Where to watch Warbirds
0 1/2 Star
A covert military airstrike against rebels in the tiny Mideastern nation of El Alahaim goes wrong, leaving one pilot dead and another in enemy hands. A second, more dangerous mission is planned to rescue the captive pilot.
Warbirds is directed by notorious b-movie filmmaker Ulli Lommel. Best known for his forays into the horror genre, including the original Boogeyman and the effective 1973 picture Tenderness of Wolves, this action adventure is clearly based on the Top Gun and Iron Eagle mold that was set during the late 1980s. However, the movie is so cheap-looking and ineptly produced that it doesn’t even qualify for the good-bad movie moniker. Using what appears to be every last inch of available stock footage, the filmmakers have assembled a fighter jet movie with very little aerial combat or coherent editing. The rebels that have captured the Sheik are prone to sitting atop stationary tanks, waving machetes and machine guns, while making loud proclamations and doing very little else. The military leader back home assembles in a war room that is straight out of Luigi Cozzi territory. I’m not being ironic when I state that Airwolf had better sets and production values.
The success of Top Gun brought a wave of impostors in the years since. Warbirds is at the bottom of the barrel. How bad is it? You could pick any Iron Eagle sequel or even the Nicolas Cage box office dud Firebirds and be far more entertained. This film was reviewed by noted New York Times critic Vincent Canby, who had this to say about the ordeal: “Lommel takes filmmaking with complete seriousness.” Since that quote is embossed on the poster, the idea must be that even faint praise is positive approval. They are greatly mistaken.
Directed by: Ulli Lommel
Written by: Ulli Lommel, Clifford B. Wellman
Starring: James Eldert, Timothy Hicks, Bill Brinsfield