Review of Always (1989) by Matthew K — 13 Feb 2012

'Always' features a good cast, that stars Richard Dreyfuss, John Goodman and Holly Hunter. Dreyfuss plays Pete, a 'reckless' pilot, who puts out wildfires from the air. His antics create endless flights that seem too unbearable for the woman he loves to take.

Dorinda can't stand seeing Pete take off every time, with the high-chance that he may not come back, so she asks him to stop flying. The next day, Pete heads out with his friend Al, each in their own plane, to help fight a new fire that's broken out in the forest.

After an engine blows on Al's plane, Pete dives down and releases water upon on Al's engine. It's a dare-deviling move, but it works and he saves Al's life. Unfortunately, the only problem is that when Pete dove down to his aid, he was speeding too fast, which caused himself engine trouble.

Before we know it, his engine blows up, and Pete is killed. The rest of the film deals with Al and Dorinda trying to move on with their lives... We see the occasional struggle, or feelings of sadness, mostly coming from Dorinda.

Through the power of an 'angel' named Hap, Pete is sent back as sort of a backseat flyer during Al and Dorinda's flight without him. They can't see him, but he can speak to them in a clear enough manner in which he can sort of mind-control them(an example of this is Pete telling Dorinda to brush the hair out of her eyes, and she does.

To her, it may seem like nothing more than a natural instinct, but it kind of makes you wonder, if when you do certain things, it's because of an 'angel', or something, telling you to do it).

Pete's mission is to be able to say goodbye to Dorinda, but allowing her to truly move on and be happy for the rest of her life, even if she ends up with someone else, which Pete feels she should be with someone.

.. The opening of the movie was fine, but after we see Pete in the afterlife, the film felt grounded. It didn't really go anywhere, and it didn't really do much for me, and left me wanting more to happen.

One good thing about the film was the effects. All the effects shots came when the planes were flying low, in between trees and hillsides. It seemed state of the art at the time, but is noticeable for today's standards.

The film may show a lack of direction, but you could probably blame it on that fact that Spielberg was making 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade' at the same time as he made this film. Here and there, Spielberg likes to make two films at once, releasing them both in the same year.

This being his first attempt at that proved to be too much to handle. He of course mastered this 'two-films-in-a-year' approach, years down the road. The movie isn't bad, but it definitely isn't a Spielberg film that will be remembered.

It's now understandable, how this film evaded my radar over ever since I was interested in movies.