6 December 2010. A year before the more quirky comedy drama PUSHING TIN (1999) came out starring John Cusack and Billy Bob Thorton, the more mainstream disaster thriller GROUND CONTROL was released starring television's 24 Keifer Sutherland with co-starring roles for 1986's Kelly McGillis (TOP GUN, 1986) and Kristy Swanson (FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF). GROUND CONTROL is relatively traditional, predictable, interestingly in a way less sensationalized, dramatized than PUSHING TIN and less relational and more focused fascinating active air control dynamics which in some ways makes this more watchable than average dramatic thrillers. **Added January 9, 2012 - With a decent storyline that keeps building, this is good entertainment. What makes this dramatic thriller on solid ground is its use of stereotypes but in a way that never overextends their use, the irritated man's eventual response to the babies, the way the ending wasn't as pat as most dramatic endings are with its more realistic and, literally, twists and turns, and even the non-verbal exchanges at the end make for a believable and satisfying landing.**

A handful of Air Traffic Controllers in Phoenix manage a crowded sky and nurse an injured airliner back to earth. Kiefer Sutherland is an ace at the job, but he quit after one of his airplanes crashed. Now he's called back to help on a night full of tension.

And there IS a lot of tension after the introductory period that walks us through the character and their equipment. It's one of those movies in which, if anything can go wrong, it goes wrong. The equipment blows out, a goose flies into the radar fan, conflicts between the ATCs emerge, and so forth. Brief spurts of Morse code add to the mystery behind all that technology, but only two letters are heard in Morse: "s" and "u".

Actually it's a vast improvement over most airplane-in-jeopardy movies. First of all, we don't have a single airliner filled with diverse passengers whose back stories must be explored seriatim. Second, and most important, the ATC people are on the ground, where all human beings belong. Man was not meant to fly. I can't speak for women and children. In fact, all means of mass transport are suspect. I thought the driver on my last Greyhound bus looked a little odd.

The narrative comes through neatly and cleanly. It begins in an exploratory mode and ends in crisis and triumph, accompanied by generic music. The performances are all decent, with perhaps the best acting laid on by Robert Sean Leonard as Cruise, the competent and low-keyed controller who becomes rattled by too much stress. Sutherland's role is the flashier of the two. Also notable in minor roles are Alex Wexo as a pilot and especially Drew Snyder as the avuncular pilot of a stricken airliner. It would be so easy to overact, but Snyder does a fine job. Knowing his airplane and its passengers are doomed, he languidly tells Phoenix, "Keep us away from a city." But in any case it's really an ensemble movie.

The director does not indulge himself in razzle dazzle techniques. The film was shot on stilts, not by a hand-held camera wobbled around by a spazz. Even during the scenes of second-by-second action, the images remain steady.

Mediocre, By the Numbers (there are a lot of numbers, too many to count, in this one),Air Traffic Control Drama. One gets the Idea that this was made to "Spit" in the Face of President Ronald Reagan (there's even a poster on the wall) but by the Time it was made, Reagan was in the Nursing Home, so probably didn't have a Clue.

Reagan started the "Demonization" of Unions with His Firing of the ATC who went on Strike. The Rest is History (now mostly unspoken in Conservative circles) because these were Real People with Real High Tech, High Stress, Jobs and were Dedicated Patriots who were just Collective Bargaining for Better Pay and Benefits.

This Movie makes it Clear that these Folks should not have been Fired or "Demonized", but Rewarded for Their Skill and Dedication. It's a Cheaply Made Movie that wasn't Released Theatrically in the USA (only in Italy).

Kiefer Sutherland leads a Good Cast. There is some Bad Acting Silliness (Henry Winkler) and some Awful Low-Budget Sets, and the Script is one Cliché after another. But if this Type of Thing is to Your Liking, it can be an Entertaining Time Passer with Low Expectations, but don't Expect Many Surprises.