Movie Review: Stealth Fighter

Stealth Fighter a.k.a Nighthawk 

Cinetel Films, Artisan Entertainment, Grey Matter Entertainment, Stealth Fighter Pictures, USA, 1999.

Owen Turner (Ice-T) and Ryan Mitchell (Costas Mandylor) are two rival pilots bombing drug fields in Nicaragua 1986. As contrast Turner is a macho gangsta and Mitchell is a softie. Their rivalry turns out to be more serious than was the case with Maverick and Iceman. While on a mission Turner turns into a traitor and fakes his death. Admiral Peterson (William Sadler) first scolds then congratulates Mitchell for the work well done but losing his wingmates saddens him. Not that it has much effect to the story.

Mitchell and Turner

Adm. Frank Peterson

In 1999 terrorists steal F-117 Stealth Fighter Turner and surprise! It is Turner again now working for arms dealer Roberto Menendez (Andrew Divoff). The terrorists use the codes of the stolen plane to hack a satellite and use it to  disable a submarine. President Obama I mean Westwood (Ernie Hudson) has a bad day and he must arrange rescuing operation for the submarine crew and search party for finding the stolen airplane. Meanwhile Turner is ticking off his employers and Menendez's bodyguard Berg (Tommy 'Tiny' Lister Jr.).

Erin Mitchell

F-117

Roberto Menendez and Turner

Despite the 13 year gap everyone still looks as young as yesterday. Mitchell is nowadays a F-117 pilot. His work is busy and his marriage with his wife Erin (Erika Eleniak) suffers because of that. Daughter J.P. (Sarah Dampf) wants daddy back home. She'll have to wait as daddy has been selected for the mission to destroy the terrorist base and steal back the airplane.The commandos use similar tactic as Christopher Walken used in "The Dogs of War." Wait, the raid scene is taken from the "The Dogs of War!"

The President and Clancy (George Gerdes)

Berg

And this scene is from "Flight of the Intruder"

Jim Wynorski is known for churning out B-movies using various aliases. Here he cuts corners and uses cut and paste film making, taking the action scenes from big budget films. Stock footage from numerous movies makes this a good movie for spot a movie game. The technique creates a mismatch of the expensive action scenes and the cheaply filmed scenes. The fighter jet interiors look more like transport planes. The submarine scene looks like that is filmed in some real warship with some guy shaking the camera so that it looks like it is sinking.

The plot is quite generic for the genre but the simple story is padded up with some demented twists. Amusing dialogue and cheesy action saves this from being an utter mess. Especially dialogue between with Mitchell and his daughter is fun. Also Ice-T:s dialogue is hilarious, now there are gangstas in the air force. Perhaps the makers realized how absurd the movie was and inserted some tongue in cheek dialogue. Little bit more comedy and this would have been a challenger to "Hot Shots 2"

Rating:So bad it is good

Starring: Ice-T, Costas Mandylor, Erika Eleniak, Sarah Dampf, William Sadler, Ernie Hudson, Andrew Divoff, William G. Schilling, John Enos III, Alex Meneses, Tommy 'Tiny' Lister Jr., Steve J. Hennessy, Michael Gregory, Mark Adair-Rios, Paul Terrell Clayton, Steve Eastin, George Gerdes, Trevor Gordon, Clay Greenbush, Jon Huertas, Peter Spellos 

Director: Jim Wynorski (as Jay Andrews)