Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de)
Stepphen Low's "Fighter Pilot: Operation Red Flag" is an American 40-minute short film from over 10 years ago and the title already tells you what this is about. I must say I generally do not have a great interest or any interest at all in this subject, so i cannot say i was surprised how little this documentary did for me. It's probably only worth a watch if you have a great interest in aviation, American military (history) or are a (fighter) pilot yourself. The technical aspects did not do a whole lot for me and the patriotic parts was a bit on the cringeworthy side as well and felt way over the top in my opinion. That said, I also never really felt that this one may get me interested in the subject or be a really informative watch. As a whole, i give this one a thumbs down and only the demographics I mentioned earlier may want to check it out. Not recommended.
Michael Dowswell
I read a couple of very damning review of this film saying that it was completely dumbed down (simplified) and that some bits are completely fake. You could see watching it that this was indeed the case......but, I still think, that it's wonderful to see 70mm films in high definition (especially if your new to it too) the quality on the footage is so very clear and detailed
.again its very nicely edited with long takes. There's a wonderful sense of being up there flying...its really quite scary actually! It's a problematic film definitely, but I still have to recommend it because of the detail in it that the 70mm cameras get...there is after all not many films made in this format too...so they are rare things.I can completely understand people being upset about it...being a expert in something and *then* seeing a film about your specialist subject and that film missing the mark completely is very, very annoying...so I do understand it.THE BAD: the person doing the narration is very monotone and that was very unfortunate.THE GOOD: It's a heck of a experience with the detail this high.
nwmountaintroll
I saw this for the first time when I was in high school, while on vacation, and just before an air show. Not knowing much about mil aviation I was fascinated by it and inspired (started my pilot training within a few months after). Unfortunately I made the mistake of watching it again recently, and being more knowledgeable about the subject, it ruined the movie for me.On the IMAX screen the footage is incredible, as for watching the movie on your computer or TV, you can probably find better clips on YouTube. Anyways, at least the footage is of real airplanes.The scenes inside the controlling aircraft were so fake it was painful, obviously inside a studio. The amount of flare popping was annoying as well, especially because they made the aircraft so quiet.They made the lead character into a nerd, I'm sure he's a cool dude in real life, but he was so watered down I had to tune out the narration in some parts. I was also disappointed with the pyrotechnics, couldn't they have used footage of some real bombs? Anyways, if you can get past the fact that hardly any of the tactics in the film are real, as well as the fake sets and pyrotechnics in some parts, it's got some great footage and is worth watching once or twice. It's an inspirational film to say the least.
Snoopysjk-1
If you don't understand what the directors when through then why do you automatically downplay the movie? This movie revolves around Captain Stratton a fighter pilot new to Operation Red Flag at Nellis air force base in Nevada outside Las Vegas.For the cinematography, it was excellent and well done. Of course not all the scenes where real, they couldn't have been. Do you really expect the air force to let a filming crew into a war zone with 120 million dollar fighters from over 5 different countries? The only CGI in the film was the '3D' fighter sequences onboard the AWACS and there was no CGI 'fire' when the fighters blew up tanks. Most everything was real with exceptions to the opening scene when they go through briefing the first time. With all the scenes using munitions, the camera crew was in fact there. In the 'bonus features' on the DVD if you rented it they even show how close they stood to one of the bombing runs.As for the rescue sequence when the pilot was 'downed' as part of the excercise, come on, do you really think the air force would conduct a rescue operation with a bunch of IMAX cameras hovering around a 'hidden' pilot and still called the mission 'practice for the real thing'? Obviously some things were 'staged' in this movie but what the film should be notorious for is the angles with which the camera captures. I guarantee you will see nothing on par with this in other films and the way the director accomplished this is truly 'stunning'.
AD
