Fire Birds

Fire Birds

1990
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.
Ratings:
Brad Score: 5.0/10
Internet Score: 5.1/10
Director:
David Green
Cast:
Nicolas Cage, Tommy Lee Jones, Sean Young, Bryan Kestner, Dale Dye, Illana Diamant, Peter Onorati, Marshall R. Teague, Gregory Vahanian, Cylk Cozart
Genres:
Action Adventure

My notes

First viewing since being a kid

This is what I expect from a Nic Cage performance. He leaned in and found an interesting - albeit unnatural - stance to take with his character. I don't know if that influenced Sean Young's performance, but her line delivery was almost always jarringly flat or unconvincing. Tommy Lee Jones showed up, though, and his play off Cage was what put this solidly in the middle.

In a lot of ways, this is an extended episode of Airwolf, albeit with a bigger budget. One massive difference in viewing this as an adult is that Tommy Lee Jones was the same age in filming as I am now, though he looked and acted older. His character's age was 40 and it was a plot point on how that was too old.

Not great Bob. At 44 I'm in my prime.

Watched July 16, 2025 via Streaming — rated 5.0/10