Fire Birds (1990)
A joint task force operation between the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Army has been formed to dismantle one of the largest drug cartels operating in South America. Multiple attempts to assault the cartel's mountainous compound have been thwarted by a Scorpion-attack helicopter piloted by a cartel leader, Eric Stoller (Bert Rhine). After having several aircraft shot down, most notably a pair of UH–60 Black Hawks and their AH–1 Cobra escorts, the army turns to the new AH–64 Apache attack helicopter, which can match its enemies' maneuverability and firepower.
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Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
Absolutely Fantastic
The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.
All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
I have always been a helicopter fan,growing up i put models together, so i was excited when i heard about Fire Birds. One of the pilots that did the flying in this movie served in Vietnam and Desert Storm, so yes you are seeing a real army pilot fly real helicopters its not like the cgi crap in today's movies. Is it 100% accurate? no, is the dialogue mind blowing? no, there are some corny lines, but if you care about stuff like that then id suggest watching a documentary on PBS, but if you want a good solid action movie that entertains , then i say check it out. I give it 2 thumbs up.On a Technical note. I had this movie on VHS and DVD, for some reason the VHS copy had better sound, when i put the DVD in i would have to turn the volume way up but it still didn't sound as good as the VHS copy
Jake Preston (Nicolas Cage) is flying his Cobra attack helicopter against the drug cartel in South America. His group of Cobras and Blackhawks are attacked by a mercenary flying a Scorpion. The military decides to send more into the fight. Jake goes to Fort Mitchell to train in the Apache helicopter under Brad Little (Tommy Lee Jones). Brad wants to fly missions but he's deemed too valuable as a trainer. Billie Lee Guthrie (Sean Young) is Jake's ex training to fly reconnaissance. Jake is a confidential natural pilot but he struggles in the dark with left eye dominance.This is trying to be Top Guns with helicopters. I like that part of the movie. Sean Young assembling a shoulder fired anti-aircraft missile is kind of cool. The aerial combat is slightly below the level of Top Guns. Tommy Lee is a great old guy. Sean Young is good but her relationship with Nicolas Cage is too overwrought. Cage is doing a simple one-note performance as the cocky flier. He is overdoing it Nicolas Cage style. I like seeing the helicopters but not so much the characters.
I must admit, I busted a gut several times during this crap-fest... how these top-notch actors were directed into this mess is still beyond me... the four-star IMDb rating is insaneI wish more comedies gave me the giggles like this oneNicolas Cage and Tommy Lee Jones struggle to look serious against writing that is shoddy and painful to hear... I really am only writing this review because this is, in my opinion the worst big-budget movie of our time... I think it would have made a great MST3K targetThis actually spawned a really bad TV show, too!That gives it extra creditShould have starred Dolph Lungren and The Rock
Fire Birds was released during an unfortunate string of cheesy air combat type of flicks. Top Gun was a one of the first air combat movies, and it will always remain the best. After that, there were some horrible movies like the Iron Eagle sequels and the other movie I can think of(It's not quite as bad) is Flight of the Intruder. Then Fire Birds came along. This proves that movies of this genre are generally not good at all. The action is quite cheesy, and the acting is overdone. I'm not sure how it is that they could mess up the acting so badly. This movie has Nicholas Cage, Tommy Lee Jones, and Sean Young. Not worth your time, ignore the claim that this was supposed to be like Top Gun with helicopters, it doesn't even come close.