After a cargo plane hits a vicious sandstorm and corkscrews into the Gobi desert, a group of improbably misanthropic survivors have to buddy together to figure a way out of their snag. Alas, anyone with a passing knowledge of what "phoenix" and "flight" tend to intimate when placed together can probably guess the outcome. However, helmer John Moore cooks up enough tension to keep us interested as water shortages, smugglers and Giovanni Ribisi conspire to test everyone's nerves. Dennis Quaid and Miranda Otto can't match the Jimmy Stewart/Dickie Attenborough axis of the 1965 original, but Ribisi's creepy, edge-of-loony hamming makes Phoenix flap, if not fly.
DVD Extras:
A warty Making Of shows the hissy-fits expected from shooting in the middle of a desert - - with Moore especially prone to expletive outbursts. A director/crew commentary educates rather than enthrals, while excess scenes complete the disc's baggage.
