Review of Firefox (1982) by Antony S — 28 Nov 2006

Lacklustre effort from Clint Eastwood. Clint serves as lead and director on this, in which he plays a burnt-out US pilot more or less forced back into 'one last mission' to steal a revolutionary Russian aircraft.

The majority of the film will be unsatisfying to action fans, as it concerns itself greatly with Russian politics and Eastwood's misunderstanding of his position in the grand scheme of things (he is forced to go undercover, posing as the intended pilot for the top-secret MIG).

Though the picture promises a great deal of tension regarding Eastwood's precarious placement as our interloper, it tends to be scuppered by highly typical plot mechanics such as his convieniently-timed post-war stress disorder, and the Firefox having to stop for fuel on his journey home, granting juuuust enough time for a second 'Fox to catch up with him and proffer a high-speed dogfight (with some highly dated effects).

A patchy result, but at least it's better than that 'other' aircraft flick that inexplicably garners mass exultation...