Facing Fear

Rating:
Summary: One of the Worst Movies I've Ever Seen
Review: Facing Fear is an independant, low-budget production that is not worth seeing at all. In fact, it could easily be classified (in my opinion) as a waste of time, a film that one might regret taking the time to watch.

There is not much to it in the area of plot construction and character development. The storyline, what there is of it, concerns a pilot who crashes on an island when a massive storm strikes. Throughout the course of the movie, he is trying to find a way to return home. He meets a small family living on the island, a young boy, his mother, and her fiancee. The boy becomes fascinated with the fallen plane, a discovers that the plane is magical. Together the boy and the pilot endeavor to rebuild the plane. But then the pilot falls in love with the boy's mother, and there is some OK chemistry involved in their growing relationship. But the boy's mother knows the right thing to do, and endeavors to remain faithful to her fiancee. That whole situation is just a sub-plot, too much like a stupid soap opera. Meanwhile, the boy has mixed feelings concerning his family situation, and takes comfort in trying to learn all he can about the mysterious plane. At one point, when onew of the boy's friends releases an ancient curse on accident, the heavens open and a severe storm erupts. The boy rescues the plane from plummeting into a gorge during the storm. The boy and the stranded pilot become best friends, and together they continue reparing the plane.

Another crisis strikes when the pilot attempts to leave the island in his newly rebuilt plane. It strikes a line of tall trees, and the pilot ver narrowly survives. The endeavor to get away from the island community continues . . .

This film is one of the most cheesiest films I've ever seen, a film about a magical plane, an old mystic man who is transformed into a chicken because of a curse, and a living skull. It is cheesy and not intelligent in any way that really counts. The character development is almost non-existent, and, as you can probably tell from this review, the plot is overly cheesy and weak. Not worth even the rental price. Rated PG. 1 star out of five

Rating:
Summary: Facing boredom
Review: I'm a fan of Dean Cain, and I usually find his B-quality direct-to-video releases entertaining. But not "Facing Fear." This movie was actually a chore to watch at times, though there were some enjoyable parts.

"Facing Fear" is the story of a plantation owner's family on a Central American island. The owner is getting married to a woman, Mercedes, and planning to adopt her distant young son Gabriel. Mercedes's husband left her alone with the child, so she considers the fact that a rich man (by the island's standards) wants to take her and her son in a blessing. But Gabriel doesn't see it like that. He sees the owner, Frank, as a substitute father (something he does not want). Then a young aviator's plane crash lands on the island as he is attempting to fly around the world. The pilot, Clay, temporarily shacks up with Frank, Mercedes, and Gabriel as he fixes his plane. Gabriel is initially distant with Clay, but begins to warm up to him. As Clay's plane takes longer and longer to repair, Gabriel and Mercedes become more and more attached to him.

It's a sort of Lifetime, feel-good movie. It had the potential to be a decent film, but it was bogged down with annoying and unintelligent substories. One involved a love triangle between 10 year olds, an island voodoo practitioner, and the plane supposedly speaking to Gabriel. These stories were uninteresting and unentertaining and just held the main storyline back.

Some high points though include a wonderful, subtly moving performace by Talisa Soto as Mercedes and a stoic yet still equally touching performance by Dean Cain as Clay. These two actors deserve better material to work with, though the scenes they had were some of the best the film had to offer.

If you like the sort of movies that have good moral messages, you might want to rent "Facing Fear." Otherwise, my advice would be to stay clear of this one.

Rating:
Summary: Facing boredom
Review: I'm a fan of Dean Cain, and I usually find his B-quality direct-to-video releases entertaining. But not "Facing Fear." This movie was actually a chore to watch at times, though there were some enjoyable parts.

"Facing Fear" is the story of a plantation owner's family on a Central American island. The owner is getting married to a woman, Mercedes, and planning to adopt her distant young son Gabriel. Mercedes's husband left her alone with the child, so she considers the fact that a rich man (by the island's standards) wants to take her and her son in a blessing. But Gabriel doesn't see it like that. He sees the owner, Frank, as a substitute father (something he does not want). Then a young aviator's plane crash lands on the island as he is attempting to fly around the world. The pilot, Clay, temporarily shacks up with Frank, Mercedes, and Gabriel as he fixes his plane. Gabriel is initially distant with Clay, but begins to warm up to him. As Clay's plane takes longer and longer to repair, Gabriel and Mercedes become more and more attached to him.

