Burning Blue

OK, gotta admit I was lured into this assuming there would be lots of skin and sex. Which there isn't.

On the other hand, the acting, story and music are better than I expected (some of the actors are MUCH better than expected). What keeps this film from being a 10 (for me) is the jarring editing: occasionally scenes jump around a lot and pacing seems uneven. Major plot points just happen and you're left momentarily bewildered as to what the hell just went down. Some of the characters and relationships should have either been flushed out more or else edited out completely, because they feel incomplete.

But the movie also gets 5 stars right out of the gate simply because Rob Mayes is delicious to look at. 😉

This movie reminds me somewhat of Top Gun. Wanting to the best at flight, relying on your mates and trying to hide faults / deficiencies.

This movie was beautifully shot considering locations / sets. With the blessing of the USN it tackled a subject which is til this day still a source of anguish for many current and former service persons in all branches of our military and life in general. The development of the character relationships was just OK in that you get the connection but it was lacking a certain dynamic. The struggles of the main characters against the discriminatory system in the US Armed Forces, their families, friends and themselves is evident and well acted but again, something in the writing / development was lacking. Thankfully there wasn't many of the typical gay clichés in this movie.

On a completely selfish note, while many the gay themed movie has gratuitous nudity and one sex scene after another. I'm kind of disappointed at the one "nude" scene there was. Not what I would've wanted or expected considering the main characters and theme. Again, completely selfish observation on my part though...I'm allowed :)

What a surprise...underneath the corny top gun look is a touching story. The best part is that you feel the longing and the distance between the two men.

It may be the time of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' but a whole lot in the Armed Services haven't got the message. They're still on a seek and eliminate mission as we see in Burning Blue.

Trent Ford and Morgan Spector are a pair of Top Gun type pilots who are also married and quite secretly gay. Assigned to the same unit they fall for each other. There seems to be so many in the Navy that are gay one wonders if they all disappeared tomorrow how that might effect the security of the nation.

But eliminate them is the mission of Michael Sirow of NCIS and don't kid yourself if you're a fan of the television series. NCIS in the bad old days did indeed conduct 'investigations' to find gays in the military. Sirow takes a pair of plane crashes among the pilots and turns it into a witch hunt.

Ford and Spector have a lot to lose, they're both from traditional military families, their fathers are admirals. It's beyond the pale and impossible that these All American fighter jocks are queer.

Burning Blue is a fine drama about days that are hopefully behind us. The mere fact that the military apparently cooperated in the making of this film indicates as much. A fine ensemble cast plays this one from the heart. Definitely try and see this one.

No spoiler alerts here! To my mind... OK here are my bug bears: - Not clear for first half hour which decade the film is set. This may have been intentional to suggest timeless values of camaraderie, betrayal, taboo and forbidden love. If so then well done but not clear - Whether its editing, direction or script, the character development is done but not the relationship leaves too much too the power of suggestion and imagination. It's clear to me that someone with a conservative agenda edited out anything that might have been too salacious for its time. The power of suggestion? Meh... - The audience is clearly intended to be wider than just LGBT. But how many non military people will search for a film if not LGBT? Am guessing they were thinking of immediate box office success - how successful was it in the end? As an LGBT film it falls short. OK here are the things I like: - The story itself -The actors (yeah!) - The use of an external figure investigating which uncovered the facts - but not the important ones such as the reasons for the "mishaps"- interesting - The idea of 'blowing off steam' while on shore leave gave the characters time to explore their identity - The courage of one individual to stand up to the organisation and defend himself and the truth... did I understand the story was based on a true one? All in all well done 4* just pity about the need to 'not offend' mainstream audiences...