Flight of the Intruder (1991)

Top Gun clone? Absolutely not, this is considerably better than that monumentally overrated snorefest.

Telling a rather generic story set during the Vietnam war this feature stars Willem Dafoe, Rosanna Arquette, Tom Sizemore, Ving Rhames and Danny Glover so it's roster is pretty outstanding.

Now I'm rather bias when it comes to war themed movies, namely because I'm a great big anti-war guy so I tend not to see the appeal. That's not to say I'm anti-war movie, I just tend not to find them enjoyable.

Flight of the Intruder suffers from the standard genre tropes, is cheesy, macho-nonsense but does have a charm to an extent. The ending is strong which certainly makes up for everything else but it can only go so far.

With that amazing cast and very impressive flight visuals you can't take away from the film just how much they've accomplished here, it's just not my bag.

The Good:

Very impressive visuals

Wealth of talent present

The Bad:

Oddly structured

Love interest was needlessly tacked on

Fmovies: I've heard it said, "This is not repeat not a chick flick."

Wrong. I loved this film. I was impressed by the way the film dealt with personal relationships. Yeah - get worried, fellas, because one of the main themes is about how guys deal with losing guy friends. It's also about how guys deal with keeping guy friends, but I won't bore you...

If it makes you feel any better, there's a scene in a bar that involves a zipwire and a mudpit with an alligator, and some cool flight stuff that includes 'how to make the new non-pilot sick.'

Didn't have a 'chick' problem with it, which is probably why I'm so proud of my hardbound copy of "Baa Baa Black Sheep" autographed by Pappy Boyington. Don't count the women out when you watch this film. It has its clunker moments, but they are few, and thankfully they don't occur in the air.

Politically insightful in spots, and for the most part, a good two hours spent. Seriously, this is a good movie; do see it.

It's a thrilling warlike movie that contains over-the-top performances , drama , poignant vignettes and unsparing action . It takes place at the beginning of the Vietnam war , after his bombardier is killed, Jake Grafton (Brad Johnson), a carrier-based Intruder pilot, questions the purpose of Navy bombing missions and he join forces with another partner (Willem Defoe) to carry out a dangerous objective in Hanoi . Meanwhile , a grumpy general (Danny Glover) surveys their exploits and frustrations but when his aircraft is shot down , he is stranded in the wilds of Vietnam . Alone , he must rely on himself and a whole army after him . Trapped behind enemy lines , only two men with whom he has radio contact can save him and to get him out . As the protagonists come determined to rescue him .

Pretty good aerial flick plenty action , tragic drama , fantastic cloudy scenes and breathtaking dogfighting . It's a spectacular actioner including impressive scenarios , fine star cast and memorable acting . It plays like one of these 1940s service propaganda war that was shot in cooperation with US Air Force . This stirring as well as incongruous warlike movie mixes thrills , rugged action and dialog with lots of military scenes , without losing sight of the continuation of its interesting plot or necessities of war and works on various levels . Acceptable budget extended adventures about a maverick pilot and his pal undergoing risked feats on air and bombing on earth . It gets the right balance between the old-style warfare movies and the modern wartime films . Noisy action scenes punctuate the tension without breaking it . Brad Johnson and Willem Defoe give terrific acting in this otherwise passable film , both of whom show professionalism as two crack fighter pilots , two ambitious Lieutenants assigned to risked missions . Danny Glover is top-notch as Cmdr. Frank 'Dooke' Camparelli , he is a grumpy but likable officer subsequently stranded and alone after his plane is gunned down . Secondary cast is frankly excellent as Rosanna Arquette , Dann Florek , Tom Sizemore , Ving Rhames , Madison Mason , J Kenneth Campbell , David Schwimmer , John Corbet , among others . Fine production design and right special effects , as a 1:160 scale model of the city of Hanoi was built for the filming of the bomb-runs scenes , buildings closer to the camera were detailed more while the furthest away buildings in the background we only painted blocks of wood . And being partially filmed on the USS Independence CV-62 . While the story was centered around VA-196, VA-165 was actually the squadron used to film the movie ; all of the aircraft used for filming were re-painted with VA-196 markings used during the Viet Nam conflict era . Colorful and evocative cinematography in super 35 by Fred J Koenekamp . Moving musical score fitting to action by Basil Poledouris , he had originally been scheduled to score Dances with Wolves but reluctantly dropped out to score this film for his close friend John Milius, with extremely damaging results to his career when he found himself suddenly unemployable at any studio making a picture with the then-hot Kevin Costner .

