Wordiezett So much average

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Vic_max The fact that the movie is about a little known real-life aviation event in 1978 got me to start watching the movie. What held my interest was the suspense of finding out the fate of "the lost pilot". Scott Bakula was great in this role because he easily came across as a likable fellow who you want to root for.Basically, the story recounts a 1978 incident near Australia in which a commercial jetliner went looking for a single occupant plane that was lost over the ocean. The small plane was still flying, but had lost navigational capability and was also running out of fuel. The pilot was planning to ditch into the sea ... and no one knew where he was.The creative techniques that the captain of the commercial jetliner used to try and find the plane were impressive. They are also based on what actually happened - so this was pretty cool to watch. The captain's further efforts to convince the passengers to allow the search were interesting as well. The story was quite unusual as far as "plane" movies go, so this was a treat.This movie is a pretty good story that just about everyone is likely to enjoy; I recommend checking it out. (If you're a plane enthusiast, definitely catch this one!)

Robert J. Maxwell Rather nicely done for the genre. Scott Bakula is flying a small Cessna from Pago Pago to Norfolk Island and finds himself lost over the wide Pacific due to instrument malfunction. No ships around -- not that anyone knows where he is -- and the only other traffic is an Air New Zealand Boeing passenger plane, piloted by Robert Loggia. Bakula calls an airport and declares an emergency. His plane is low on fuel and he plans on ditching in a few hours before the sun sets. Loggia, informed of the situation, decides to help Bakula. The rest of the film consists of Loggia and Bakula trying with increasing desperation to find each other in the darkening skies so that Loggia can guide Bakula to the nearest airport at Aukland. They get the job done, but not without a lot of intervening problems.There's nothing particularly outstanding about the acting. All the principals are professionally competent. And there are some nice shots of a Boeing heavy in a sunlit sky. Bakula's little Cessna, a goofy-looking low-winged crop duster, looks like a joke unto itself.The script is a little stereotyped. Bakula simply MUST have a pregnant wife back home who wants him to quit his freelance flying job. And, hearing of the impending disaster, she MUST be patched through to Loggia's airplane so that he can pass sentimental messages back and forth. The script is at its best when it sticks to technical matters and the directing is best when the actors speak in dry, crisp tones. Pilots don't scream at one another over the radio.Whoever did the special effects for the thunderstorm that the planes have to fly through should be fired. Bakula shouts: "I'm flying into a thunderhead!" Immediate -- and I mean like right away -- the camera goes ape, shaking all over the place as if being kicked from all directions, the lightning flashes from the strobe lights are constant and blindingly bright, and the electronic thunder is constantly crashing around our ears. Loggia's huge passenger plane goes through almost as much turmoil as Bakula's little Cessna.That's wretched excess. A more imaginative approach to the thunderstorm experience would be built up gradually, with intimations of mortality, a few dim booms first, and some diffuse pink flashes in the distance before the impact, to give the audience a chance to worry properly. And the little Cessna shouldn't be whacked around. It should fall and rise in excessive swoops. The apparent danger is vitiated by the fact that everything lets go at once. There's no tension or anxiety. As it is, when Bakula yells, "I'm LOSING IT!", there's no evidence that his airplane is being battered any more than it was when he was in control.The film holds a viewer's interest, though. It's no fun to be lost over the ocean in a small plane and have to ditch. Look at Amelia Earhart. It happened to me, too, and it was scary as hell, though it was a bright sunny afternoon off Montauk Point and the seas were light. Ditching in the dark must be a nightmare. There are tense scenes aboard Loggia's plane too. Just how much is he willing to risk to save a single life? Considering that he has not only his own crew but 88 passengers aboard, many of them children. He risks quite a lot actually, small things first, then more important things, like dumping fuel to create a contrail.An interesting job for a TV movie.

sjt8727 If you fly or have ever flown as a passenger out over an ocean and experienced its vastness, or if you've ever been lost in the middle of nowhere without a map, at night and running out of gas, then you'll totally relate to this movie about the rescue of a solo Cessna pilot lost over the ocean between Pogo Pogo and Auckland, New Zealand. I found it suspenseful and engrossing in spite of thinking I knew how it'd end. The leads are well acted by Scott Bakula & Robert Loggia despite both of them being strapped to their pilot seats for most of the movie. I found myself on the edge of my seat at times. There characters form an interesting father-son type relationship exclusively from their conversations over the radio. I found their conversations the most interesting part of the movie. And at the end I was totally blown away to discover that this was a true story!

LindaY My husband doesn't usually like the normal type of Christmas movie, but this is one film we watch every year. We are usually both sniffling by the end. Robert Loggia is simply great as Gordon, and Scott Bakula his usual likeable self. Also love the passengers on the plane, the mistletoe good luck charm, etc.BTW, the two guys grinning and celebrating up in the tower when Jay finally lands are the real Jay and Gordon!