Firefox

... and by my count this line was spoken at least seven times here.

This is a cold war thriller from Clint Eastwood about a Vietnam vet fighter pilot sent undercover and across the iron curtain to steal a new Soviet super-plane. The first two-thirds of the film are a treat, with a lot of tense scenes of Clint and his sympathetic Russian contacts narrowly escaping capture. The last section is where the film loses steam, with a lot of repetitious, dated fx shots of the jet in action.

Warren Clarke is memorable as Clint's chief contact. Also featured are Freddie Jones, Ronald Lacey, Nigel Hawthorne, and Kenneth Colley. As you may have noticed, there are no women listed; this is the rare film with no substantial female presence at all. The real star, though, other than Clint, is the fictional MiG31 "Firefox" fighter jet, invisible to radar, capable of Mach 6 speeds as well as full nuclear armament. The film also borders on science fiction with the jet's thought-controlled weapon systems.

It is a 50/50 proposition as to whether you will like this one. For me it was fun to see Eastwood stretch his directorial skills in a different direction, and even more fun if you actually remember the cold war...or were even alive during the cold war for that matter.

I saw this film when it originally came out in the theaters...well over 30 years ago. I'd enjoyed it, but times have changed, I have changed and technology has changed...so do I still think it's a decent movie? Well, surprisingly, yes...it still is pretty good.

The film is a real change of pace for Clint Eastwood. In this one, he plays a Vietnam War fighter pilot who is called out of reserves to help his country. They need an excellent pilot who can think in Russian to go into the USSR for a covert operation....to steal the Firefox fighter jet!! Why is it that important? Well, because they plane can apparently do about mach 6 AND it has a new neural interface...and it's much more advanced than American fighters.

Much of the film consists of the mission getting into the Soviet Union and then to the plane. To me, this was the most interesting part. Then, the final third or so of the film is flying the plane home...and avoiding all the missiles and the other Firefox fighter. This was amazingly made for 1982 but does look a bit dated today. You can't blame anyone for this...CGI technology just has improved tremendously since then. Overall, it's an exciting film and one that is far deeper and more interesting than a standard Eastwood shoot 'em up picture. Worth seeing.

By the way, although the film is mostly extremely well made, in the first of many (too many) flashback scenes, Eastwood's Phantom II jet turns into a Thunderchief fighter-bomber. This was a pretty sloppy use of stock footage.

Firefox isn't your usual Eastwood film, he's almost branching out into Star Wars territory here with this Sci-Fi heavy Cold War Spy thriller. The effects like every 80's film have dated badly but for a movie made in 1982 they are rather good. Eastwood directs himself in what is a pretty average performance by his own high standards. The majority of the cast is made up by British character actors. Warren Clarke is really good but Freddie Jones and Nigel Hawthorne are pretty hammy. Also Raiders of the Lost Ark fans can spot Ronald Lacey playing Semelovsky a Jewish scientist. The first half of the film is a spy thriller and can be pretty nail biting at times as Clint gets his papers checked at regular intervals. Also he's suffering from the same post Vietnam War disorder that John Rambo had in First Blood and that really adds to the tension. The second half is more like Star Wars and is really great stuff. So better ice up at a cold one and enjoy Firefox for what it is, Cold War entertainment at it's best.

The only reason I bought this movie is it related to the USSR. It's quite explicit on the image my country had out there. I can only guess why Soviet propaganda ignored it's existence giving enough attention same time to Rambo, Rocki IV and Red Dawn. Most of the above mentioned movies makes you rather laugh on the "accuracy" of Russian characters and soldiers in particular. Firefox is outstanding in this respect. All uniforms, guns and insignias are just OK if not to say perfect! Living not far from one of the metro stations (Kolomenskaya) adds certain thrill while watching it. Otherwise nothing special. Checking the E-bay for this DVD you get quite a low price which speaks for itself.

Major Mitchell Gant an ex-Vietnam pilot who suffers from mentally scarred flashbacks and lives a life in solitary in the woods. He's asked back onto a mission, which involves sneaking into the USSR in many disguises. So that he can steal the Russia's new high-tech MIG-31 fighter plane called the "Firefox", which its weaponry works on mind control. Since his America's best pilot, naturally his their first choice to get the plane and fly it back to western soil.

I read a lot complaints against Eastwood's pacing being quite sluggish and can't help but agree. Although the final half of the film might get all the applause with its visual effects and fast-paced action thrills. But actually, I got more out of the atmospherically brooding old hat spy set-up involving Eastwood's character travelling around Vienna (masquerading very effectively as Moscow) to get to the MIG-31. After getting to the jet, it simply falls into the unremarkable bracket and the visual gimmicks come off junky looking and lack any real spark despite the rapid build-up. When it comes to the end, it feels sudden and unfulfilling. Eastwood is pretty dry, but convincing nonetheless as Major Mitchell Gant (since he can get along alone by his magnetic screen presence) and he tackles the director's chair with sharply tight, but practically no-frills direction. The pacing throughout does seem to flounder, but Eastwood creates some moody scenes with gloomy lighting (plenty of nocturnal shots) and Bruce Surtees' burnished photography is splendidly framed to achieve an atmospheric air of growing paranoia. Maurice Jarre's vividly classy music score is titillatingly on the spot. Eastwood deliberately soaks up the bleakly audacious cold war story (adapted off Craig Thomas' 1977 novel) with an array of twists, alienation and minor suspense chipped out of Alex Lasker's hauntingly calculated, but choppy screenplay. Two weak points though, would be there's not much focus and some coincidences are hard to digest. Why I say minor in the tension, is because the suspense doesn't last real long and by being overlong it becomes too relaxed in its own high-strung set-up. The productive script is highly talkative and filled with political jargon, but settles in with some warm moments to share a bit light on the characters. The supporting cast are all capably solid with the likes of Freddie Jones, David Huffman, Warren Clarke, Kenneth Colley and Stefan Schnabel. The glazed up special effects by John Dykstra (who won an Oscar for his work on "Star Wars (1977)") might be mesmerizing and refreshing, but they are far from impressive with one or two arresting sequences executed in between many clumsy takes.

"Firefox" is nothing particularly exciting and far from a success, but I found it strangely captivating and a handsome looking feature. The idea just doesn't entirely translate on this occasion.