It's a sort of Lifetime, feel-good movie. It had the potential to be a decent film, but it was bogged down with annoying and unintelligent substories. One involved a love triangle between 10 year olds, an island voodoo practitioner, and the plane supposedly speaking to Gabriel. These stories were uninteresting and unentertaining and just held the main storyline back.

Some high points though include a wonderful, subtly moving performace by Talisa Soto as Mercedes and a stoic yet still equally touching performance by Dean Cain as Clay. These two actors deserve better material to work with, though the scenes they had were some of the best the film had to offer.

If you like the sort of movies that have good moral messages, you might want to rent "Facing Fear." Otherwise, my advice would be to stay clear of this one.

Rating:
Summary: FLY ME TO THE MOON
Review: That's exactly what this great family film does. Winner of the prestigious Hollywood Film Festival award for "BEST FAMILY FILM," Flight of Fancy fulfills the dreams and imagination of the viewer like a jaunt through Alice's Wonderland. Heartfelt and warm, this film will have you wishing for more, and loving every minute of its splendid story.

In a word: OUTSTANDING!

Rating:
Summary: Great Movie!
Review: The Flight is a charming little movie, mostly about a boy and how he reconciles himself to the way his life is vs how he had wished it would be. Gabriel (Kristian De La Osa) is upset that his mother is about to marry a very stern man, Frank (Miguel Sadoval). When Clay (Dean Cain) crash lands in the field near his home, Gabriel is enamored with the prospect of flying and with the plane that seems to understand Gabriel's problems. Clay is young, handsome, and full of flying stories that fill Gabriel's head with new dreams of a dad who will be fun and loving. But like all tall, dark and handsome strangers, Clay has baggage with him that cannot allow him to fill the role Gabriel wishes. As this all works out, Gabriel comes to see the softer side of Frank and to understand himself better. Although this is billed as a Dean Cain film, his role is secondary to the story of Gabriel. It is a sweet coming of age film and Dean Cain does a credible job as the dashing young pilot, but the film doesn't really showcase his talents. If you are a Dean Cain fan, I would recommend "No Alibi" over "The Flight". If you are looking for a coming of age film, you will enjoy this one.

Rating:
Summary: Facing Fear
Review: This is a great family film. A great example of independent film making and definately worth seeing. However, this is the American release of 'Flight' (same movie different title). Save some money and order 'Flight'

Rating:
Summary: What Movie Were They Making?
Review: This must have been a real turkey at the box office. True, Dean is a hunk, and Talia Soto, who played the victimized girlfriend of the Cuban drug lord in LICENSE TO KILL, is good, though she almost always sounds on the verge of tears. Her son, played by Kristian de la Osa, is fine. The casting was wonderful in his case, because he could very easily have been Talia's kid.

What's wrong with the film is that it doesn't know what it's about...or even what kind of movie it is. On one level, it's a straight-ahead drama of an American pilot forced to land in a storm and how he interacts with the locals, including becoming a father-figure to a boy whose mother is attracted to the pilot, despite her being engaged to a planter on whose property the plane lands. Fine. Good enough for one movie.

But then we get this bearded old man who may or may not be just a local eccentric: he makes hand gestures and the control sticks of the plane move, birds take off, etc. At one point he seemingly turns into a hen! Then we get parts of the plane, after being smashed up, moving of their own volition in response to things the boy says, almost in CHRISTINE fashion. And we get another boy, a sort of rival with the main kid for the attention of a local girl (an annoying addition), who climbs down into an extinct volcano crater, uncovers what he thinks is buried treasure hidden there by the bearded old man, only to unearth a skull that jumps up at him in an obvious CGI effect. All of this adds up to a supernatural tale. Fine. Almost good enough for a different movie.

Put together, though, there are simply too many disparate elements for the thing to work. So I'm pretty sure it was a BOMB and went to video pretty quick. I found my copy at Wal-Mart for $5.50. It was worth it.