Review of Firefox (1982) by Gabe S — 15 Dec 2008

It is interesting to see how far Clint has come from this early attempt at directing. First of all, this movie has some of the most inconsistent quality I've ever seen. The opening scene with the helicopter is pretty well done.

The next hour has some decent spy/infiltration scenes that are reminiscent of The Sting or All the President's Men in style. However they are nothing unique and the camera-work is only so so. However, at the halfway point, the movie does a complete u-turn.

There is suddenly no more suspense, intrigue, identity changes, or lurking KGB agents. All of a sudden everyone becomes horrendous actors and incredibly stupid. The movie then proceeds to have a series of cheezy and extremely drawn out scenes with the supposedly "evil" Russian "masterminds".

Those scenes greatly detracted from the action and almost killed the film. Then comes the finale and the reason for why I think this movie really works. The whole film is just one giant and painful build up to the final confrontation.

Despite the choppy 80s effects, the finale is still amazing and makes the rest of the movie worth watching. The lack of music until the critical moment when Clint Eastwood is out of control, fighting with his flashbacks, and ultimately saving himself with a brilliant maneuver is just awesome.

The tip-of-the-hat from his enemy and the final stunt are just solid film-making all around. So, if you can somehow manage to get through the 1st section, the final 15 minutes are gold. One point that I must make is that this stands out more then any modern airplane films I've seen.

Despite superior effects, movies like Stealth can't even compare to the feeling of isolation that is created from the moment Clint takes off. And the Firefox itself? All I can say is Mach 6 and weapons activated by thinking in Russian.

.. BAD... ASS...