BY DOUG OSWALD
Nicolas
Cage and Sean Young take on a South American drug cartel in “Fire Birds,â€
available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber. Cage is a hot-shot U.S. Army Apache helicopter
pilot at odds with his combat instructor pilot played by Tommy Lee Jones. He’s
also dealing with the loss of his comrades on a recent drug enforcement mission
in South America. They were shot down by a mercenary helicopter pilot working
for the cartel named Eric Stoller (played by Bert Rhine). Cage is also trying
to rekindle romance with a woman from his past, a helicopter pilot named Billie
played by Sean Young. If you like helicopters, romance and scenes of air
combat, this is the movie for you.
Jones
is Chief Warrant Officer Brad Little, married father and newly assigned to
train an elite group of Apache helicopter pilots for an air combat mission to
take out a South American drug cartel. Cage is Jake Preston, newly assigned to
train with Little who discovers a woman from his past is also at Fort Mitchel. Young
is Billie Lee Guthrie, a scout helicopter pilot keeping Jake at arm’s length in
response to Jake’s attempts to get her attention. Jake insists on cutting in
and dancing with Billie at a local bar which results in a fight, further
alienating Billie. Jake is a skilled pilot and the accompanying cocky attitude
works against his attempts at romance with Billie. Dale Dye is on board as the
commanding officer, Colonel A.K. McNeil, and J.A. Preston is General Olcott who
orders the mission to take down the drug cartel.
Practicing
in an Apache flight simulator which resembles an elaborate first person video
game complete with moving compartment and wrap-around video monitors, Jake
meets every challenge placed before him by Little as Jake repeats, “I am the greatest!â€
throughout the exercise and finishes with, “All gone! Bye-bye!†after
destroying every enemy in his path. According to the audio commentary, Cage
improvised much of his over-the-top performance and it works in developing Jake
as the cocky pilot who then needs to be humbled and retrained to meet his
nemesis, the mercenary Scorpion helicopter pilot Stoller. Jake screws up on a
night training mission by nearly crashing his Apache and is grounded. It turns
out he’s left eye dominant and has trouble accepting data from his right eye
when connected to the night vision and combat data. He asks Little for help and
he agrees stating, “You remind me of me 20 years ago.†This “softening†of Jake
endears him to Billie and they renew their relationship as a Phil Collins love
ballad fills the soundtrack.
Operation
Fire Bird begins as soon as the training is completed. The team is assembled by
Colonel McNeal and they are forward deployed to a base in South America in the
Catamarca Desert. No country is ever named so we can only guess, but the
Catamarca Desert is located in Argentina. Several aerial combat battles ensue between
the drug cartel and the Apaches including the final inevitable confrontation
between Jake and Stoller. The helicopter battle scenes were filmed using a
combination of Army helicopters and models and the results are very exciting.
This is the pre-CGI era and the models are mixed in with the real deal to great
effect.
The
three leads give fine performances in what is an otherwise predictable movie
plot. Reviews at the time of release referred to “Fire Birds†as “Top Gun†with
helicopters. Viewers of this movie will be pleasantly surprised at how good the
movie is on the technical side and for that I can forgive the similarities to almost
every military movie before it with combat, romance and swaggering military tropes.
The
film is directed by David Green, probably best known for “Buster†with Phil
Collins as Ronald Christopher "Buster" Edwards who was one of the thieves
involved in "The Great Train Robbery" of 1963 in England. No wonder Collins
provides two songs for “Fire Birds.†Green appears to be an odd choice as the director
of a military action movie, but he acquits himself very well indeed. It also
doesn’t hurt to have the cooperation of the Department of Defense, United
States Army and Arizona National Guard. The use of several military locations,
including filming at Ft. Hood, Texas, and the Army National Guard Aviation
Training Site in Marana, Arizona, add value to the movie.
Released
by TouchStone Pictures in 1990, the movie flies in at 86 minutes of non-stop helicopter
combat action and romance. It all looks and sounds great, aided by the locations and top notch model and
aerial work. Extras on the Blu-ray disc include an informative audio commentary
by the director and trailers for this and other Kino Lorber releases.
Recommended for fans of military action movies.
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