**A miserably bungled Top Gun impersonation with helicopters… why?** Lame Top Gun with helicopters. Almost everything is a straight rip-off. Nic Cage is a much more exaggerated Maverick. Tommy Lee Jones fills the Viper role. Flight school. Overly cocky pilots. Contentious playful romance. Fire Birds so closely replicated Top Gun that it forced a comparison that Fire Birds lost miserably. The cheese factor was cringe. The soundtrack was nowhere near the quality of Harold Faltermeyer’s anthem. David Green couldn’t measure up to Tony Scott’s directing mastery. Even with some of the 90s’ bigger stars, Fire Birds couldn’t burn bright.
A joint task force operation between the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Army has been formed to dismantle one of the largest drug cartels operating in South America. Multiple attempts to assault the cartel's mountainous compound have been thwarted by a Scorpion-attack helicopter piloted by a cartel leader, Eric Stoller (Bert Rhine). After having several aircraft shot down, most notably a pair of UH–60 Black Hawks and their AH–1 Cobra escorts, the army turns to the new AH–64 Apache attack helicopter, which can match its enemies' maneuverability and firepower.
Quick Stats
5.0
TMDB Rating
203
Votes
1h 25m
Runtime
$22.0M
Budget
—
Box Office
—
Return
Key Crew
DirectorDavid Green
WriterStep Tyner
CinematographyTony Imi
ComposerDavid Newman
EditorNorman Buckley
Production DesignPhilip A. Margraff
Produced by
Nova International FilmsTouchstone Pictures
Where to Watch
Free
HooplaRent
Amazon Video
Apple TV Store
Google Play Movies
YouTube
Fandango At HomeBuy
Amazon VideoApple TV StoreGoogle Play MoviesYouTubeFandango At HomeSee more on TMDB → JustWatch
Critics & Reviews
2 featuredThis is a helicopter-based version of Top Gun and it has a lot of issues. The unlikability of the characters is enough to make me want to turn this off and the horrifyingly bad attitude that our main protagonist has towards what is framed as his love interest but is portrayed more as a very toxic relationship is gut churning. You then add some really bad pseudo-military jargon and some half decent footage of Apache attack helicopters and you have a slightly below average movie. This isn't fun. It isn't good and it isn't enjoyable. I would not recommend you spend your time watching this.
Cast
Nicolas Cage
Jake Preston
Tommy Lee Jones
Brad Little
Sean Young
Billie Lee Guthries
B
Bryan Kestner
Breaker
Dale Dye
A.K. McNeil
Illana Diamant
Sharon Geller
Peter Onorati
Rice
Marshall R. Teague
Doug Daniels
G
Gregory Vahanian
Tom Davis
Cylk Cozart
Dewar Proctor
C
Charles Kahlenberg
Oscar De Marco
Robert Lujan
Steward Rives
Charles Lanyer
Darren Phillips
Mary Ellen Trainor
Janet Little
J.A. Preston
General Olcott
