When I a was kid, my parents rarely if ever went to see movies in the movie theater. I can recall one for sure that my parents’ and I watched in the 90s, and that was Stargate (1994). I remember seeing it after my parents, on whim, decided to watch it after we left my grandparents’ house. I thought it was weird that we did that, because we only ended up watching a handful of movies in the 90s. I also remember watching Star Wars Episode 1 with my Dad in the theater, but I’m getting off track.

My point is that if my parents wanted to watch movies, they rented them from the video store. We watched a ton of movies at home, both on VHS and later on DVD. We watched so many movies like every Friday or Saturday night every week that there are some movies that are just flashes of memories. I’ll get a scene in my head and think “what the hell movie is that from”? And I’ll end up remembering it later, and it’s something that happens pretty often.

But there was this one movie, that I would always get flashes of, but I could never figure out what it was. I remembered a fighter jet pilot. I remember his perspective as he is flying over desert canyons, I remember that happening a lot. Then I remember a guy talking to a therapist, in a really weird room. I remember being oddly terrified of the room, and it made me feel uneasy. Just thinking about the room made me feel weird. I remember other things, like narration, an actor I recognize, from other movies, but couldn’t tell you his name. These flashes made no sense, and I was dying to remember the movie.

After a while of searching years ago with no luck, I chalked it up as some weird Mandela effect. Maybe it was multiple movies. Maybe I dreamed it. Maybe it was a TV show, or a music video, or some other form of media. A year goes by and I was talking about with a friend, a movie buff, and none of my explanations seemed familiar to him. So I did another search, this time with his help and putting thoughts into words. I did something I didn’t do the first time: added a year. I started adding random years from the 90s. I figured it had to a 90s film based on the aesthetic and the film quality.

I searched and searched, and then I found something.

A movie from 1991 called Final Approach. At the time, all that was online was a trailer, an IMDB page, and some scattered websites selling a VHS copy. I watched the trailer and it was everything I remembered. So I searched harder for a version I could download. Nothing. I didn’t (still don’t) have a VHS player, so the VHS copy would do me no good. There was apparently a DVD release at some point, whether it was official or bootleg was unknown, but it was out of stock. There was also a LaserDisc version, but I do not know single person who still uses that format. So I slumped down, copied the name of the movie, and wrote the whole thing it off as a movie I’ll never see.

A few months later, I did a new search for the movie. I found a version of it (the entire movie) uploaded to YouTube, but it was in 360p, and in a different language with English subtitles. It was dubbed (in French, I believe), and not very well. So again, I sighed and tried to forget about it.

Recently, I’ve been watching old movies from the time my parents used to rent VHS. I’ve been watching a whole bunch of random 80s and 90s movies that I remember from my childhood. I’ve been using this website to stream movies that are not on the net or on platforms I don’t pay for. Then I remembered Final Approach. Unfortunately the website didn’t have the movie, but I searched Google some more. I found another version on YouTube in English, but it was 480p. Not worth the time. I searched some more.

Then I found it, a VHS quality (poor, but serviceable) version on a random website. It was ripped directly from the VHS and uploaded in its original quality. It is everything I remember. Then I saw this scene. A scene that has haunted my memories.

Just looking at this image makes me feel uneasy. The darkened corners, the lack of people. The odd painting, the faint lights from outside. Seconds after this scene, the lights in the room turn on, but it doesn’t make the room feel any better. And I feel it was the director’s choice to make this scene feel this way to set the tone for the rest of the movie. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

I knew I had the correct movie. All that was left to do was watch it.

Suffice it to say, there are some spoilers ahead. And I encourage people to watch this relatively unknown film teetering on lost media, however, if you want to read my review and hear my thoughts, read on.

