Flight of the Intruder (1991)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	War	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1991
Running Time	110:04
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (55:17)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Programme
Region Coding	4	Directed By	John Milius
Studio Distributor	Paramount Home Entertainment	Starring	Danny Glover Willem Dafoe Brad Johnson Rosanna Arquette Tom Sizemore J. Kenneth Campbell Jared Chandler Dann Florek Madison Mason Ving Rhames Christopher Rich Douglas Roberts Scott N. Stevens
Case	?
RPI	$24.95	Music	Basil Poledouris

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English Arabic Bulgarian Croatian Czech Danish Dutch Finnish French German Greek Hebrew Hungarian Icelandic Italian Norwegian Polish Portuguese Romanian Serbian Slovenian Spanish Swedish Turkish English for the Hearing Impaired French Titling Italian Titling	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Based on the novel by Stephen Coonts, Flight of the Intruder tells the story of Navy pilots during the Vietnam War. More specifically, pilots of the A6 "Intruder" light bomber, and even more specifically we concentrate on Lt. Jake 'Cool Hand' Grafton (Brad Johnson), Lt. Cmdr. Virgil 'Tiger' Cole (Willem Dafoe) and Cmdr. Frank 'Dooke' Camparelli (Danny Glover).

    The story starts with a routine low-level night-time bombing mission for the lone A6 piloted by Jake, with his bombardier, Morgan 'Morg' McPherson (Christopher Rich). As is indicated to very often be the case, the location they are given to bomb turns out to be nothing but an empty part of the jungle, and on the flight home Morg is wounded by a freak shot from the rifle of a peasant. By the time Jake gets the aircraft back to the carrier, Morg has died, leaving Jake furious at the total waste of his good friend over a non-existent target.

    Enter Virgil Cole, a veteran of 3 tours, who keeps coming back because he "likes to fight". When the two are paired up for operations, Jake sees an opportunity to use Cole's experience and rebelliousness as a means of helping him get revenge for his dead friend. Cole initially refuses, but circumstances lead him round to seeing things Jake's way.

    Due to the political situation at this late stage in the Vietnam war, there are very strict rules about what targets are seen as expedient or not, so to get his revenge Jake will have to go up against his Commander, Camparelli, and break these rules. If he does so, the consequences will of course be severe.

    As far as patriotic American military movies go, this one is actually a lot better than its relative anonymity might suggest. In fact, I've often wondered how Top Gun could be such a huge success, and yet this film barely made a splash when released only 6 years later. I think the fact that the author of the original book was himself an A6 pilot would account for the more grounded feel to the story (no pun intended), which in itself makes it far more watchable than many other films in this genre.

    However, don't think this means I'm saying you won't find any cheesy, patriotic dialogue, or over-the-top America-saves-the-day plot points, because they're certainly to be found here. There's even your usual clichéd characters - the bitter loose cannon, the mean and tough but kind-hearted commanding officer, the cool, collected mentor who's never rattled, the comedic character who everyone likes, and so on. The difference, though, is that they're all placed in the realistic setting of a war that actually did happen, and are faced with the genuine dilemmas and doubts that must have been in the minds of their real-life counterparts.

    The serious issues addressed are glossed over a bit in the end, and Hollywood is probably the real winner here again, but I still found myself enjoying this movie even on repeated viewings. The flying sequences are incredible, and anyone who has flown low-level even in a small piston-engined aircraft will appreciate just how amazing some of these pilots are. The cinematography is sweeping (as you'd expect with John Milius directing), and manages to convey a bit of an epic feel to proceedings, and overall the acting is bearable, if not Oscar-worthy.

    All in all, I'd say this is well worth a viewing for fans of the genre.

Video

    This transfer is presented in the original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1, and is 16x9 enhanced.

    Sharpness levels are more than acceptable, with only the occasional scene standing out as being grainy and soft (such as at 14:14). There are a lot of dark scenes due to the nature of the night-flying action, but these hold up well with good black levels, and decent shadow detail.

    Colours during the daylight are vivid and vibrant, with the bright Pacific lighting. They exhibit no bleeding or chroma noise, and are a joy to behold.

    Film-to-video artefacts are noticeable by their absence, but there are occasional film artefacts flicking across the screen.

    There are a multitude of subtitles on this disc, and I sampled the English for the Hearing Impaired stream. These were acceptable, but did tend to miss out words on almost every line of dialogue.

    The layer change takes place at 55:17, and although very obvious, it is well placed.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Released theatrically in Dolby Stereo Surround, we've been given a rather nice 5.1 remix for this DVD.

    There are 4 audio tracks on this DVD; English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s), French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s), German Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s), Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s), and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s). I listened to the English track only.

    Dialogue is generally clear and easy to understand. Occasionally in the flying scenes it can be hard to make out what the actors are saying, because there's lots of noise going on and you often can't see their mouths properly, but it's a minor complaint. Audio sync is spot on.

    The musical score by Basil Poledouris is suitably orchestral and rousing in nature, although at times it can seem a little over-the-top. Generally it adds successfully to the mood.

    The surrounds are used quite frequently and effectively for both ambient sounds (especially on the aircraft carrier), as well as the usual gunfire/bullets and engine noises during the action scenes.

    The subwoofer is used less than the surrounds, but it still kicks in occasionally for explosions and engine noises.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    There are no extras.

    The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;

• German, Spanish, and Italian soundtracks.
• Many subtitle streams

    It appears both versions are almost identical (language options aside). There is no reason to import this one.

    A decent action movie based around US Navy pilots. Certainly not an original concept, but executed in a more believable manner than most films in the genre. I'd recommend this to anyone interested in military flying, or just plain old-fashioned war action.

    The video transfer is more than acceptable.

    The audio is a decent 5.1 remix of the original track.

    There are no extras at all, which is a shame.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall