EVERYONE'S ON AUTO-PILOT.Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic AGGRESSIVELY stupid and blissfully unaware of it, ``Stealth'' follows a robot plane on a journey of self-awareness. Talk about a character arc: This computer-driven jet begins life talking and acting like Hal 9000 from ``2001,'' turns into a fighter pilot's best friend a la KITT from ``Knight Rider'' and ends up emulating Christ himself, a miracle worker for Team America World Police. Human beings could learn a thing or two from this robot plane, nicknamed EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) The electronic communication of business transactions, such as orders, confirmations and invoices, between organizations. Third parties provide EDI services that enable organizations with different equipment to connect. (as in Murphy, Izzard iz·zard n. Informal The letter z. [Probably variant (perhaps influenced by lizard, and or gizzard) of Scots ezed, variant of zed. or Van Halen) by the other Navy fighter pilots in ``Stealth.'' Sure, EDI can be a little petulant pet·u·lant adj. 1. Unreasonably irritable or ill-tempered; peevish. 2. Contemptuous in speech or behavior. [Latin petul at times, disobeying orders, ignoring common sense and barreling full-speed ahead into acts of aggression that run contrary to intelligence and evidence. But EDI is a strong robot plane, and boy is he decisive. No waffler, this EDI, especially when it comes to dealing with evil terrorists aiming their hidden weapons of mass destruction Weapons that are capable of a high order of destruction and/or of being used in such a manner as to destroy large numbers of people. Weapons of mass destruction can be high explosives or nuclear, biological, chemical, and radiological weapons, but exclude the means of transporting or somewhere, maybe even at America. EDI knows that a little collateral damage collateral damage Surgery A popular term for any undesired but unavoidable co-morbidity associated with a therapy–eg, chemotherapy-induced CD to the BM and GI tract as a side effect of destroying tumor cells - the loss of the lives of tens of thousands of innocent civilians, say - is a small price to pay for freedom and the right to show the rest of the world that Americans will go shopping whenever we want - otherwise, the terrorists will have won. EDI's antics don't always sit well with his less-single-minded fighter pilot teammates who include hot dog Top Gunner Ben (Josh Lucas), the sensitive (i.e. weak) Kara (Jessica Biel) and playboy Henry (Jamie Foxx, who goes through the movie looking like he'd rather be somewhere else). But, as EDI incisively points out to Master Ben, he just learns by watching and wasn't it Ben, after all, who disobeyed a superior's orders and flew off half-cocked through the streets of Rangoon, imploding buildings and giving terrorists a little taste of their own medicine? But then, Ben's gross insubordination in·sub·or·di·nate adj. Not submissive to authority: has a history of insubordinate behavior. in might have been just a case of showing off for Kara. He has the hots for her, though he never gets around to telling her, even after an early interlude in Thailand where Kara sports a killer bikini and ``Stealth'' briefly turns into a ``Making of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue'' special. Strangely, Kara does not don her standard-issue combat bikini later when she finds herself on the run, dodging angry North Koreans in much the same way Biel fled from Leatherface in ``The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.'' Fortunately for Kara, the sight of her in that bikini still burns brightly in Ben's brain and, even better, robot plane is halfway down the path to Golgotha Golgotha (gŏl`gəthə), the same as Calvary. Golgotha place of martyrdom or of torment; after site of Christ’s crucifixion. . She'll be OK and so will America, so long as those who hate proactive robot planes (i.e. freedom) remain in the minority. Glenn Whipp, (818) 713-3672 glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com STEALTH - One star (PG-13: intense action, some violence, brief strong language, innuendo innuendo n. from Latin innuere, "to nod toward." In law it means "an indirect hint." "Innuendo" is used in lawsuits for defamation (libel or slander), usually to show that the party suing was the person about whom the nasty statements were made or why the comments ) Starring: Josh Lucas, Jessica Biel, Jamie Foxx, EDI the robot plane. Director: Rob Cohen cohen or kohen (Hebrew: “priest”) Jewish priest descended from Zadok (a descendant of Aaron), priest at the First Temple of Jerusalem. The biblical priesthood was hereditary and male. . Running time: 2 hr. 1 min. Playing: In wide release. In a nutshell: Robot plane goes from evil to good in this modern-day parable. |
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