Hyper Sonic

The plot, special effects, and any similarity to current day USAF capabilities & operations was so far off-base that I didn't even notice the poor editing job that they previous reviewer mentioned.

I only suffered through the first half-hour of the movie before I had to put myself out of my misery & turn off the TV.

Clearly this was a low-budget movie, and not only did the USAF/DOD run away from any agreement to provide a liaison for basic technical accuracy, but the producer apparently didn't bother to have ANY adviser for military 'culture' or aviation matters.

They couldn't even track down some surplus fighter pilot helmets & oxygen mask assemblies -- what they depicted as O2 masks were actually some modified SCUBA diver breathing regulators!

This is not a big summer blockbuster with $100's of millions for its budget. However, when I saw this movie at my local video store, I decided to rent it (had nothing better to do on a Saturday night). I put it in the DVD player and was ready to fall asleep on the couch watching it. I was really surprised that I actually found myself getting into it. The CGI is nowhere near Industrial Light and Magic level, but not really that bad. The story is good, the acting was way better than I expected, Yeah it is a low-budget film, but as long as you go in not expecting a highly technical film, I thought this film was fun. I even went as far as to purchase this film. Adam Baldwin's character was good... I really wanted him to die a very horrible and slow death, and you know what they say... If you find yourself hating the villain in the film, then he did a good job as an actor! Rent this movie just for fun, like I did... You just may be surprised like I was...

Check this out if you like movies that are so bad they're good. If you watch it with that in mind, it's pretty funny and will crack you up. It's got awful cgi, wailing guitar where it doesn't belong, a weird plot about race jet drivers (?), bad actors delivering words they've clearly never said in their lives, and Johnny Lawrence from cobra kai.

It almost gives off death race 2000 vibes (but without the political allegories) even though there's not much violence or death, so if you're a fan that one check this out. I don't think will become a midnight movie classic or anything, but if you find the dvd for $1 like I did, pick it up and have a blast with others who would appreciate such a POS!

A perfectly preposterous plot taking place in the "near future" I suppose. It's based on the idea of an "Around the World" hypersonic(what's the difference between Hypersonic and supersonic?) plane race... But that's not all... The race is, of course, being broadcast AND the "network" want's good ratings! Death Race 2020? I love watching the "late movie" on terrestrial broadcasts... It reminds me of when I was a kid. I would love to know who picks these movies. None the less, this is the only way I would see real, contemporary "Cormanesque" B-Movies. This movie is exactly what I crave when tuning in to late Sunday night broadcast television... Totally goofy but, just like a country music song, I have to see what happens in the end.

During the opening credits, we see two young boys playing with toy airplanes.

In the next scene, Grant Irvine, one of those boys, is in an airplane race. It is dangerous to refuel in the situation he is in, but he thinks it is more important to win than to be careful.

Several people die as a result of the explosion, including some spectators.

There is an investigation in which TV executive Chris Bannon doesn't tell the truth, and airplane racing is ended for the next four years.

Four years later, there is racing again. And Bannon cares more about ratings than safety. After all, the rebroadcasts of that incident four years earlier got some of the best ratings the NTC network has ever seen.

Grant can't race (or can he? We'll find out), but his brother Kevin (apparently the other boy from the opening credits) can. Grant can be the crew chief. Kevin flew in combat against Albanians, but despite his medals, his brother (who was in Desert Storm) doesn't see that war as worthy of respect. Both brothers appear interested in Trina, the pretty refueling pilot. Diedrich is a tough, competitive German pilot who reminds me of Drago in "Rocky IV".

It's an exciting event watched by millions, and covered by DNN, PGD and MATV as well as NTC. And in this world, ratings information is available immediately. Furthermore, there is plenty of action to generate ratings. Bannon, of course, wants the pilots to be as reckless as possible so that maybe there will be a crash or something.

It's funny to watch the poor people of Vladivostok (or whatever city that really is) reacting to the reckless pilots. I didn't know they had such pretty blonde women there. Hey, who cares, people in the movie say--it's Vladivostok.

There is an amazing moral dilemma which is resolved in a way one might not expect. Perhaps some people here care about others more than winning.

This isn't really my kind of movie, but I couldn't help but find the racing scenes exciting. Before the second race, a lot of scenes explained what was happening or getting ready to happen, but these wouldn't necessarily interest those who came here for action.

I'm no expert, but it certainly looked like people knew what they were doing as they tried to make the action realistic. Those who know planes might have a different opinion. Two major weaknesses: the sound effects people relied heavily on Hanna Barbera (a good thing for someone like me who grew up on those cartoons), and the planes went all the way across Africa and Asia in no time flat, as if they used "Star Trek" worm holes or something. And I doubt medical information was accurate. There's no way someone could recover like that without a hospital and real doctors.

No one watches a movie like this for the acting. I thought Adam Baldwin was particularly weak in some scenes. His character sounded knowledgeable as he did part of the race announcing for NTC, but he was no Jim McKay. He was, of course, an executive, so this may have been all right. But his best moments seemed to be limited to those exciting scenes where something dangerous was likely to generate ratings. He had a great poker face at one point where I thought he was delivering bad news--he wasn't.

It's a B movie. Something exciting to watch if that's your style and you're not picky.