In general I’m opposed to remaking movies that were done right the first time. And most of the time remakes stink. But every now and then a remake comes along that is at least OK. One such was “Flight of the Phoenix.” The original didn’t need to be remade. A lot of people don’t like the 2004 remake, but I think it’s reasonably good. But there was one scene that pushed it past the finish line for me. Our Heroes have crashed in the Gobi desert, far from rescue and essentially doomed unless they can get themselves out. Fortunately, they have among them Elliot (Giovanni Ribisi), an aerospace engineer who knows how to turn their wrecked twin-engined C-119 into a functional single engine aircraft. Problem: they’ve just tangled with armed local nomads who have a demonstrated history of shooting at them and stealing their stuff. So after a brief gun battle, some of Our Heroes stagger back to camp dragging an injured enemy with them.What does a group with extremely limited supplies in an extreme environment do with a captured and grievously injured enemy combatant? It looks like we’re in or a lot of arguing and perhaps even fighting among Our Heroes… until Elliot steps in.
Elliot is a good engineer, but is slightly lacking in tact. But under the circumstances… tact is a minor concern. He is depicted as either an Aspie or a sociopath; my vote would go for Aspie. In either event, he quickly does the math, draws the logical conclusion and performs the needed tasks. It was a thing of beauty. Few have been the times I laughed that loud in a theater.