Stealth (2005)
Lt. Ben Gannon: Josh Lucas
Kara Wade: Jessica Biel
Henry Purcell: Jamie Foxx
Capt. George Cummings: Sam Shepard
Capt. Dick Marshfield: Joe Morton
Keith Orbit: Richard Roxburgh
EDI (voice): Wentworth Miller
Columbia Pictures presents a film written by W.D. Richter and directed by Rob Cohen.
Running Time: 121 minutes
Rated PG-13 for intense action, some violence, brief strong language and innuendo.
Release Date: July 29, 2005
Review Date: August 6, 2005
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Ever get home from the movies and still debate to yourself whether or not you liked it? Enter my opinion of Stealth - a two hour video game demo disc which is as much mindless fun as it is confusing headache. And it has its two stars walking around in their swimwear for a few seconds for no apparant reason. Skin sells, baby!
The storyline isn't too difficult to follow. Three young, attractive U.S. navy pilots are enlisted as part of some program when a fourth is listed to join. Only the catch is that the fourth wingman isn't a he but a computer named EDI (pronounced Eddie) and, honestly, I don't remember what that's supposed to stand for. That would make it just one of the thousands of technical terms which may or may not have been made up that I didn't quite get.
There are plenty of cool explosions to keep you afloat for the first 90 minutes of Stealth, but there is so much time spent on the technical naval jargon - which, once again, may or may not be made up - that you might be rolling your eyes a few times. Director Rob Cohen falls a little too in love with zooming in and zooming out at different points, although it does make for a few neat shots.
As you think the film is drawing to its close, another much more interesting plot begins to develop involving the consequences of EDI's malfunction. In addition to the films earlier questions about whether or not war should be decided without human emotion or with human casualites, the next chapter of Stealth poses questions about what people might do to save their own ass. The only problem is that we're not trying to think this time around - we're here to see stuff blow up. If we were here to think, we'd be troubled that Lt. Gannon could fly half way around the world despite being "low on gas".
Once this "second chapter" of Stealth begins, we've seen so much flying around that we're ready to get going. Too much time is devoted to making the characters cool and the jets going really, really, really fast that once the film nears the two hour mark, the filmmakers realize they're going overtime and quickly wrap everything up. And more stuff blows up.
I didn't love Stealth - although I could speak differently about Jessica Biel, whom I continue to admire despite her work in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Blade: Trinity - films that I detested. She has much more to work with here, and gets another notch on her belt for being the strong female in a less-than-Oscar-worthy film.
Nothing to really rush out and see here, but not a waste of money. Just try take a smoke break or play a game of skee-ball somewhere in the middle.
**1/2 (out of ****)