Can you build a new aircraft out of a wrecked one?

Is it really possible to build a new plane out of an old one?

An enjoyable movie with some great style, but ultimately Hollywood.

Sigourney Weaver, William Hurt, Dennis Quaid, Stuart Baird, James Le Gros, Forest Whitaker, Matthew Fox, and Zoe Saldaña in Vantage Point (2008)

Matthew McConaughey, Steve Zahn, and Penélope Cruz in Sahara (2005)

Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher in The Guardian (2006)

Casey Affleck, Ben Foster, Eric Bana, Holliday Grainger, and Chris Pine in The Finest Hours (2016)

Hugh Laurie, Eka Darville, and Xzannjah Matsi in Mr. Pip (2012)

Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan in Eagle Eye (2008)

Dennis Quaid, Giovanni Ribisi, Miranda Otto, and Tyrese Gibson in Flight of the Phoenix (2004)

Spirituality is not religion. Religion divides people. Belief in something unites them.

The mysterious and eccentric Elliott (Giovanni Ribisi, foreground) insists that he is the only hope for a group of passengers of a downed plane, including (left to right) Ian (Hugh Laurie), Towns (Dennis Quaid), AJ (Tyrese Gibson), Rady (Kevork Malikyan), Sammi (Jacob Vargas), Kelly (Miranda Otto), Liddle (Scott Michael Campbell) and Jeremy (Kirk Jones). 

Towns (Dennis Quaid) and Kelly (Miranda Otto) try to make sense out of their dire predicament.  

With his downed plane looming ominously in the background, Towns (Dennis Quaid) searches for a missing passenger.

The Mongolian desert and weather wreak havoc on the survivors of a crashed plane, (L - R) Dennis Quaid as Towns, Giovanni Ribisi as Elliott, Kevork Malikyan, Miranda Otto, Scott Michael Campbell, Jacob Vargas, and Hugh Laurie.

Emotions and tensions run high for passengers of a downed plane lost in the desert, including, left to right: Tony Curran as Rodney, Miranda Otto as Kelly, and Dennis Quaid as Towns.  

The surviving passengers of a downed plane lost in the Mongolian desert struggle for their most precious commodity: water.  Pictured, left to right are: Scott Michael Campbell as Liddle, Tyrese Gibson as AJ, Miranda Otto as Kelly, Dennis Quaid as Towns, Tony Curran as Rodney, Kirk Jones as Jeremy, and Hugh Laurie as Ian.

Jeremy (Kirk Jones, left) and Rodney (Tony Curran) take a quick break from the rigors of their life-and-death struggle.

Lost in a desert wasteland, AJ (Tyrese Gibson, left) and Jeremy (Kirk Jones) plan their next move.

The passengers of a downed aircraft make heroic efforts to build a new plane from the wreckage of the old.

Dennis Quaid

Miranda Otto

Giovanni Ribisi

Lukas Heller

Scott Frank

Edward Burns

Survivors of a plane crash in the Mongolian desert work together to build a new plane.

John Moore

Flight of the Phoenix

Mediocre remake

This version of &quot;Flight of the Phoenix&quot; was released at the end of 2004 and is a modern take on the 1965 film with Jimmy Stewart.

THE PLOT: A group of mostly oil workers crash land in the Gobi Desert where being found by a search party is unlikely. One of the passengers turns out to be an airplane designer who insists that they can create a new plane with the workable parts of the wreckage. Although an outlandish idea, it may be their only legitimate chance at survival.

The plot is exactly the same as the original version with a few notable differences: It takes place about 40 years later; it includes a woman (Miranda Otto); it features a more racially mixed cast; and it takes place in the Gobi Desert rather than the Libyan Desert (although it was shot in Namibia, while the original was filmed in the deserts of SE California).

I&apos;m not one of those people who hates the very idea of remakes. I&apos;m open to filmmakers taking a heralded classic and modernizing it, like the excellent remake of &quot;The Parent Trap.&quot; That&apos;s what we get with this remake of &quot;Flight of the Phoenix,&quot; except that it&apos;s not excellent. But it&apos;s not bad either. 

Although there are some new touches that are as good or even superior to the original (Like Liddle&apos;s powerful line to Towns in the debris field, as well as the confrontation with the Mongols sequence), this modernization ultimately pales in the shadow of the original. Why? There&apos;s less focus on character development and therefore the movie has less interesting characters. Instead the filmmakers opt for scenes that might maintain the attention of those with ADHD, like an explosion scene, a lightning storm sequence and a dubious attack by the Mongol smugglers at the very end (shouldn&apos;t they have attacked while they were pulling the aircraft? Or earlier?). But the biggest negative is that the movie just lacks the brilliant dramatic flow of the original.

The film runs 113 minutes.

FINAL WORD: This would be a better film for anyone who hasn&apos;t seen the original, but if you&apos;ve seen the &apos;65 version it&apos;s just so mediocre by comparison. Still, it&apos;s worth checking out if, like me, you love survival films. And it is interesting to see a different take on the same basic story.

GRADE: C

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMjZlMzhmYzQtMDNhYy00MDAwLWE2NTgtNjA1MGEyNWRhOTc5XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNzU1NzE3NTg@._V1_.jpg

This version of "Flight of the Phoenix" was released at the end of 2004 and is a modern take on the 1965 film with Jimmy Stewart.

THE PLOT: A group of mostly oil workers crash land in the Gobi Desert where being found by a search party is unlikely. One of the passengers turns out to be an airplane designer who insists that they can create a new plane with the workable parts of the wreckage. Although an outlandish idea, it may be their only legitimate chance at survival.

The plot is exactly the same as the original version with a few notable differences: It takes place about 40 years later; it includes a woman (Miranda Otto); it features a more racially mixed cast; and it takes place in the Gobi Desert rather than the Libyan Desert (although it was shot in Namibia, while the original was filmed in the deserts of SE California).

I'm not one of those people who hates the very idea of remakes. I'm open to filmmakers taking a heralded classic and modernizing it, like the excellent remake of "The Parent Trap." That's what we get with this remake of "Flight of the Phoenix," except that it's not excellent. But it's not bad either. 

Although there are some new touches that are as good or even superior to the original (Like Liddle's powerful line to Towns in the debris field, as well as the confrontation with the Mongols sequence), this modernization ultimately pales in the shadow of the original. Why? There's less focus on character development and therefore the movie has less interesting characters. Instead the filmmakers opt for scenes that might maintain the attention of those with ADHD, like an explosion scene, a lightning storm sequence and a dubious attack by the Mongol smugglers at the very end (shouldn't they have attacked while they were pulling the aircraft? Or earlier?). But the biggest negative is that the movie just lacks the brilliant dramatic flow of the original.

The film runs 113 minutes.

FINAL WORD: This would be a better film for anyone who hasn't seen the original, but if you've seen the '65 version it's just so mediocre by comparison. Still, it's worth checking out if, like me, you love survival films. And it is interesting to see a different take on the same basic story.

GRADE: C

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