Desert Thunder

If some scenes look familiar and feel out of place it's because they are, this movie uses footage from both Navy Seals and Iron Eagle. Anything of its own making is poorly put together and at times frustratingly bad. Most of the movie is taken up by the misfit bunch of characters goofing around, falling out, and eating lunch. The basic story is simple and could have been decent if told well, but this movie just feels cheap and lazy.

This movie is one of the worst movies ever made. It is not just bad, it is so bad that i just had to watch it until the end because i was stunned by just how much a movie can suck. I sincerely can't believe that there were people that invested their money into THIS. I also find it hard to believe that there are 10 people that rated this movie "10" on IMDb. It was probably the director and some members of his family or something.

To summarize, there is absolutely NOTHING good to point out in the entire movie. The plot is extra-unoriginal and seen in slightly different shapes a billion times. The direction is even poorer, because usually movies similar to this one are in a few moments exciting, but this one is dull the entire time. The acting is also a bad joke. I can't believe someone managed to make such a lousy movie.

I am a movie watcher from way back, and I can pretty much believe anything that the director brings to the film. This is a movie that you don't need to loose any brain cells over, full with the stuff that men, and sometimes women love. Human fights, food fights, gun fights, and yes jet fights, with a explosion or two. WHAT I don't get is the other movies that are in this movie, check this out... There is a jet dog-fight from Top Gun, there is a airplane vs. two helicopters fight from Capricorn One, there is a jet vs. everything on the ground from the movie Iron Eagles. Don't get me wrong, the movie is entertaining, but the only original fight was the food.

Concocted by hack director Jim Wynorski in collaboration with Roger Corman's Concorde Films, "Desert Thunder" passes it's time a lot quicker than a lot of other low-budget action films I've seen, but is still nothing great.

Baldwin and Tyson put together a "crack" team of misfit combat pilots who have been dishonourably discharged for various antics to fly a secret covert mission to Iraq and thwart the baddies' plans to launch a biological weapon against Europe. So we've got a kind of "Top Gun"/"Iron Eagle" meets "The Dirty Dozen" movie where we know the heroes will pull together and save the day.

Riddled with clichés along the way including: a brawl in a redneck bar; convenient plot information delivered by generals and bad guys; token racial minorities; poor attempts at humour; military funeral with requisite flinching when the guns fire and Baldwin's psychological hindrance from feeling responsible for the death of another pilot. It takes 70 minutes before our heroes even make it to Iraq for the climax which feels like they forgot there was supposed to be an ending.

Still, not that horrible, but certainly no classic of action cinema. No credits are given at the end for any sort of flying effects; pilots; planes etc., which makes me wonder if the combat footage is stolen from another film? I bought it for $2 on a double bill with "Fear" (1988) which wasn't as good as it sounded.

OK - so the characters were stereotyped, some of the acting wasn't very good, the comedy scenes were clichéd, the plot was predictable and the film had nothing new to say, but -

• the aerial shots were terrific!