The motion picture was professionally directed by John Milius but he stated that making this film was one of the worst experiences he had. He is a notorious screenwriter and filmmaker with several hits , specially on adventure genre as ¨Jeremiah Johnson (1972)¨, ¨Conan¨ , ¨Red Dawn¨, and also made biography as ¨Dillinger¨ , making two films about Theodore Roosevelt , ¨ The Win

Flight of the Intruder fmovies. Just an opinion but maybe the chances of novel-based techno-thrillers (aside from Tom Clancy's) basically stopped here in this movie. Flight of the Intruder is a novel based on Stephen Coonts' first book. The movie touches on interesting premise as we see the effects on the American pilots (in this case, the A-6 pilots of USS Independence) due to the US government's decision to limit the targets in bombing North Vietnam. Brad Johnson is pretty much what I imagined for the character of Jake Grafton. Had the movie been successful the latter books could use Tom Berenger. This is one of those times when less than stellar effects do not get in the way of enjoyment. The opening bombing scene and the adventure in SAM city were awesome.

Sadly, the story doesn't hold much and the ending is not so great. The daytime climax is really cheesy and doesn't fit well with the rest of the movie (and this climax itself doesn't flow well either). It's also pretty much a given when you have soldiers, pilots, and/or sailors in bar, chances are there'll be a barfight. The very short moments with Grafton and Cali were cool though and the movie could have utilize this subplot well.

The verdict: 3 of 5 stars.

Very good Vietnam war/action movie that is surprisingly very under rated probably because the story was very pro military and very gung ho which most audiences in the U.S. do not want to see in a Vietnam war movie.I on the other hand have no such limited prejudices and welcome this movie's unique approach to that war because even though I dis-agree with the way that war was fought,I still can enjoy seeing the warriors of that war have fun with their combat encounters and the price they pay for the rush they get.That selfish aspect of the Navy warriors depicted here so well really confused the mass audience who usually expect an uncomplicated formula where in if it is a Vietnam war movie,it is supposed to have an atmosphere of tremendous losses to the U.S. side and a U.S. military who do not like war and do not look forward to any battle rush at all.Only scenes of trembling,cowering soldiers who want to be at home with mama.Well,sorry to say,that narrow minded and limited way of looking at things surely blurred their rating of this movie which had great cinematography,directing,screenplay,script and story,coupled by good special effects and attention to detail on top of that!The movie has a right to be gung ho because there certainly were gung ho soldiers as well in that war!They may not admit it but the nay sayers of this movie put this movie down because of that gung ho atmosphere.I know movies and I know when people are unfairly under rating a movie only due to unpopular trends or formulas.Time to FREE YOUR MINDS!Yes,this movie has it's flaws,like average acting performances and lack of originality due to it having a feelof being a modern remake of those 1950's Korean war movies,but still,this movie all in all deserves at least an imdb 8.One of the top 20 war movies of all time in my book,and I have seen a lot........

Watch this movie for the flying scenes! It has some the very best shots of an Intruder still or in flight. This aircraft is now out of service with the Navy except as a fueler but I can testify that this aircraft is down right dominating and scary to anyone on the ground when they make a low level pass and this movie captured it all!

That said, I read the book too and yes it is a lot different from the book but then most movies are. The question is does it conform to the spirit of the movie and Flight of the Intruder is close. It does take some short cuts which are even more obvious to a Navy vet but over all, this is one of my favorite Vietnam War movies and about the only one that gives a decent treatment to the carrier pilots.

The romantic part is not much and probably left in to keep it from not having any attractive females but it sure is not needed for dramatic effect.

The political and legal junk is really over blown and trite but if sufficient detail were included the movie would have been 3 hours long.

It is a good "Tiger flick" (war movie) for a rainy day and it has an honored place in my DVD collection!