Into the Sun

A pilot and an actor are thrown into a life of death situation when they are shot down in enemy territory.

For the budget director Fritz Kiersch (Children of the Corn (1984) delivers some well staged and directed scenes, Steve Grass' cinematography give the real locations scope, aside from the shoehorned aerial stock footage (taken from Iron Eagle). The sets are well lit and offer some atmosphere. Writers John Brancato and Michael Ferris offer a Rambo III-like second act with the borrowed concept of The Hard Way (1991) , an actor gets thrown into a real dangerous situation with mixed results.

In amongst the bookend dogfights and compound explosions underrated Michael Paré does a good job with the paint by numbers screenplay along with likeable Anthony Michael Hall. A few familiar faces pop up including Terry Kiser, Linden Ashby, Deborah Moore and Brian Haley. Tonally it's up and down, a comedy one moment, then serious action in a flash in a bid to appease as wider audience as possible.

Ultimately, it's better than it should be, probably more rewarding than 80 percent of the films that are churned out these days, thanks to the even production and cast.

The way I feel it, "Into the Sun" consists of two partly separated parts. The first part is a drama/comedy-part, where we are introduced to the characters and where the plot starts. The unlucky Captain Paul Watkins has too take care of a rather self-loving actor called Tom Slade, who's going to learn about the life of military pilots. Even though this part of the movie is a bit entertaining, it's not what you're waiting for in a movie like this. Luckily, lots of action kicks in in the second part of the movie. That was what I had been waiting for. The action is surprisingly good for a movie like this, even if it's standard B-action with lots of explosions and evil bad guys getting asskicked.

Well this flick is just that a flick. The real stars are the f-16 and some nice air to air footage.

There are so many technical errors it's unreal. The whole premise for the shoot down I would say is inspired by the old 1980's airspace dispute with Lybia. There is no way a number of things that happen in this movie could or would happen. Because if it did Dr. Strangelove would have happened and we would be all dead.

1) No way would the USAF allow a civilian a flight in a Hot Zone area as they did just for a movie and PR. That could and would have been done in the US, just to dumb to be believed.

2) I firmly believe that NO USAF pilot would take a civilian into a combat area especially when ordered not to. The writers screwed up big time on that one would have made more sense to have them jumped over the Med. in international waters than a pilot running to the fight.

3) In the dog fight scenes you get great shots of F-16s but they are attacked by a different aircraft with each pass, from a Viggen, to a Mirage, to a A-4, gee unify how the enemy pilots can change aircraft in midair during a dogfight from 3 different countries.

4) Gee Libyan soldiers armed with M-16s another error.

5) The mercenary American pilot, gee a fighter pilot who needs corrected glasses, don't think so. especially thin dainty framed ones that could break apart in high G maneuvers of a dogfight.

The script is bearly passable. The only scene missing is the court martial and law suits.

John Waynes "Flying Tigers" with their lawnmower powered fake P-40s and campy script still beats this flick for overall enjoyment.

The only reason I have kept this flick in my collection is for the aerial shots of the planes and they are really the stars of the film.

I rented this movie only because I like Michael Pare, and the box looked nice, and (though I could've easily found something better) it wasn't bad.

Anthony Michael Hall (Just as his career was going going down the drain) and Michael Pare are well cast for their roles and the sets were well done. Hall plays a successful Hollywood megastar sent to an air force base to research his upcoming role. Pare is a pilot assigned to show him around and teach him the ropes. Pare instantly dislikes Hall, but can't back out. The two get caught up in the middle of a battle and are forced to crash land in the desert. They are then taken hostage and the movie keeps going, and going , and going. Though it was short, it felt like it was three hours, and going nowhere.

+ (GOOD THINGS) 1.) Casting of Hall and Pare 2.) Aerial shots 3.) The sets

• (BAD THINGS) 1.) The bad guys 2.) The length 3.) The pacing

TOTAL: 5.5/10

This film doesn't appear to want it's own identity. Instead it steals concepts from other, more successful films. The main theme is the turbulent relationship between Michael Pares character and Anthony Michael Halls which then evolves predictably into some sort of twisted buddy film.

If you are interested in this sort of comedy, see The Hard Way, which has a similar plot but is better paced, better scripted and better acted by James Woods and Michael J Fox.