Final Approach (1991), not to be confused with a book with the same name, or a couple of movies in the 2000s., is a movie that surprised me. It’s not a movie about anything I could have possibly imagined. The movie begins with a sensory overload of visual and audio effects. Lots of cuts, lots of chatter. Two men are testing out a new stealth plane for the military. One that can’t be detected by any form of radar. The movie explains this over the course of 10 or so minutes, showing random cuts of the plane flying over the desert, to the cuts of the instruments in cockpit, to cuts of the pilot’s faces. There is a common sound that is used during all these cuts, a indescribable sound that is a motif of the film.

After what seems like a long while of these rapid cuts and pilot chatter, the control station says there is a thunderstorm rolling in to which the pilots respond saying that the skies are clear. Seconds later, the plane is struck by lightning and the screen goes white. When the white dissipates, we see a man looking at a piece of glass in a small waiting room.

The man staring back at him in the reflection of the glass is unknown to him. This film utilizes internal character dialog extremely well, and allows for us to see inside the main character’s mind. The character doesn’t spend much time at all in this waiting room, as a woman emerges from the doctor’s door. The woman walks past him in a zombified state, confusing the protagonist. This is foreshadowing for the roller coaster of a ride that is about to begin.

The receptionist tells the man, who is revealed as being a colonel that the doctor will see him, and he steps inside the doctor’s office, as shown earlier. Get used to this office as the movie spends almost all its time there. With the exception of a few scenes here and there, the doctor’s office is where the meat of the film takes place. It all makes sense when you arrive at the end of the film, but I won’t spoil that. It has to be seen to be understood.

After a brief introduction, the therapist starts playing his quintessential role. He makes the colonel do word associating. Then inkblot tests. All the while, the colonel is confused by the entire situation. The interior monologue is of him not knowing who he is, who the doctor is, where he is, or why he is here. As the doctor asks more questions, we get flashes to previous moments. Whether it be things we haven’t seen, or things seen earlier during the film’s opening.

As the film goes on, and the doctor questions the colonel more and more, we begin to unravel the mystery. The doctor’s line of questioning becomes more and more personal, and both you and the colonel are unaware of his motives. He seems genuine, but there is something that the doctor is not telling us. Does he know something? Is this a dream? What is real, what isn’t? The doctor keeps a cheerful face on the entire time, even during a pivotal scene where the colonel has a seizure. There is something he isn’t telling us and it was more or less unexpected, but could have been done a little better.

At this point, I’d suggest you start watching the movie. I won’t spoil anything else, but the rest of this article will be about my opinion on the film and critiquing it.

Final Approach (1991) suffers from bad editing, and poor choice of direction. That is not to say it’s a bad story or even a bad film, it just could have been a lot better. The introduction sequence could have been cut in its entirety, or shortened and made less revealing as to what happens during it. As it stands it is far too long, and not worth it. If I could have started the movie right when the colonel “arrives” at the doctor’s office, it would have made for a much better movie.

Being as lost as the main character is would make for a much better experience overall. Instead we have a feeling throughout the entire movie what is going to happen or what has happened, and for me, it kind of made the experience awkward. The reveal at the end could have been so much more spectacular if we knew as much as the protagonist knew at all times. That is not to say the reveal wasn’t surprising, it was not as rewarding.

Instead we are presented with what appears to be a mystery movie, with the notes written in the margin. It was so close to being a full on mystery movie, but instead we were given the crumbs too early. This makes for an odd way to tell a story that feels torn between what genre it wants to be. While the dialog, acting, and cinematography were all great, it fell short in the editing and directing department in ways that hurt the movie far more than it should.

In addition, the movie is extremely hard to find. For being the first movie ever recorded in digital sound, it’s at risk of being lost. It isn’t for sale anywhere that I can find, and the few places you can watch it online are risky at best of being removed. So do yourself a favor and watch it while you still can.

That being said, Final Approach (1991) is a fantastic film that is worth watching despite its flaws. And if I could edit the movie myself, I would remove the first 10 or so minutes of the film. Because the movie does a great job explaining what happened in that time over the course of its hour and forty minute runtime.

I will not tell you how I watched it, but if you search the name of the movie and the year, you will be able to find some version of it on the Internet.