Stealth Fighter

Another B action movie with cheap sets, laughable script and mediocre acting. Were we to expect anything different from Wynorski? Why did the makers bother with this one at all. Highlights from this film are the appearances of Ernie Hudson and William Sadler appearing together as President and leading commander respectively.

This film is quite possibly one of the worst ever made - Ice T can't act or deliver a line (but that isn't necessarily just in this film - Ya know wot I'm sayin'), the fighter plane scenes are stolen from Flight of the Intruder, basically this is a cack version of Broken Arrow (quality film)! The "plot" is totally lacking - I only ended up watching it all the way through just to see if it could get any worse - which it consequently did! The only good thing in this film was Erika Eleniak who did manage to cheer me up for a bit of this epic eyesore! So in summary if you see this film in a rental store destroy it so no-one else loses an hour and a half of their life watching it!

Director Jim Wynorski sure works a lot in tinseltown, but is on autopilot most of the time. This film is typical of his 'espionage / "military action" thriller genre. Generally mediocre acting, writing and direction that harks back to the glory days of Golan/Globus back in the 1980s. Wynorsky sure like military action thrillers, but he'd better get a military advisor one of these days.... the uniforms are either atrocious or worn wrong, the tactics are laughable, the weapons are many times inappropriate for the usage/anachronistic/obsolete, and EVERYONE who ever has worn a beret in a Wynorski film has always worn one three sizes too small!!! Too Funny! A waste of good talent. Costas Mandylor, Hudson, Sadler, Divoff and all the others have done much better in other films. Things to watch for: a) Costas Mandylor's character slips a package of high explosive into his shirt (rather than carry it in some sort of package or bag) when he's on the helicopter riding into battle. b) The usage of stock footage from Christopher Walken's 1980 film "The Dogs of War". In fact this director uses TONS of stock footage from other, larger budgeted films in a lot of his projects. Spotting them is always fun. :) This is a good time killer if you are an afficionado of "bad cinema". If you like well done military action, forget it. The battle sequences are truly bad and the 'commando's carry too little equipment, the nitpicker who is a fan of military action movies will find tons more to criticize! ;)

"Stealth Fighter" is perhaps one of the worst low-budget espionage films concievable. Ice-T's portrayal of a navy fighter pilot borders on ridiculous even comedic as he brings unbelivable adolescent "gang" behavior and language to the film. What happens when the gangsters of New Jack City meet political terrorists? You get "Stealth Fighter" a movie that is almost insulting to the intelligence. How is it possible that a pilot can be concurrently enlisted in both the Air Force AND Navy, be a Navy SEAL, and lastly, be qualified for all major US aircraft? And with all the intelligence neccessary to do all of those tasks, we're to believe that Ice-T's character can't even pronounce the words "seven-seven-seven" with good english? (Ice-T pronounces seven as 'tevin-tevin-tevin.') Not to mention that this film excessively steals stock footage heavily from such movies as Iron Eagle, Interceptor, Clear and Present Danger, US Navy Seals, Diamonds are Forever and includes a battle sequence constructed entirely from edited footage of the bombing scene from Flight of The Intruder, where the only noticeable difference is Brad Johnson and Williem Dafoe have been conviently edited from the scene. The "stealth" F-117 which is stolen from the US gov't is actually the prop used as the "Manta" transport plane from Executive Decision. What is supposed to be a high-tech Los Angeles class submarine is actually the WWII era submarine set featured in Down Periscope. And the center attraction, a stolen SDI satellite, is actually stock footage of the killer satellite from James Bond "Diamonds Are Forever." To make matters worse, the footage editors didn't even bother to remove the original on-screen text from US Navy Seals in the carrier scene...the text that says "Off The Coast of Lebanon" does not match the on screen text used earlier and for the rest of "Stealth Fighter" - it's like comparing italic Times New Roman to Arial font. There are way too many character flaws, plot inconsistencies, and easily recognizable props and footage from other movies included in "Stealth Fighter" to make it believable.

I don't know who came up with this film, but the casting director and the props person need to be glued together for about a month just to teach them a lesson. President Ernie Hudson? Do you take us for saps? Did anyone notice that during the tense negotiation scene with the bad guys, the President and his cabinet are sitting in what could be characterized as a small grade school classroom? watching a 19 inch tv monitor? while all assembled around a small dinner table? You can actually see them all being visibly uncomfortable, since they all can't fit into the picture at once. Ernie has a look on his face as though the camera crew didn't let him eat any catered donuts that morning--he's hungry and wondering where his life went.

Isn't the President supposed to have a big "situation" room, with padded chairs, big screen tv monitors and a huge conference table for when he negotiates with bad guys? If I were a bad guy, negotiating with Pres. Hudson while his staff all has to stand over his shoulder so they can see the tv would be impetus for all kinds of mischief. I bet when one of them stands up, he better call "fives" or someone takes his chair.

And who wrote Ice-T's lines? I certainly hope it wasn't the Ice-Man himself. Note to self, Ice: any tough-sounding one-liner that ends in the phrase "peach trees" is not all that tough to begin with. Wasn't this guy a rapper? Can't he sound any more intimidating than that?

Ice - T vs. Ernie Hudson in a battle for the world? Perhaps under-water living is the life for me, after all. Do yourself a favor..don't watch this movie. Go rent Ghostbusters, put on an Ice-T CD, and punch yourself in the groin for 2 hours.