Owen Wilson’s Forgotten $120 Million War Thriller That Roger Ebert Ravaged Storms New Streaming Home

Image via 20th Century Studios

There haven’t been too many American movies set during the Bosnian War in the mid-1990s. Among the most prominent, however, is Behind Enemy Lines, which was released in 2001 and featured an unlikely duo who’d star in a Wes Anderson film only a few weeks later. Owen Wilson played an American pilot shot down over enemy territory, while the late Gene Hackman played the Rear Admiral who mounts a mission to rescue him. The movie was a modest box office hit, grossing three times its budget globally. But it earned poor reviews and is largely forgotten today. But fans of war dramas will get an opportunity to check it out next month, as Behind Enemy Lines heads to the Hulu streaming service on January 1.

The movie was directed by John Moore, who’d go on to have a spectacularly poor critical run over the next few years, with films such as The Omen remake, the Max Payne adaptation, and the franchise-killing A Good Day to Die Hard. Produced on a reported budget of $40 million, Behind Enemy Lines earned $120 million at the global box office. It earned mediocre reviews and is now sitting at a 36% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus reads, “The plot for Behind Enemy Lines is more jingoistic than credible, and the overload of flashy visual tricks makes the action sequences resemble a video game.” Moore would be criticized for focusing on stylish visuals over storytelling depth in his future movies as well.

‘Behind Enemy Lines’ Inspired 3 Direct-to-Video Follow-Ups

The late critic Roger Ebert was particularly ruthless in his review of the film, writing, “Its hero is so reckless and its villains so incompetent that it’s a showdown between a man begging to be shot, and an enemy that can’t hit the side of a Bosnian barn.” Hackman and Wilson collaborated once again on The Royal Tenenbaums, which debuted only a few weeks later and was received far more warmly. Behind Enemy Lines inspired three direct-to-video sequels that didn’t involve any of the original cast members besides Keith David, who returned for the first two follow-ups.

You can watch Behind Enemy Lines on Hulu beginning January 1, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

Release Date

November 30, 2001

Runtime

106 minutes