97 Minutes (2023)

97 minutes of fuel remaining, on Oceanic Fight 420...

Is there an actual Oceanic Fight 420? And does 97 mean anything? The numbers (one which seems like a potentially not too clever inside joke) make me not take this too seriously from the get-go, though I'm curious if it could actually be just a coincidental thing.

If it is it's a badly chosen coincidence, though. They should've checked. Numbers hold importance. Best not forget. Every choice you make in a movie leads somewhere. And if it was intentional then that is just... silly.

Not the right movie for the reference.

Alec Baldwin's really starting to land some B-roles too huh.

Seemed like he'd jumped into the mainstream for a while, but this isn't one of his better movies.

The main protagonist, played by Jonathan Rhys Majors, is overly aggressive in his role too, and their sneaking around the plane without anyone noticing... for a while it doesn't make much sense.

After a while it still doesn't.

It's an interesting twist to see a hijacking through the eyes of a terrorist, for a bit, but at the same time the relationships early on don't feel realistic at all. There's only so much you can get away with even when you're undercover. And no warning when he was undercover? Did they just spontaneously decide to hijack the plane? Loose ends.

It is an exciting movie though, and the plane looks real.

The thunderous special effects ain't bad either.

They have some killer twist towards the end too - which explain all the excess aggressiveness, and pretty much everything else I'd been feeling up till this point that seemed wrong - but for the numbers maybe. Which immediately boosts the score. But then they just kill all that unloosened-ends potential with a random change of heart right before it's over.

You lost me.

The title loses meaning overtime too. For the major duration of the movie fuel is not an issue at all.

The potential main element of the plot is lost on terror, and it almost seems like they build up the premise as they go.

Brace for emotional impact. Then brace for a loose end, after all.

Still it's not all bad, but it could've been so much more. Could've been as different as they wanted it to be. Turns into the same old nuke story with a disappointing special-effects heavy and dreamy-looking ending. Same old. Could've made this one the real deal.

Would've been cool if the movie itself actually was a full 97 minutes too...

 rated 2.5/5: almost not bad