good movie, if you thought "Top Gun" was good then you'll probably like this one as well.
Passable entertainment, won't "hurt your brain."
I caught "Firebirds" in the theater during my first annual training with the National Guard after a 3 year Active Duty hitch. We were at Corpus Christi Army Depot doing what? Working on helicopters, natch. About 6 of us piled into a taxi and rode downtown to the el-cheapo theater for 90 minutes of cheesy salutes, whacky dialog, goofy actors and some pretty darn good Apache flying.
Is it accurate? No. Ask any Navy F-14 pilot how he felt in 1986 about Tom Cruise's adaptation of reality and he'll say the same thing that a lot of the Army Aviation folks have already said about Firebirds. That's because in Hollywood, in general, if "accuracy" or "correctness" gets in the way of "story," story generally wins out. (The obvious mold-breaker here being "Band of Brothers", but that had more to do with the original story being highly accurate) Heck, Top Gun's technical advisor says he stil has a hard time showing his face at F-14 reunions. But he learned quickly that while some of the things they show in a movie might not be accurate to the people who do it day in and day out, its still a movie and they have to make it look stylish or whatever. How exciting would watching an Apache crew go over their 10-20 minute long startup procedure really be? No, they hop in the aircraft, flip a couple switches, throw their brain buckets on, suddenly the rotor blades are at flight RPM and off they go. I know that's not reality, but I'm not watching this movie for reality.
With Firebirds, sometimes you just have to put your brain in neutral and enjoy Sean Young in a flight suit that is 3 sizes too small, Tommy Lee Jones going "full-tilt boogie for freedom and justice," and Nicholas Cage laying out droll one-liners for a paycheck.
At the very least, in the Spring of 1990, six guys from a National Guard unit in Michigan had a great time in a cheap theater in Texas hollering at the screen, hooting at Sean Young, and cheering when the bad guys go down in flames. What more can you ask for?
Time to go buy the DVD for my "cheesy Saturday afternoon movies" collection.
(Funny side note: When Tommy Lee Jones is doing his early-morning run on the flight line and all of his trainees come running past him, that's the Apache Training Brigade's flight line at Ft. Hood Army Airfield. During the Gulf War, in January 1991, I was there for an Apache course, and our smoke-break area was on the exterior stairs of the hangar pictured in the background at the very start of that scene. Kinda funny how that works!)
Forgettable
Since there are plenty of reviews, I will keep this short. I saw this movie in the past and forgot it completely, and recognized a few scenes about 45 minutes in the movie. This is a fair movie that, Yes, is forgettable. I picked this up locally for under seven bucks, and will keep it, but can only rate this movie as average. It is not horrible, but it is not over the top - Not a Top Gun.
Tommy Lee Jones plays a good part, but is a little over the top of a patriot, with some of his gung ho lines. Nick Cage does not come off that great as a cocky pilot - Tom Cruise did it in Top Gun. Sean Young as the woman pilot/love interest for Nick Cage - forget the love interest - does not add much to the story.
This movie is under 90 minutes and does not provide much time for character development or back story. The special effects and chopper runs are very good, but the sound is only in stereo. My amp can decode to NEO 6.1, but unfortunately, the mix for low bass is lacking. They did not re-mix the sound - No house shaking bass rumble of choppers in flight, crashes, and explosions.
Overall, this movie is OK and passable at a bargain bin price or a rental.
Time has been kind to Flight of the Intruder, a rousing aviation-action adventure that looks better now than it did to critics who panned it in 1991. Perhaps they were expecting a Tom Clancy-ish blockbuster (producer Mace Neufeld oversaw the Jack Ryan franchise), but director John (Conan the Barbarian) Milius had something potentially more substantial in mind. The first 75 minutes are pure Milius: Macho bluster, male bonding among ill-fated pilots and Naval bombardiers, and a Big Wednesday-like passion for dangerous fun. But Milius's favorite topics have sharper teeth here: He's made a scathing anti-Vietnam film that still honors the bravery of soldiers who do their job even when the job itself seems pointless. That's why ace Brad Johnson (why didn't he become a huge... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Danny Glover - Willem Dafoe Director(s): John Milius DVD Release Date: Released the 01 July 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Gene Hackman is Lt. Colonel Iceal Hambleton. In real life Lt. Col. Hambleton was flying as a navigator on an EB-66 electronic countermeasures plane, call sign Bat-21. When a surface-to-air missile hits the plane, Col. Hambleton is the only man able to eject from the aircraft, landing in the northern portion of South Viet Nam. For the next eleven and a half days Col. Hambleton evaded capture by the North Vietnamese Army until he was rescued in one of the largest and most complex rescue missions of the Viet Nam War. These true events, for which 234 medals were awarded, inspired this movie.
In the movie Col. Hambleton is nearing possible rescue by a Jolly Green Giant rescue helicopter when Viet Cong destroy the helicopter. The Viet Cong, who are using the people of a nearby... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Gene Hackman - Danny Glover Director(s): Peter Markle DVD Release Date: Released the 19 December 2000 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Based on a true story, this action film set in the post-Vietnam era casts Gene Hackman as a retired military man who gets tired of government inaction in tracking down the whereabouts of his son, who has been listed as missing in action in Vietnam. So he gathers and trains a rough group of Vietnam vets to launch his own mission into Laos, where his intelligence tells him the son is being held. Hackman brings sorrowful power to the role of determined father, and has a rugged supporting cast (including Patrick Swayze, Fred Ward, and Randall "Tex" Cobb) to keep the story moving forward, even when the machinations become formulaic. --Marshall FineMore Info about this DVD Actor(s): Gene Hackman - Patrick Swayze Director(s): Ted Kotcheff DVD Release Date: Released the 22 May 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Kelsey Grammer stars as the captain of a rust-bucket submarine who is fighting for his career by proving his skills in a contest against far more sophisticated ships. Rob Schneider provides comic support as an uptight ensign, and Lauren Holly plays an officer who has to fight her own will-they-accept-me-because-I'm-a-woman anxieties. The film didn't do well at the box office, but it is actually pretty funny, Grammer is enjoyable, and the above-the-water/below-the-water action sequences are as good as any in most submarine films. --Tom KeoghMore Info about this DVD Director(s): David S. Ward DVD Release Date: Released the 03 February 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Short of Top Gun, this could be the definitive boys movie of the 1980s. An 18-year-old (Jason Gedrick) gets instruction from an old vet (Louis Gossett Jr.) in how to fly an F-16 jet and kick butt in the Middle East, all while listening to his Walkman and--oh, yeah--saving his father from terrorist clutches. Gossett wears his tough-love face while the kids run rampant. Speaking of kids, young guys must like this comic-book movie, as its success spawned three sequels. But watch out for the Reagan-era jingoism and political reductiveness. --Tom KeoghMore Info about this DVD Actor(s): Louis Gossett Jr. - Jason Gedrick Director(s): Sidney J. Furie DVD Release Date: Released the 22 May 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
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