There is nothing new under the sun or under the clouds for that matter.Here are two quick ways to tell if a suspense thriller is going to be aimed at those above the mental age of fourteen or below. These tests are infallible. (1) The camera is perched behind someone's shoulder. The performer picks up a mirror and looks into it. If his reflected face is staring out of the mirror directly at YOU, the viewer, instead of at himself, the audience is still enjoying its physical growth spurt. (2) The villain has set up a time bomb, devised to explode at a certain moment. If anyone views its internal milieu, there is a red digital read out that counts the hours, minutes, and seconds left. Why the bomb maker would want to add this convenient fillip remains a mystery to all but the screenwriters. If both warning signs are present, don't expect much in the way of sophistication. If only one is present, the movie enters liminal status.I don't see that there is any need to run through this tired plot with its tired characters. You know the troublemaker aboard every airplane in jeopardy? He's the guy who's angry and frightened, gets in everyone's hair, demands to know what's going on. He's here, along with the heroic pilot, the youngsters who fall in love under stress, the anxious flight attendants. I missed the little old lady whose prayers save the airplane though. And it's too bad they couldn't have the sick kid aboard, the one that needs a kidney transplant or a transfusion of a rare blood type. Their absence leaves the viewer feeling incomplete, a jigsaw puzzle complete except for half a dozen missing pieces.Not that the film doesn't have its good points. Ernie Hudson has a nice role, for instance, and he's a fine supporting actor. He gave me a good deal of reassurance when he and I were performing in "Weeds" together. "Weeds" is so good, so sublime, that no English word can describe it. It's just superb. (That's the French "superb", not the English.) Except for one essential to the story, we're at least spared multiple back stories of the passengers. And the airplane didn't have to fly through a CGI-created thunderstorm, probably because the budget didn't allow it.Still, it's a thought-provoking movie. The thought it provokes is: "Man was never meant to fly."

This is one of many disaster TVM's, this time it's a jet liner heading from Sydney to L.A - It starts with a man boarding a Plane and leaving a bomb on board before faking illness and departing before take-off, why? because his ex-wife is on board along with her new husband who works for the Airline company in question, so it's time for revenge.It's full of clichés from every single movie of it's genre, but the acting is pretty good by all especially Soap actor Jack Wagner & Ernie Hudson (Winston from Ghostbusters) This TVM was clearly low budget - it uses footage from Hollywood Movie 'Executive Decision' for various scenes showing the outside of the aircraft, but the budget it does have, the Director (whose a veteran of these kind of TVM's) uses it very well & he tries to crank up the tension as best he can.All in All, you've seen this before, better on a larger budget, but for what it is, it's pretty good

A pretty standard airline suspense story about a bomb planted on a 747 on a flight from Sydney, Australia to Los Angeles. There's some decent suspense, but the whole thing is pretty cliché (time clock clicking down to the last few seconds, the usual brief shots of faces taut with the strain, etc.), and the performances are average at best. What really bugged me in this movie was why the writers felt the need to have an FBI agent conveniently present in Sydney when the threat was phoned in, and not only present but becoming front and centre in the search for the bomber. Maybe I'm being too sensitive here, but I rather suspect that the Australian police wouldn't need the FBI's help in what seemed to be a pretty routine piece of policework. That just made the whole thing too American-centred (with no discernible reason or need for it) for my liking.Overall, though, it's an average to decent movie. 5/10.

Could it be possible for a film to have any more worn cliches as this film? Another airliner in trouble. Another heroic captain saving the passengers from certain doom. There was absolutely zero suspense and zero originality here. As the plane's pilot Jack Wagner was awful. All smirk and smarm and no hint of realism. When making your viewing reservations be sure to book another flight. This one was grounded for mechanical defects.