Search - Sky Fighters on DVD

Excellent movie!

Dustin Holmes | Lebanon, MO USA | 11/17/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The film centers around the Mirage 2000 and the French Air Force. I only gave this movie 4 out of 5 stars for two reasons. The first is the audio wasn't great. The timing between the lips and the sound is a little off. The second is because the story is only B movie quality. What really sets this movie apart from others is they used real shots of the jets and didn't use CGI. They weren't cheap about putting the planes in the movie either, you will see lots and lots of the Mirage 2000 in action as well as a few other planes. If you have a love of aviation you will really enjoy watching this movie, if nothing else just for the film work they did with the Mirage 2000. You will see the Mirage 2000 flying over spectacular scenary and doing amazing manuevers!

The creators of the film used a specially designed camera built inside a fuel pod of another Mirage 2000 to capture the aerial shots for the movie. Only another Mirage 2000 could keep up with the planes being filmed.





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Sky Fighters

E. A. Hollingsworth | Brentwood, CA, USA | 01/29/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Think Top Gun with a Gallic twist. Impressive air to air action and photography, real - instead of CGI flying scenes, and best of all, no blatant violations of the laws of physics. Although the dialog is dbuued into English, the dubbing is done extremely well, and does not detract from the overall viewing experience.

I highly recommend this movie to anyone who enjoyed Top Gun for its flying scenes."

Fantastic Aerial Photography and a Weak, Not So Suspenceful

Tsuyoshi | Kyoto, Japan | 01/13/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"If you are interested in modern military airplanes, or want to enjoy the beautifully shot aerial photography, "Les Chevaliers du ciel" ("Sky Fighters") is a film for you. This French action film has plenty of flight scenes that are just exciting. Moreover, unlike some Hollywood films like `Stealth,' these scenes are not CGI.



Still I have to give only two stars to this because of its messy script that fails to make good use of the thrilling scenes. Don't get me wrong here because usually I would ignore any plot holes or corny dialogues as long as these demerits do not prevent us from enjoying the actions. Sadly, in "Sky Fighters" they certainly do and the weak plot and impossible situations seem to drag down the otherwise fantastic materials.



The story looks simple at first. One Mirage 2000 is stolen and two French air force fighter pilots try to stop it. The stolen Mirage keeps showing an intimidating move, however, doggedly following one of them, so Captain Marchelli (Benoît Magimel) shoots it down, disobeying the order from the ground. It turns out later that his decision might be wrong.



So far so good, but after that point the film begins to introduce too many things one after another, leaving the puzzled viewers far behind. Before any hints as to the stolen Mirage is given, director Gérard Pirès (responsible the original `Taxi") throws in anything that could be used as excuse for showing the flying sequences - air exercises, The Cannonball Run-like race and national security problem. Except for the shots of the air force fighters (including that of the camera inside the cockpit or the aerial cinematography over the city of Paris), there is nothing suspenseful or thrilling about the film and its conclusion is really anti-climax, nothing that would satisfy anybody.



Some people complain (with good reasons, I guess) that `Sky Fighters' resembles `Top Gun.' That is half true, half wrong. True because it features two daredevil pilots and their friendship (and love interest too). Wrong because it has a much more contrived and incredible plot that goes on and on without giving us any clue as to what we should follow in its muddled storyline. And no Meg Ryan and Kelly McGillis."

Better than Top Gun? Kinda...Yeah

Wayde A. Callender | Boston, MA USA | 03/04/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I should begin by saying I have a querky style and I am an aviation nut, so movies that portray aviation will always get my attention. That said, I was more a fan of Iron Eagle than Top Gun in the 80's, and though this movie and Top Gun are oft mentioned together I think it sits neatly between Top Gun and Iron Eagle, and I liked Sky Fighters (or as I originally saw it, Les Chevaliers du ciel) a whole lot better. It certainly bests the recent film "Stealth" (which I saw, and consider a C- grade movie)



The story is somewhat thin, but at the same time not so far fetched; The attempted theft of a combat aircraft involves two of France's best pilots (wouldn't be a movie if they weren't)in a fairly complex terrorist plot. It also does not have a lot of air combat, dogfights, or stuff going 'ka-boom!' but it didn't bother me.



The acting was passable, and as they are European, I had no prior exposure to taint my opinion of them. The leads were just a bit more believable as pilots to me than Cruise and Kilmer



The places where the movie strays from a "paint by numbers" formula and towards goodness, are in the twists writer, Gilles Malençon added to the story, the time spent showing the main characters, "Walk'n" and "Fahrenheit" in situations outside of the cockpit, keeping other characters from just being action movies cliches; and the director(Gérard Pirès)'s attention to all the little details.



This film has some of (if not) the best flight, and aerial photography in an action movie. The jets and the actors' reactions in the cockpits were superb and believable and the little things that aficionados or real pilots would expect (or miss if they were left out) are there, and all of it truly sells the film's more exciting set pieces.



I abhor the term "popcorn movie" but as a thin guilty pleasure experience, this is definitely in my top ten, --so much so that I tracked the this film, and was very disappointed when it was not originally slated to be put out on a DVD outside of France or subtitled. I was willing to purchase the French DVD and settle for having my cousin from Canada translate it for me (I do not know or speak French) but when I came across this on Amazon, I was on cloud nine, (bad)pun intended.



I recommend this movie highly. If you like action movies involving combat jets you have to at least see this movie once."