Les Chevaliers du ciel

The movie is somewhat disappointing at first sight: The story is kinda lame, the actors are quite OK, and it's boring from time to time. Some intermission shots seem clearly constructed, like they needed some human acting in there.

But then you see the shots taken in flight, the planes, the sky- it's simply amazing. I've never seen a movie that features flight to that degree. Well, I've seen quite some movies featuring airplanes (flying, that is- not Airforce One or such), but that movie is different. Forget the story, forget the actors- there is only one thing important in here, it's the beauty of flying. It's not even the planes itself, it could be almost any other aircraft. Some shots are simply beautiful, some are amazing, some are interesting, and some make you lean back in your chair, stunned, willing to make your PPL next week.

Flying is beautiful. This movie shows it. However, if you can't stand flying or understand the fun in it it's not worth viewing. But if you like movies like this, watch it.

By the way, it's from time to time almost the same as watching those Mountainbike vids that you can run as a background on your PC. Nice shots with nice action to look at and you can watch it all day long.

I gave it 8 points, 2 for the flying, 4 for the camera and the idea, another 2 for the not too bad acting. No, seriously- it's 8 points mostly to the camera and the idea behind the flight shots. It could be 10 without any acting in between, but then it wouldn't have been a movie for the regular cinema anymore.

A French aerial-action flick packed with fast jets, quick tempered pilots and the usual array of love-interests. Many have compared 'Les Chevaliers du ciel' to the 1986 US box office blockbuster, Top Gun. Film fans bang on about 'this lax French copy' - but it's not a copy, it's a completely different film altogether. Different plot and different characters. It just happens to feature the French Air Force, whereas Top Gun was based on the US Navy.

In my honest opinion, 'Les Chevs' (it's international title being Sky Fighters), is a very plausible film. If you ignore the weak female characters and their individual inter-woven story-lines, then the 97 minute film motors along quite happily. Then you discover that the director is one Gérard Pirès, the man responsible for delivering 'Riders' and 'Double Zero'. For anyone who saw either of these stable-mates may recall British actor Bruce Payne's fingernail scraping American accent in 'Riders' and then there was the farcical 'Double Zero' - a French spy comedy film. It was obvious that a large slice of the combined budgets went towards lunch.

'Les Chevaliers du ciel' has a fairly reasonable story: a new French fighter jet, the Mirage 2000 is hijacked on the tarmac at the Farnborough Airshow in the UK. Two French fighter jets are sent to intercept the stolen aircraft as it flies towards the French coast. Our two heros are flying the interceptors, Benoît Magimel as Capt Antoine "Walk'n" Marchelli and his sidekick, Capt Sébastien "Fahrenheit" Vallois played by Clovis Cornillac. They end up in a multitude of trouble but go on to save the day when a naughty little inter-governmental plot is revealed.

Such is the advancement in filming technology and special effects in the 19 years since Top Gun was made, this particular flick contains some very impressive aerial sequences. What many fail to realise is that the flying sequences in Top Gun were mainly filmed from the ground, whereas in 'Les Chevs', it was mostly airborne. With 21st Century kit like the Spacecam and the Vectorvision Jet Camera, what you see is what actually happened. By strapping this new technology to the underbelly of another fighter jet, the aerial sequences have you in the Martin Baker seat of ejection happiness. A pod containing 4 cameras captured the forward, rear and side-to-side action, making for a fascinating insight into the sheer joy of punching your way through a cloud bank.

The film, naturally, has to have a love interest - or 3 - as in this case. Géraldine Pailhas plays Maelle Coste, the French Prime Minister's defence adviser, Alice Taglioni plays fellow pilot Lt Estelle 'Pitbull' Kass and Rey Reyes as "Stardust", an American Air Force pilot on an exchange programme. I must say that Ms Reyes took a leaf out of 'Riders' by delivering a shockingly bad US accent and also managed to corner the market in pouting and posing. A character somewhat far fetched and unbelievable.

The inter-weaving sub plots keep you thinking and Fiona Curzon, a Paris-based English actress, makes an appearance as a certain Mrs Redgrave, a British arms dealer from Gibraltar. Sadly, she too seems to have been struck down with a case of the 'awful accents'.

Overall, 'Les Chevs' seems to have lifted Gérard Pirès out of his funk and is well worth a viewing. So brush up on your French, return the seatback to the upright position and prepare for the rush of the afterburners.

I just saw this movie and I really enjoyed it ! I don't remember exactly the plot of Top Gun (maybe because there wasn't one ;-) ) but I'm sure that this movie is much better than Top Gun. (And no, I'm not saying that because I'm European !) Why ? First because it has an outstanding cinematography : the landscapes are various (the Alps, the sea, the desert and even Paris) and beautifully caught by the camera : they never shot anything if there wasn't the kind of clouds they wanted for example !

The best aspect of this movie is without any doubt the formidable camera angles. In Top Gun they mostly used cameras on the ground and special effects for the cockpit scenes. In this movie everything is shot from five cameras in a modified pod on a jet fighter and the result is absolutely breathtaking ! The technique they used to shot the actors in the cockpit is not the same as the Tony Scott film : in Top Gun it's the camera that rotates around the actor, in this movie the actors and the camera were on some kind of elevator with an articulated arm that can rotates in all directions, so that they were upside down and shaken like in a simulator ! The result is way more convincing and believable after the blue screen is replaced with the superb images.

The plot is also quite good, although it's still an action movie ! There's a lot of humor and the cast delivers a good performance... And finally, the soundtrack is always well chosen : The ambient, mood music beautifully reinforces the feeling of lightness and calm when the planes are flying high in the clouds, and on the other hand the rock music matches perfectly with the thrilling dogfight scenes ! What else do you ask to that kind of movie ? For me the only problem is the end, (wich I will not disclose here) : in my opinion it's too abrupt, I was expecting something bigger and longer... But it's still a good one.

Overall, a good movie for everyone : 8 out of 10 !

Defenatly a movie for all flight-fans out there. The aerial-photography is wonderful, i find it much better then in Top Gun. Compared to Iron Eagle, its no competition. The director has set a new standard in aviation movies. Its high, well above 25,000ft. I think there is more flying in this movie then in Top Gun And Iron Eagle put together. Yes some acting is not the best and you don't watch a movie like this one because of the intricate plot. Its all about fast military jets! Another great thing is that you don't have to listen to cheesy lines like in the other two mentioned movies. Kick the tires and light the fires, lean back and enjoy the ride.

Year 2005/2006. What is this? Rubbing my eyes, checking the cover of DVD - Chevaliers du ciel, Les - yes, it is a french movie. Like so many Hollywood cookings, much aerial stunts, breath-taking sky- punctures through clouds and blue pilots heaven. Seen so many fighter-movies, but this is a bullseye. Not for a story - many weak characters, but the real bold ones, the planes themselves.

Mirage was a good choice. Delta-wings gives extra speed and maneuverable feelings with most important fact that those planes were real ones. Real pilots and real surroundings. Only scene over Paris was partly manipulated.

Goodbye Top Gun and so many ridiculous computer aided movies. I won't search for goofs, it's not relevant.

Female-must-frame-in-the-film act was filled with nice-faced Alice Taglioni and the others, but the they did not have the charm of Mme Géraldine Pailhas, who has those faces to hold in memory.

French icon Benoît Magimel got more to keep going on.

My vote is mostly for authentic aviation.