tension is about the navy seals finishing their mission in time before the surgical strike is the only option left, naturally with no communication abilities with HQ to report about progress, and the usual war hungry American military adviser pushing for the most dangerous options.

The movie is also way too political correct. There are no bad-guys, South Koreans work together with the Americans, and even the North Koreans are good guys who are secretly on the Americans side. Only one person is left as the bad guy, Kim jong Il, North Koreas dictator.

I was also surprised to see how poor the special effects were. Reminded me of something from the early 80's. Blood splatter from gunfire was clearly just painted on top of the movie during post processing, and having a poorly done 3D model of the nuclear missile rotate around on a screen in the presidents conference room just made it look comical.

All in all, messy, inaccurate and most of all, predictable and pretty boring stuff. The first behind enemy lines was just a million times better in all aspects.