not a movie about a plucky web company putting out indie open source browsing software but instead about a plucky Alaska clean-livin wood-chopping veteran committing international grand theft aircraft. Clint makes like a blue collar James Bond. Doesn't do anything with bitcoin, election tampering, or track suits. But instead steals a plane. Gets chased by a safety inspector in an orange space suit. Daydreams about barbequeing an asian child. Stops off for drinks with some submarine guys under an iceberg. Flies past some bluescreen miniature terrain models. Does a barrel roll. Gets the girl.
Just kidding. There's no girl.

This is a role someone other than Clint Eastwood should have played. He's just not very effective as a fighter pilot or a spy. He of course has that gritty appeal that makes for a good soldier but as a fighter pilot...nah, not so much.

It was sort of a fun movie to watch with my son though who really had no idea what the Cold War was all about, this gave me the opportunity to explain a few things although I must admit this movie isn't really all that realistic...but then, what movies were in the 80's?

To Eastwood's credit this was one of his earlier ventures when he took on the three hats of Producer, Director, and Star and in many ways it was out of his normal wheelhouse of roles to play....but as for me, it's just not a role that fit him. Gritty detective? Yes! Loner Cowboy? Absolutely! Soldier? Sure.....but fighter pilot and spy? Meh, not so much.

Fortunately this is cheap to rent, so watch it...form your own opinion.

This is a pretty good movie with most of the flying action in the last one-third of the movie. I believe that a lot of this movie is actually a social commentary showing the plight of Jews living in Russia. The point of the movie is not necessarily the theft of a military aircraft, but to show the complete and conscienceless brutality with which Russian Jews are treated. Russian Jews are very likely still treated badly by the Russian government today, so perhaps there is a timeless commentary about this film that still rings true.

Let's look at Mitchell Gant as a commissioned officer. He doesn't seem to be a good tactician even if he is a great pilot. He can fly, but he has difficulties ensuring his own safe escape with the stolen aircraft. He easily could have circled back to the air field where he took off from, and fired a missile into the hangar, damaging or destroying the second aircraft and killing many or all of the Generals who had the tools to defeat him. Not to mention wounding or killing the First Secretary. But he doesn't do this. He should have, in order to secure his own escape, but he doesn't. Perhaps Gant does not have the killing blood in him. I can understand and sympathize with that. But now we quickly see that Gant is not a good strategist. He just flies off in the blue sky, leaving his opponents alive.

The best character in the entire movie is General Vladimirov. Here is a man able to correctly figure out what Gant is doing, what his intentions are, and what the options are for defeating Gant. It is fascinating to watch Vladimirov deploy his forces as he attempts to destroy the stolen aircraft. He does this even with the First Secretary shouting abuse at him. He very nearly succeeds. If he could have vectored the second aircraft, piloted by Voskov, to Gant's refueling point soon enough, the outcome might have changed in his favor. Mostly because Gant was too timid to see to the destruction of the second aircraft in the hangar, when he had the chance and there was nothing to stop him.

The ending of this movie is correct for a movie that is intended to be a social statement on the plight of Jews in Russia. This movie is overall less of an action/adventure movie than it is a social and political statement about the terrible future for Jews living in Russia, I hope that the lives of these people are better today, after the Cold War, but I fear not.

When I was a kid , I read the novel , watched the movie and I wanted to fly the Firefox . Pilots recognize the Electronic flight information system that the plane seems to have way ahead of its time . But the thought controlled weapons system is an actual thing that is being researched . The movie is dated . The Soviet Union broke up in 91’ , everyone has a cell phone , we have a internet access in seconds instead of minutes - as opposed to the days when you maybe had one computer that wasn’t connected to the internet , nobody had a cell phone and we read books made of paper . It is therefore very dated . But in spited of that it is a fun movie which gives you a look into how things were in a previous era . The flying models are so so . We are spoiled by CG . Since this movie is pre Computer rendering technology , they used models and techniques like speeding up the film and then playing it back at normal speed and large matte paintings For backgrounds . In this movie they do excellent cranes and dollies .Its very easy to follow the action and know the story . The sub scene with the helicopters is primo ! It is still a very good movie .

