Final Approach Reviews

Had its plot and character development been as dazzling as its Cinema Digital Sound or nearly 800 individual visual effects, FINAL APPROACH might have been a genuine sleeper. In a sparsely furnished doctor's office, Colonel Jason J. Halsey (James B. Sikking), a Stealth test pilot and apparent amnesia victim, is plunged into a strange and often bitter confrontation with Dr. Dio Gottlieb (Hector Elizondo), an enigmatic psychotherapist. Gottlieb spits out questions at Halsey in rapid-fire succession and then puts him through a grueling series of mind-boggling psychological tests. Understandably, Halsey rebels, loses his temper and even attacks Gottlieb on one occasion. Throughout this perplexing interrogation the Colonel's memory returns in flashes: General Geller (Kevin McCarthy), his commanding officer, constantly reminding him that he must maintain complete secrecy; the woman in his life, Casey (Madolyn Smith-Osborne), Halsey's wife, with whom he apparently had a fairly happy relationship. In the midst of this mental pummelling, Halsey suffers an epileptic fit, perhaps caused in part by his nightmarish recollection--in flashes--of his final, fateful jet flight. What was the intent of Halsey's secret mission? What is to be his ultimate fate? Has his fate already been sealed? The Colonel soon begins to distrust Gottlieb and wonders if he's been captured by the enemy. If so, is this the enemies' way of brainwashing him or trying to wrench from him whatever terrifying US government secret he has been entrusted with? How can he resolve the dilemma of his past in pieces without revealing to the interrogating doctor too much classified information perhaps buried in his subconscious? Only when Halsey is finally released from this personal purgatory is his ultimate fate revealed. Advertised as the first "all digital sound motion picture," FINAL APPROACH does boast realistic--and at times painfully loud--wraparound sound, as well as spectacular visual effects, but both are heavy-handed and become monotonous from constant repetition; each time Sikking experiences a memory flash--and he has dozens of them--the volume skyrockets to increasingly high decibel levels. Equally frustrating is the fact that one never learns what the terrifying secret in Halsey's past actually is, or even if he was definitely on a top secret mission at the time of the plane crash that, in turn, was apparently triggered by one of his recurring epileptic fits. And if a seizure did cause Halsey to crash, why did his superiors, apparently aware of his physical condition, permit him to pilot such a crucial mission in the first place? Unless ... there was a conspiracy and someone wanted a pilot who they knew in advance was likely to fail, etc. Hector Elizondo and James B. Sikking are two of Hollywood's finest, and perhaps most underrated, actors who, within the confines of FINAL APPROACH's needlessly complicated and frequently muddled screenplay, deliver two genuinely strong performances. Other cast members are seen so briefly, and in such fragmented snatches, that it is all but impossible to comment fairly on their contributions to the film. If Sikking and Elizondo had had more coherent material to work with, this venture might have been a far more memorable motion picture. (Excessive profanity.)