Interesting question. You'd expect such an evocative subject as aerial combat to have produced at least one great film, on a par with Patton or Das Boot or Saving Private Ryan, but there's nothing. Given that advances in CGI over the past decade have removed some of the expense and technical challenge of hiring aircraft and having them pretend to dogfight, you'd expect there to be at least one decent film about the Battle of Britain, for example - the topic lends itself to a cinematic treatment - but again there's nothing. The same applies to tank warfare. There hasn't been a single great film involving tank warfare. There are several good submarine and ship films, but no great tank or aircraft films.
I assume it's because there isn't much scope for personal drama in modern aerial combat. A realistic war film involving jet planes, made by intelligent professionals aiming at the same audience that enjoyed Das Boot and so forth, would barely feature the jets; it would all be about long-range missile duels and flickering radar scopes and blips on a screen. The jets are flown by individuals or pairs who never see the enemy. Great films tend to be about people, whereas aerial combat is a depersonalised, mechanical form of war. Even a realistic Second World War film would feature a lot of darting ambushes on distant specks, and it's hard to feel sympathy with pilots. Rich, middle-class overachievers.
The sad thing is that there aren't even any *good* films - never mind *great* - about fighter planes, on a par with (say) Where Eagles Dare or Die Hard or From Russia with Love etc. Dogfights tend to be an incidental part of a greater story, as in Air Force One or Firefox, rather than the meat of the film. What kind of story can you tell with a bunch of people flying their machines against a bunch of other people flying their machines?
Still, it depresses me that the Battle of Britain, of all topics, hasn't been filmed well. It's the one aerial conflict that cries out for a film - spiffing underdogs in sexy Spitfires fight off the evil Nazis, there's your pitch - but all we have is that awful late-60s Michael Caine soap opera. Not many historical aerial battles have an engaging story, perhaps only the Eastern Front has the same "romantic underdog wins out whilst surrounded by ever-present death" drama.
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corek
13 years ago
Not spitfires in the Battle of Britain, but Hurricanes. Spitfires did get the first kills in the Battle when they inadvertently shot down some of their own Hurricanes.
If you want a film with Jets fighting, you missed Hot Shots.
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