During the air war over Vietnam, a U.S. Navy A-6 Intruder bomber pilot schemes with a hardened veteran to make an unauthorized air strike on Hanoi. After his bombardier is killed, Jake "Cool Hand" Grafton (<a href=">Brad Johnson)', a carrier-based Intruder pilot, questions the purpose of Navy bombing missions. He finds an ally for his cynicism in Virgil Cole, a bombardier on his third tour of duty, and together they ponder the notion of one unsanctioned mission "downtown", to "Sam City" in North Vietnam. It's 1972. The A-6 was the US Navy's medium attack bomber during the Vietnam conflict. It was called the Intruder. They fly low and alone over enemy airspace. Lt. Jake 'Cool Hand' Grafton (Brad Johnson) loses his bombardier with a peasant rifle shot. He questions the course of the war. Frank Camparelli (Danny Glover) is his commander. Political considerations keep the zone around Hanoi and Haiphong from being bombed. Lt. Cmdr. Virgil 'Tiger' Cole (Willem Dafoe) is a veteran flyer on his third tour newly arrived on the carrier. Jake meets Callie Joy (Rosanna Arquette) packing up for his bombardier's widow. Virgil is Jake's new co-pilot. Jake asks Virgil to bomb Hanoi. He relents after Boxman (Tom Sizemore) gets killed. He tells Jake about SAM city. <br/><br/>It's a bit of 'Top Gun', a bit of 'Road House', a bit of 'Animal House' and a whole lot of pro-war militarism. The tone is a mess. The humor is broad low grade. The romance is stiff and melodramatic. Brad Johnson is not the best lead. He has limited range. The good news is the movie has Willem Dafoe and also Danny Glover. What works are the planes and the missions. The flying action is done well although the miniatures are a little obvious and the special effects aren't the best. However the first run in Hanoi is terrific like the Star Wars trench run. In fact, that's what is better than 'Top Gun'. These are war actions with the characters getting shot at and killed. That makes those scenes more compelling. The original Stephen Coonts book is great. The movie, although it attempts to contain all of the content of the book is not so great.<br/><br/>The problem is that it everything from the book looks like it has been put into a blender and spat out in a completely different order. And don't even get me started on how Callie (played by Rosanna Arquette) is represented.<br/><br/>Sure, you could point out that movies are never the same (or as good) as the book, but this is just way off base.<br/><br/>Yes, the flying sequences are good and some of the atmosphere comes across, but overall I think the movie is confusing and cheesy. This is a pity, because there was so much potential.
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346 weeks ago