WrestlingINC.com Exclusive Review Of 'Behind Enemy Lines: Colombia'
WrestlingINC.com received an early review copy of Behind Enemy Lines: Colombia this past weekend. Here is our exclusive review:
Behind Enemy Lines: Colombia is the third installment of Behind Enemy Lines, the 2001 action film starrring Owen Wilson and Gene Hackman. Like with the sequel, Behind Enemy Lines II: Axis of Evil, Behind Enemy Lines: Colombia is a straight to DVD feature. While none of the principal cast of the original is in this film, Keith David reprises his role from Behind Enemy Lines II: Axis of Evil as MCPO Scott Boytano.
As for the movie itself, it is your standard straight to DVD action flick, with the notable exception being that it stars Mr. Kennedy and is produced by WWE. From the outset you realize that the movie is geared to the WWE audience as one the characters in the opening minutes of the movie is introduced with a caption noting that he "Loves Jesus and cleavage". Mr. Kennedy's character is introduced with a caption noting that he bench pressed a Civic when he was 15.
The movie was fairly entertaining and is one of the better WWE productions, leaps and bounds ahead of See No Evil, but somewhere between The Condemned and The Marine. At times the action can seem like it's out of The A-Team, but there are some cool action sequences and the movie should satisfy action movie fans. It's a throwback to military action based movies of the 80's and 90's like Sniper and Delta Force.
Mr. Kennedy makes his acting debut and does a pretty good job. He is credited as "Mr. Kennedy" as opposed to his real name (Ken Anderson) or even his full ring name (Ken Kennedy). While he is good in his role, he doesn't have leading man charisma like Steve Austin or John Cena, and also doesn't have that many lines despite being in most of the movie. You can probably fill up all of Kennedy's lines on 2 pages. Also, despite being featured solely in the marketing and promotion for the film, Mr. Kennedy actually comes second in the credits and is in more of a co-star role than the actual lead. The real lead in the movie is Joe Manganiello, who plays Lt. Sean Macklin and who also receives top billing. Kennedy's role is more like Jesse Ventura's in Predator, where he gets in some good lines but is ultimately relegated to the back seat. But it makes sense to have the marketing feature Kennedy since Manganiello won't move many DVD units.
The rest of the cast play their parts well, with veterans Channon Roe, Keith David and Tim Matheson (who also directs) filling out the star cast. If you're a fan of war movies or a fan of Mr. Kennedy, you'll probably enjoy this flick. It's never boring, and features gores of bombs and rat-a-tat machine gun action. If that's your thing, make sure to get a copy today. It releases exclusively on DVD on January 6, 2009 – to pre-order the DVD from Amazon.com, click here.
Rating: ** ¾ (out of 5)