An airline pilot who has lost everything electrical, hydraulic, wind and steam-powered on his plane makes contact with PHX center via cell phone and says "Roger Phoenix, we are not going anywhere." If you don't understand the problem with that, you will probably think this is a good movie. The dialogue comes fast and furious and is full of in-crowd jargon, but also full of ATC non-sequiturs. I got the impression a copy of the script was cut up into strips that contained one line of dialogue AND one line of action on each strip, then each strip pasted on a 3 x 5 card; then the cards were shuffled very thoroughly and the movie shot in order from the resulting stack of cards. A REAL air traffic controller would find hundreds of lines with technical errors; you would think that control towers and centers (ARTCC) were interchangeable. In a scene near the end, when all the airplanes PHX ARTCC was controlling have all gotten on the ground, the controllers all close up shop and go home, leaving the ARTCC unmanned, except for the hero and a few other important characters. Then when they assume that the last airplane has crashed, they all climb up the stairs to the tower, which is apparently conveniently on top of the ARTCC (which is never the case), and the hero ARTCC controller guides the plane in from the catwalk outside the control tower cab. A complete list of the technical improbabilities, inconsistencies in dialogue and unexplained scene shifts would fill a 500 page book. I say all this having been an air traffic controller and ATP rated pilot. Again, any pilot or controller who thinks this is a good movie was not paying attention.

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.

An incredibly suspenseful, high-excitement motion picture that will have you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. Director Richard Howard has done a stunning job of bringing this marvelous film to the screen, capturing the stress, agony, and triumphs of air traffic controllers with cinematic eloquence. The tension is at times overwhelming as a burned-out traffic controller "plugs in" again after a horrific experience a few years previous. Played by Kiefer Sutherland, the character is one of true depth and touching humanity, a tortured soul who rises to the extreme challenges of one crisis filled night in the tower. It is one of Sutherland's greatest performances. In fact, an all-star cast give uniformly superb performances with stand-out work done by Henry Winkler and Robert Sean Leonard. Special mention should be made of the actor who plays the pilot of a troubled airliner,Drew Snyder , a familiar character actor who does what amounts to an Oscar worthy turn in his role. As the older flier who remains calm and courageous, the kind of man we all want in the cockpit, he is brilliant. Intense, intelligent, and terrifically produced, prepare yourself for a story of fragile humanity in extraordinary circumstances. That is the film Ground Control.

I caught the last couple of minutes of this recently and set up a timer to catch the next showing. I told my wife at the time I was wholly expectant to be disappointed when I finally got to see it. She laughed, knowing how thin my skin is about the job I did for 30 years.So today it appeared on my list and I queued it up. Holy crap! It wasn't two minutes in when they set the scene of the ostensible Chicago Air Route Traffic Control Center (the chyron claims 3 July 1993 1300). I immediately started laughing. I was there in 1993 (and probably on 3 July, too), and Chicago Center never, ever looked even remotely like that. I was there from 1973 until 1997--you can take it to the bank.In truth, it's still sitting on pause because I wanted to come here and report this. Having read all the reviews, especially the ones from my fellow travelers, I know I don't really need to subject myself to it (although I will). Films featuring ATC universally get more wrong than should be humanly possible. From phraseology ("Over and out", "Roger that", and "Runway 37"), to equipment, to scenarios.Five years off and then begged to come in to help out? I was out for twenty months (guess when?) and while I was able to get all of my groove back, it wasn't simple and it certainly wasn't done in a day, or a week, or a month. Someone gone five years would likely never have recertified. It's tough.Was it too hard to get StarSets (headsets)? I hated them--my original Plantronics M-50 was so much better, but about 95% of the controllers used them. The rest used the old Bell 52--same one Ernestine used on "Laugh In". Whatever those things were, aren't FAA issue.I agree with other reviewers--how hard would it have been to get a real controller (I was available) to come in with real tips and knowledge and then LISTEN to him/her? It might have elevated this film to a 2 (which would put it above the execrable "Pushing Tin").For those reading this with whom I might have worked (Jacksonville ARTCC, O'Hare TRACON, Chicago ARTCC), yes, that username is me, LRod.Try this website on for size: http://www.TheBigSkyTheory.com It's all about big time ATC in four decades.