3 out of 5

Director: Bob Misiorowski

Not bad DTV stuff is you try to factor out concerns that might plague you with big screen affairs. Air Panic is a breezy thriller concerning a terrorist who has found a way to control airplanes from a remote location, crashing them into targets of his choice. Enter edgy FAA specialist Neil (Rodney Rowland) who manages – against orders – to jump aboard a troubled flight in an attempt to save the day and track down this dirty terrorist. Theres nothing too technical in the movie, and for sure it skimps on important details that would pop up in real life – plane mechanics, things that cause explosions, lay-person knowledge regarding planes, etc. – so this isnt a movie for aviation specialists. But its pleasant middle-of-the-road stuff. Rowlands version of edgy is not shaving and having an earring, and they dont play it up more than that, thankfully. Hes otherwise a normal guy, and I loved that he thanked any and everyone who he ran into. The bad guy gets hammy time to time, and his motivations are, yknow, sort of disjointed, but otherwise they strike a good balance of crazy with his character. The rest of the flight crew and passengers fill similarly predictable roles (love interest! a doctor! a crazy man!) but, again, they just throw it out there and then dont rub it in your face, so its fine. The effects, also, are a nice seesaw between impressive model work and not-enough-budget CGI. So its all, yknow, average. Kristianna Loken gets some good screen time and Rowland could probably have nabbed an Ethan Hawke spot in Hollywood if he had gotten the right roles. Go team!