Chris_Halpin I was excited at the prospect of watching Fighter Pilot: Operation Red Flag, thinking that it would be a genuine documentary. How wrong I was. The saccharine sweet narration can be rather vomit inducing at times, however in places it is delivered in a dull, lifeless monotone. The documentary aspect of the film is very shallow indeed as it simply glosses over things and never really actually educates or demonstrates anything, we are just treated to some very basic facts figures over the top of some visuals that are, admittedly, stunning.Some of the cinematography is excellent and I would love to be able to say make the whole experience worthwhile however it suffers from bad editing and staging and a lack of continuity making it obvious that many shots were filmed in various locations nowhere near Red Flag, and during some of the dogfight sequences it's hard to keep track of who is who as the aircraft keep chopping and changing between shots so you have no real idea who is flying what.There is an excessive amount of pyrotechnics used to stage various explosions making the whole affair feel rather fake and forced. Ultimately this isn't a documentary and it isn't a film. It doesn't educate and it doesn't entertain, and it feels like a huge missed opportunity given the access the film crew had to the Red Flag exercises.

nwmountaintroll I saw this for the first time when I was in high school, while on vacation, and just before an air show. Not knowing much about mil aviation I was fascinated by it and inspired (started my pilot training within a few months after). Unfortunately I made the mistake of watching it again recently, and being more knowledgeable about the subject, it ruined the movie for me.On the IMAX screen the footage is incredible, as for watching the movie on your computer or TV, you can probably find better clips on YouTube. Anyways, at least the footage is of real airplanes.The scenes inside the controlling aircraft were so fake it was painful, obviously inside a studio. The amount of flare popping was annoying as well, especially because they made the aircraft so quiet.They made the lead character into a nerd, I'm sure he's a cool dude in real life, but he was so watered down I had to tune out the narration in some parts. I was also disappointed with the pyrotechnics, couldn't they have used footage of some real bombs? Anyways, if you can get past the fact that hardly any of the tactics in the film are real, as well as the fake sets and pyrotechnics in some parts, it's got some great footage and is worth watching once or twice. It's an inspirational film to say the least.

lizzyd718 The comment above me is full of inaccurate facts about the fighter pilot in the movie, his unit and the filming of the movie. I believe that if you are going to write a review about something that you obviously know nothing about then you should stick to your opinion instead of making stuff up and pretending like you know what you are talking about....You know neither Capt. John C. Stratton or anything about the filming of this movie...if you don't like it, then just say that. However, I found the movie to be amazing and inspiring. I cannot tell you how many people I have heard come out of the theater after viewing it and say "wow" or "I think i want to join the air force."

abutcher20 I went to a prescreening of this in early 2005, and it was specifically hyped by one of the featured pilots, Major Novotony, as the Air Force's long overdue answer to Top Gun. Although most of the cinematography was well done for an IMAX theater, there was no real depth to the movie with the audience getting dragged along with a main character that was sheepish and uninteresting--not what people perceive in fighter pilots. (SPOILERS AHEAD) Although the movie is presented as a pseudo-documentary, it shows the main character in a later exercise mission in a role as a downed pilot involved in escape and evasion from enemy forces, while trying to signal to friendly pararescue forces. This part does not suit the film presentation and feels very staged, as it's unlikely that the opposing forces would not find the downed pilot with all the IMAX crew and equipment focused upon him. Overall, this movie is very sparkly at times, but is composed entirely of makeup with no underlying beauty.