Leofwine_draca
FLIGHT OF BLACK ANGEL is another movie about a renegade fighter pilot taking the fight to the skies above America. There were a few of these films made throughout the 1990s, John Woo's BROKEN ARROW being the one I know the best. Although this one's a TV movie, it doesn't suffer from the trappings of that genre because it actually has some violent scenes of murder and destruction in it, so it's not one that plays it safe throughout.I watched this film out of interest because it was an early effort from director Jonathan Mostow, later to make crowd-pleasers like BREAKDOWN and TERMINATOR 3. Mostow is hampered by a low budget in this one, but the story's interesting and I enjoyed the way that most of the material ends up taking place on the ground rather than in the skies. Peter Strauss is a dull hero character but William O'Leary is rather convincing as the out-of-his-mind pilot. The special effects again are limited in nature but there's enough meat in the surrounding scenes to make the whole thing frighteningly convincing in places.
karmakelli
Is it possible these days to tell a story -- a taut, relentless, no-fat-no-frills story -- in contemporary Hollywood? This 1991 effort by writer/director Jonathan Mostow reminds me of Steven Spielberg's "Duel" in its relentless pursuit of a linear take-no-prisoners storyline. No real characters, but who needs 'em? Let Merchant/Ivory wander through sanguine tepidity ... Mostow wants to grab you, must compel your attention -- he plies his craft for the MTV 15-second-attention-span generation.I stumbled across this unknown gem flipping through cable stations one meandering Saturday afternoon, and immediately wondered why Hollywood hadn't discovered this amazing director. Then I searched IMDB and learned he recently finished directing "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines." Hmm ... guess he was only anonymous to me.The aerial dogfights are simply great. The maniacal plan of the wacked-out Crazy Christian Crusader main character is riveting, and Mostow's script seems plausible in its attention to military technology detail.Highly recommended.
brendonm
Before he had the big budget of U-571, director Jonathan Mostow proved back in 1991 that he has what it takes to create a gripping movie. I rented this because I was writing a screenplay with a similar premise. The aerial combat sequences here are just as -- if not more so -- thrilling as anything in TOP GUN. I wish they would have got someone else to play Cpt. Gordon aka "Black Angel" -- still, the thesp gets across a spooky desperation. The script doesn't fully explain his motivation, but it's clear he has some kind of God-complex. Peter Strauss is also believable as the Mentor.If you like military or doomsday thrillers, this is worth a rent or watching on cable.Also of note: screenwriters John Brancato and Mike Ferris (THE NET, THE GAME) are billed as assoc. producers, though I don't know what their role in the production was.
Wild-2
I rented this movie one night just because I had nothing better to do. To my surprise, I found it entertaining. I will not tell the plot, but this is a pretty good action/thriller. The colour on it is pretty dull, but the movie has some good special effects and explosions. B-
AD
