Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

I like to describe this movie as "clean". By that I mean two things.First is the scenery and cinematography. When you look at the scenery you know exactly what you're looking at because there is no attempt to contaminate it with special effects. Maybe there was just a tad of special effects; when the second small plane crashed on takeoff from Pago Pago. But that only took a few minutes of the movie.The second thing I mean by clean is the plot. It is straight forward, simple, and easy to follow. No fancy and complex intrigue to take away from the enjoyment. I believe another reviewer of this movie described it as easy to watch. That is so true.Other good aspects of this movie are sound, score, writing, editing, and production design. The plot (a commercial airliner, with no search and rescue equipment, trying to find a lost small plane, whose navigation instruments have gone kaput, in the vast expanse of the Pacific) is dramatic, exciting, and well-paced. The ending is a source of tremendous joy, especially when you remember that this is a true story.Finally, Robert Loggia gives a fine performance as the captain of the commercial airliner. Sometimes I felt I was right there in the cockpit with him and his first and second officers. And the people behind the camera also deserve high marks for their contributions to this very entertaining movie.

Rather nicely done for the genre. Scott Bakula is flying a small Cessna from Pago Pago to Norfolk Island and finds himself lost over the wide Pacific due to instrument malfunction. No ships around -- not that anyone knows where he is -- and the only other traffic is an Air New Zealand Boeing passenger plane, piloted by Robert Loggia. Bakula calls an airport and declares an emergency. His plane is low on fuel and he plans on ditching in a few hours before the sun sets. Loggia, informed of the situation, decides to help Bakula. The rest of the film consists of Loggia and Bakula trying with increasing desperation to find each other in the darkening skies so that Loggia can guide Bakula to the nearest airport at Aukland. They get the job done, but not without a lot of intervening problems.There's nothing particularly outstanding about the acting. All the principals are professionally competent. And there are some nice shots of a Boeing heavy in a sunlit sky. Bakula's little Cessna, a goofy-looking low-winged crop duster, looks like a joke unto itself.The script is a little stereotyped. Bakula simply MUST have a pregnant wife back home who wants him to quit his freelance flying job. And, hearing of the impending disaster, she MUST be patched through to Loggia's airplane so that he can pass sentimental messages back and forth. The script is at its best when it sticks to technical matters and the directing is best when the actors speak in dry, crisp tones. Pilots don't scream at one another over the radio.Whoever did the special effects for the thunderstorm that the planes have to fly through should be fired. Bakula shouts: "I'm flying into a thunderhead!" Immediate -- and I mean like right away -- the camera goes ape, shaking all over the place as if being kicked from all directions, the lightning flashes from the strobe lights are constant and blindingly bright, and the electronic thunder is constantly crashing around our ears. Loggia's huge passenger plane goes through almost as much turmoil as Bakula's little Cessna.That's wretched excess. A more imaginative approach to the thunderstorm experience would be built up gradually, with intimations of mortality, a few dim booms first, and some diffuse pink flashes in the distance before the impact, to give the audience a chance to worry properly. And the little Cessna shouldn't be whacked around. It should fall and rise in excessive swoops. The apparent danger is vitiated by the fact that everything lets go at once. There's no tension or anxiety. As it is, when Bakula yells, "I'm LOSING IT!", there's no evidence that his airplane is being battered any more than it was when he was in control.The film holds a viewer's interest, though. It's no fun to be lost over the ocean in a small plane and have to ditch. Look at Amelia Earhart. It happened to me, too, and it was scary as hell, though it was a bright sunny afternoon off Montauk Point and the seas were light. Ditching in the dark must be a nightmare. There are tense scenes aboard Loggia's plane too. Just how much is he willing to risk to save a single life? Considering that he has not only his own crew but 88 passengers aboard, many of them children. He risks quite a lot actually, small things first, then more important things, like dumping fuel to create a contrail.An interesting job for a TV movie.

As a Scott Bakula fan, I approached this film with high hopes, and I was not disappointed. Brilliantly acted, most notably by both Bakula and Loggia who portrayed the growing rapport between the two protagonists very sensitively and realistically.Having said that, the supporting cast were also well cast, from the main characters such as the wife and the fellow pilot, to minor roles like the boys in the Flight Control booth.It was funny, it was tense, it had me on the edge of my seat and it had me in tears. It was wonderful.I highly recommend it.

Dr. Sam Beckett (Quantum Leap) and Dr. Kennedy (Neighbours) attempt to fly from San Francisco to Australia in two 'toy planes' - but once I managed to get past this concept, I was hooked! A true Christmas film with plenty of spirit, 'Mercy Mission' is both exciting and believable. I don't know a lot about the technical side of the action, but that didn't stop me rooting for the characters - wanting Jay not to give in, and Gordon to win the approval of his passengers (I loved his explanation to the children on board about what had happened to Jay, and why they needed to help). And, of course, by the end, I was just as emotional as those on screen - which is how any Christmas movie worth its salt should affect an audience. Frank's battle with his plane in Pago Pago was also convincing (even if his accent was a little trans-continental), and the dialogue was both strong and funny ("How old could you be?" "This guy's really old, 771") This film is recommended any time of year, as it's easy to watch, but sharing your Christmas with Gordon and Jay really adds to the experience.