Behind Enemy Lines II: Axis of Evil (2006) (V)

User Rating:

4.6/10   

Director:

James Dodson

Writer:

James Dodson (writer)

Release Date:

17 October 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Thriller

Plot:

Navy SEALS, headed by Lt. Bobby James, are dispatched to North Korea on a covert mission, all in an effort to take out a missile site...

Plot Keywords:

Soldier | Sequel | North Korea | US Navy | Korea

Cast

Nicholas Gonzalez	...	Lt. Robert James
Matt Bushell	...	MCPO Neil 'Spaz' Callaghan
Keith David	...	MCPO Scott Boytano
Denis Arndt	...	CIA Director Weylon Armitage
Ben Cross	...	Cmdr. Tim Mackey
Bruce McGill	...	Gen. Norman T. Vance
Peter Coyote	...	President Adair T. Manning
April Grace	...	Ellie Brilliard
Shane Edelman	...	Campbell Dunleavy
Glenn Morshower	...	Admr. Henry D. Wheeler
Eyal Podell	...	Ens. David Barnes
Mykel Shannon Jenkins	...	CWO Lawrence Meideros
Michael Simpson	...	PO2 Corey Schulteiss
Ken Choi	...	Ambassador Li Sung Park (as Kenneth Choi)
Joseph Steven Yang	...	Cmdr. Hwang

Also Known As:

Behind Enemy Lines II: Land of the Morning Calm (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and lanaguage.

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:R | Finland:K-15 | Singapore:NC-16 | Argentina:13 | Norway:15 (TV rating) | Netherlands:16 | Australia:MA

Filming Locations:

Bulgaria

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Goofs:

Factual errors: When the South Korean ambassador first talks to the US president, he mentions that he has observed US warships entering "the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea." South Koreans refer to these bodies of water as the East Sea and the West Sea, respectively, and they get very upset when anyone mentions them by their other names.

Movie Connections:

References Taxi Driver (1976)

No Relation to Original Title / Dreadful Beyond Belief.

The 1998 titled Beyond Enemy Lines was a very good movie with excellent production standards, character development, story, and the patriotism appropriate to a military movie. B.E.L. Axis of Evil has none of this.

Director James Dodson is perhaps the poster boy for today's airhead directors, a heavy dose of LSD along with the morning Starbucks. The first 50 minutes jumps around like Access Hollywood in fast-motion, none of it amounting to anything. The story doesn't come into focus until the final 40 minutes, then being only meaningless drivel. Making matters worse is Dodson's senseless trick of filming sequences thru color filters, the first being an orange filter for the South Korea scenes. Hey, guess what? South Korea is no more orange than South Dakota, you dope! Other scenes are through red filters, blue, et cetera. Dodson must think these tricks cover over the simple fact that he has no clue as to how to make a movie.

In the introductory voice over, the movie absolutely trashes the thousands of American soldiers who served and lost their lives in the Korean War 50 years ago. I think this was not so much Media Spin as that the filmmakers attended public schools and might have been taught doctored-history. They seem unaware that America was fighting not so much North Korea but Red China and Russia, or that General MacArthur had pushed deep into North Korea before the war ended.

I confess to owning 200 shares of stock in 20th Century-Fox; hence my sky high and bloated vote of 2. A zero would be more honest.