This is one of those hyper-realistic spy thrillers, were "realistic" means "cynical".
Our Hero is recruited to penetrate a USSR air base and fly out with one of two Firefox prototypes because his parents came from the USSR, so he grew up speaking Russian really well.
Well, the /character/ may speak Russian really well, but /Eastwood/ does no such thing. Credibility: 0.
It also gets lost in the setup in Moscow, spending far too much time on that part of the film.
The trip from Moscow across the Urals to the Air Base is … abbreviated. There is no sense it is taking that long.
Still, the flight back is interesting, mostly when the Big Boss takes over and tries to run things. People don't actually get taken out and shot on camera, but who can say what happened after the cameras stopped rolling?
The actual climax doesn't take a whole lot of time. Oh, well, what can you expect when you spend /half the film/ trying to get out of Moscow?
So, unless you really /like/ the ultra-cynical approach to life, you might want to give this a pass.

From the get-go let me state that I was a huge fan of the novel that this film was based on, and was very stunned that the translation of that book into celluloid was equally as good. A freakish accomplishment given the notorious track record of such translations.

Also, let me preface that I'm a huge fan of Clint Eastwood. Long before he became the elder statesman of the film industry and winning several Academy Awards, these early directorial efforts proved that he was always much more than a rugged action star. In fact, I willingly suffered through films that I suspected I would dislike, simply to enjoy his performances.

Indications of his future brilliance were all on display in this 80's action/thriller.

Tells the story of Mitchell Gant, retired officer of the US Air Force. Having left the service due to what was then called Delayed Stress Syndrome, what we now call PTSD, Gant suffers intermittent and debilitating flashbacks when confronted with intense emotional situations; the illness grounding him into an early retirement. But a seminal breakthrough across the planet requires his very specific set of skills be employed once more.

Despite having access to thousands of current and former military pilots from across the free world, Gant is the lone aviator who fits a very specific profile needed for an emergency mission. In addition to being fluent in Russian and a former member of the Constant Peg Aggressor Squadron - US pilots trained in obtained Soviet aircraft and their combat styles - he's also a dead-ringer for a known heroine dealer.

As Gant is "volunteered" for the mission, it becomes clear that almost every intelligence and military officer involved in the secret project does not believe he'll succeed. With so many disparate parts and parties that have to synch perfectly, it's an unspoken but foregone conclusion that the effort is doomed. And any failure along the mission path equals tortuous death at the hands of the KGB -or- a lonely frozen death by drowning in the Arctic Sea.

For all intents, he knows this is a one-way suicide mission.

A very entertaining action/thriller with Eastwood guiding what could have easily wrecked with over-dramatization and collapsing into cold war hyperbole. His deft handing of the script emphasizing the thievery and thief - and less the geopolitical ramifications of a revolutionary combat airframe that threatens world peace.

Movie Notes:

- Firefox's author, Craig Thomas, wrote the novel based on his own air combat experience and strange rumors he had heard through the professional grapevine about a theoretical aircraft design that was said to be "invisible" to radar.

Though vehemently denied for a quarter of a century, in 1988, and nearly 12 years after Thomas' book was published in 1977, the United States announced that it had produced so-called stealth aircraft that were undetectable to radar detection systems of that period.

- The name Firefox is not the name associated with or given by the Soviet air force to their planes. Just as today with Russian aircraft, in the west we assign nicknames beginning with certain letters to help our forces quickly and easily identify opposition hardware. For example, the letters 'B' for bombers or 'C' for commercial. In the novel, an imagined MiG-31 advanced combat aircraft is given the NATO nickname of Firefox - 'F' for fighter.

Personal Note:

- I'm a fan of character actor Freddie Jones, and absolutely love his typical presentation of character: The professional who speaks with emphatic pronunciation overlaid with a personality of smooth knowing guile. Thought his performance was superlative as the MI6 officer who authors the fantastical plan to steal Russia's most advanced aircraft.

I know, let's send a Vietnam vet pilot suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder on an undercover mission in which he has to impersonate one or more people and then steal an ultra-secret, supersonic aircraft that he must command by thought in Russian! No problem! Clint Eastwood showed layers of acting skill I was unaware he possessed. This is a winner.

OK, so the special effects are a little old-school. Who doesn't get a thrill at seeing Clint pilot the Firefox over a forest, bending trees, and over the ocean, causing twin splashes? Man, I'd love to pilot that thing myself. I bought it because even though I've seen it over a dozen times, I still get a kick out of it.