Blackout Effect (1998)
There has been a mid-air collision involving a passenger jet and a cargo flight, killing everyone aboard the two planes. The NTSB investigator in charge, whose girlfriend died in the crash, is puzzled. On one side, the air traffic controller claims he lost radar contact with the cargo plane shortly before impact, when his screen "blacked out." On the other side, everyone else, including the controller's bosses and the media, put the blame on human error. The truth is soon to be uncovered, as the aging air traffic control facilities are on the verge of failing right in the middle of the busy Thanksgiving season.
Watch Trailer
Cast
Reviews
I watched this one night when it appeared on TV and really enjoyed it. The storyline involves a air traffic controllers screen blanking out for three seconds causing two planes to crash. The authorities try to use the controller as their scapegoat and are prepared to let him take the rap. The crash investigator on the case notices some evidence is not what appears at first glance and decides to dig deeper uncovering some surprising results. There are plenty of twists and turns to keep the viewer interested and the storyline raises it above par for a TV movie. The acting is very good and characters like team friends in the air traffic control room dominate a lot of the film. Ending up more like a whodunit/mystery than suspense but the finale is worth waiting for and you will be rooting for poor Henry, the air traffic controller.
A p***ed off air traffic controller builds a system to control planes in flight. Kind of a poor mans Mission Impossible feel to it at the end.Maybe it was dull, but it was shown just 3 days before 9/11 WTC crash.So when I saw the first tower get hit, I thought of this movie, and started thinking of how those planes could have been under remote control.Smith controls the planes with a dish tied into the FAA's computer. It made me think...could this be possible? New commerical jets are all "fly by wire", computer controlled, where take offs and landings are all done by computer.Hack in and take over is what stuck in my mind about this movie.
"Blackout Effect" gets off to a good start and ends confused about it's own purpose. With Stoltz at the center as an NTSB sleuth investigating a midair collision, the film takes the audience into the world of commercial aviation and air traffic control. However, once there, it becomes a mess of conflicts between ATC's and management, the NTSB and the ATC management, the quirky bad guy and everyone, and even a side plot about a relationship between the investigator and a passenger on the doomed flight which serves no purpose. The film loses itself when an agitated ATC threatens to disrupt aviation with a home made ray gun. Yeah, right. An okay watch with sufficient energy to keep the viewer awake, "Blackout Effect" will be most enjoyed by tech-heads and people interested in convoluted dramas, especially about aviation.
The idea of the movie is quite good to me: finding a quick responsible for a mid-air collision (in this case, the air traffic controller). However, it was not exploited correctly. The entire movie is full of technical mistakes regarding the aviation and air traffic control domain. This shows that the producers didn't care about their lack of information. Also, the actors do not seem very sincere unfortunately.As to conclude, the entire movie is not worth watching it.