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Yeah, so Behind Enemy Lines isn't the most unpredictable flick, but it sure is good to see those Wilson Brothers getting their share of the big budget movies. This one stars Owen as a Navy pilot, if you can believe that (of course he's not even really a pilot, he's in the back seat navigating, so does that count?). Gene Hackman stretches his talents yet again as the commanding officer aboard the aircraft carrier assigned to patrol the waters off the coast of Bosnia. Since this movie was filmed after Russia stopped being the bad guy and before Afghanistan's grouchiness came to a head, we had to pin the black hat on someone right? Why not Bosnia? Those guys were pretty rascally too, weren't they? Well, at the very least we needed characters that had non-English or British accents to wear scruffy uniforms and fire missiles at the Americans...

Anyway, Owen and up and coming star/co-pilot Gabriel Macht get shot down "behind enemy lines." Things don't quite so well for the downed pilots, and soon Owen is off running through the gorgeous terrain of Eastern-ish Europe. Now there's also the snidely and slightly shady NATO official who won't let the paternal Admiral Hackman attempt a rescue because of some peace accords. (Welp, not too original, but a subplot nonetheless.) Our hero narrowly escapes everything, fights the bad guys, makes some friends, and is rescued. There's even a magnificent firefight finale where only the bad guys absorb gunfire.

First-time big-screen director John Moore seems to have passed the young helmer's first task of putting a story down on film; now, he only needs to work on the story itself. Moore came from commercials (what's new?) and his style surely fits the short attention span type. However he has entertainingly made this Navy recruitment flyer into an often tense and exhilarating ride. But that's all you can expect from Behind Enemy Lines, but at least it delivers.

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

Fox has put together a fairly nice 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. The print of this brand-newy film quality exhibits zero flaws. Colors and fleshtones are perfectly reproduced in almost all scenes, with the one exception those in the command center, where a small blue tint color bleed issue hampers the presentation. Edge enhancement ranges from mildly distracting to eyesore levels typically reserved for older Universal releases and Bruce Willis films. Shadow detail is sharp and the overall detail very complex. Blacks are truly the high point of this transfer as they are clear, superbly deep and solid throughout. Overall, a love-hate transfer.

Audio: How Does the Disc Sound?

Unlike the video, the audio is all good. Here Fox does this film some justice with two mixes, Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 tracks. Comparatively speaking, both are remarkably similar. I compared the two in the series of scenes where the plane is shot down. I watched them several times. Only extraordinarily minuscule differences standout. The strangest thing might be that the DTS mix is recorded at its highest rate of 754 kbps and the Dolby Digital track slightly below its peak with a 384 kbps rating. Volume levels are comparable with this anomaly of almost equal tracks recorded at unequal bit rates.

Both tracks are terrific as they very competently cover all aspects of a good mix. There is plentiful subtle detail and ambient filler throughout the soundstage. Loud and action- packed scenes are full of low rumblings and explosive mid ranges. The surrounds are very active in the obvious and abundant flybys. Pans and localized effects are also skillfully replicated. Dialogue is anchored and clear for the most part, but there are some moments when it is lost in some of the more bombastic scenes. As for the assessment of the two separate tracks, the DTS displayed an almost insignificantly tighter LFE channel, but that's about it. Both tracks are great.

There are also two additional Dolby 2.0 Surround mixes in English and Spanish, along with English subtitles and Closed Captions.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

The goodies included here aren't too bad, especially if you've enjoyed the film. First up is a marvelous 6- minute behind the scenes featurette. The cast and crew gained an unprecedented full cooperation with the US Navy as they spent a couple of weeks on a couple of different ships to make this film. Here we have the rare "true" behind the scenes treats with footage on the aircraft carrier, planes flying all over the place, special effects and only a few cast/crew interviews. Definitely worth checking out, it's just too bad it's so short.

Next up is a selection of extended and deleted scenes. I'm not a big fan of this particular DVD option in general, but here, with optional commentary by director John Moore and editor Paul Martin Smith, the scenes are bearable. There is a menu where you can select any of the five scenes, and these aren't too bad if as usual, unnecessary.

More insight can be gleaned from the two screen-specific audio commentaries, of course with the typical Fox disclaimer that the views expressed by the filmmakers don't reflect those that footed the bill. The first one is with director John Moore and Editor Paul Martin Smith. It is very screen specific and a bit slow going. You can tell that these folks love what they are doing, but have very little experience to draw from. Not a terrible commentary, but mediocre at best. The second commentary is with producers John "Predator/Waterworld" Davis and Wyck "I haven't produced anything else yet" Godfrey. I suppose if you are interested in the "producing" aspect of filmmaking, then this track might be vaguely appealing. But for me, this track spends far too much time justifying these producers roles in the creative process. I would skip this one.

A sort of storyboard/early CG of the plane shooting down sequence follows via a selection called Pre-Vis Ejection Sequence. Here is a self-running short that can optionally be commentated by the director/editor team that is found on all the other extras. It is in non-anamorphic widescreen and I found it rather interesting. Storyboards are another of my least favorite extras, but when they spice it up just right, it tastes real good. Don't miss these five minutes. And lastly, the Minority Report teaser is included in non-anamorphic widescreen, but oddly no actual Behind Enemy Lines trailer.

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

No ROM extras have been included.

Parting Thoughts