Ford's new venture left high and dry by tired plot

JAKARTA (JP): Delve into the recesses of the mind and one does not have to do too much digging to come up with the names of Harrison Ford film favorites.

The suspense or action-adventure variety could include the Indiana Jones series, the Star Wars trilogy, Presumed Innocent, Clear and Present Danger, last year's The Devil's Own and following that, Air Force One.

A little less charming in Sabrina and a little more in Working Girl, Ford has done some justice to the romantic roles he has had to play; they are very much watchable.

But come to Six Days, Seven Nights, and throw all of that out the window. Michael Browning's spec script is like a bad romance novel.

In a stranded-on-an-unknown-island story, with a little adventure thrown in, great settings and great actors are robbed of the chance to give their best.

Six Days, Seven Nights is about an uncomplicated pilot who gets stuck with a chatty magazine editor on an island. They both face pirates and adventure, love and bad lines together.

Directed by Ivan Reitman, who heads Northern Lights Entertainment and is known for Space Jam, Fathers' Day, Dave, the Ghostbusters films and Kindergarten Cop, the movie is produced by Roger Birmbaum and Wallis Nicita.

Playing in the movie are actors Harrison Ford, Anne Heche from the television series Another World, David Schwimmer from Friends, Jacqueline Obradors and Allison Janey.

Quinn Harris (Ford) is a rough-and-tough aviator living an uncomplicated existence on Makatea; a Paradise-like island. He makes his living flying freight in his weather-beaten plane and is happy doing so.

He wants his life simple. This is evident in the way he delivers his lines and the dialog itself. Enter Robin Monroe (Heche), a cool, driven magazine editor who is on holiday with fiance Frank Martin (Schwimmer).

Robin gets a call from her boss (Janey) to meet an unexpected deadline, which requires her to fly to Tahiti. She bribes Quinn to fly her there.

They almost crash. The two suddenly find themselves stranded on a deserted island, and danger and romance ensue.

Meanwhile, a weak-minded Martin ends up being put on a mind- leash by Quinn's overbearing, seasonal girlfriend (Obradors) and sleeps with her when he learns of the possibility of his fiance's death.

Quinn and Robin return to the island but things do not end up as both planned. In a nutshell, as Quinn puts it in the movie, he finds his life too simple and ends up wanting to "complicate the hell out of it". (ylt)