Matty kills some time with Phillip J. Roth’s just about passable military hardware caper.

After flirting with it throughout Storm (1999), Escape Under Pressure (2000) and Deep Core (2000), the Unified Film Organization entered the military hardware stakes proper with FALCON DOWN. Eschewing the stock footage technique employed by CineTel, New Horizons, and the form’s innovator and biggest proponent, Royal Oaks/Franchise/Phoenician (see: Crash Dive (1996), Active Stealth (1999)), UFO stick to their mandate and realise the war machine fetishism in Falcon Down – and, indeed, across the rest of their dalliance with the genre (Hyper Sonic (2002) et al) – with impressive, budget defying CGI.

Directed by Phillip J. Roth, the UFO chieftain packs the film with his usual robust tech credentials, but comes a cropper in the storytelling department. He never seems to have a handle on the plot — which owes a debt to Craig Thomas’ 1977 novel, Firefox, and its subsequent Clint Eastwood adaptation — and struggles to tie the different styles and tones together. Choppy and cumbersome, Roth awkwardly flits between bog standard action thrills, X-Files paranoia and, even, Blair Witch-style found footage. Among the last UFO joints to be shot on American soil, a cynic could argue that the helmer/producer was perhaps too preoccupied with the outfit’s move to Bulgaria to care about such prosaic things as cohesion and logic.

The issues are compounded by a hit-and-miss script. Every clever idea is met with a dud of equal value, and the unshakeable sense that there’s not enough gas in Falcon Down’s tank to last the duration. Appearing wholly contemptuous of the project, Dale Midkiff’s dead-behind-the-eyes performance does little to alleviate the feeling of fatigue. His hero — a court-martialled fighter pilot out to uncover a conspiracy involving the government, mercenaries, an air crash, a high-tech super-weapon, and a new Cold War — is a bland and lazily written character to begin with; essayed by the disinterested Midkiff, the bloke’s as appealing as chewing tinfoil. Presumably lumbered with him on contract, Roth hired the Pet Sematary (1989) star again for Maximum Velocity (2003) where he at least exhibited a modicum of engagement with the material.  

Much better is the mighty William Shatner. An eminently watchable force of nature, the ellipsis-loving ham submits a genuinely splendid turn. He sinks his teeth into Falcon Down’s cookie cutter dialogue as if it were Shakespeare, and injects the film with pomp and menace. Supporting players Jennifer Rubin, Cliff Robertson, Judd Nelson (his second and final pic in a twofer with UFO, following Lost Voyage (2000)), and UFO regular William Zabka also have fun with their cartoon-y roles and speech bubble prattle.

Debuting on European television in spring 2001 per Roth’s freshly minted output deal with German operation, Advanced Medien, and Euro entertainment giant, CLT/Ufa – a pact that quickly soured when Advanced muscled in on UFO’s production side – Falcon Down landed on U.S. video via DEJ Productions subsidiary, City Heat Productions (in conjunction with Ventura Distribution), on 12th February 2002. Here in the U.K. the film was slated for a summer 2003 bow through — fittingly — High Fliers. Sample tapes were sent to video stores, but High Fliers quietly pulled the cassette before actual copies were released. The specifics remain a mystery [1] – though the similarities between a couple of key plot points and the crashings of two real-life British military jets, both of which plunged into bodies of water, and both of which occurred just before Falcon Down’s planned arrival mid-June, tease a theory [2]. Given the overlap and timeliness it’s easy to imagine High Fliers ruling the film contentious, especially with demand for hardware flicks already waning post 9/11.

USA/Germany ● 2001 ● Action ● 93mins

Dale Midkiff, Judd Nelson, Jennifer Rubin and William Shatner  ● Dir. Phillip J. Roth (as ‘Phillip Roth’) ● Wri. Jonathan Raymond, Terry Neish

[1] As stated in an email received from our contact at the company, “I’ve asked around for you and nobody recalls the title let alone what happened to it.”
[2] As detailed on the UK Serials Resource Centre: On 1st June 2003, a Hunter F6A “plunged into the Dyfi Estuary near Aberdovey, mid Wales after the pilot ejected while returning to Exeter from Northern Ireland. The aircraft’s two electrical generators failed which resulted in the engine flaming out. Unable to restart the engine, the pilot attempted to glide to Llanbedr Airfield. He realised that the aircraft would not make the airfield so he turned the aircraft towards the nearest shoreline and ejected. He was rescued from the water after thirty minutes by a Sea King helicopter and was taken to hospital in Aberystwyth having suffered two broken vertebrae”; and on 11th June 2003, a Sea Harrier FA2 “ditched into the sea a mile from Lee Bay, Ilfracombe, Devon during a test flight from St. Athan. The pilot ejected safely and was rescued by a Sea King scrambled from Chivenor.”