Stealth

Ok. Really. The only reason I saw this film was to see the work that Digital Domain did for it. I'm a big fan of their work, and wanted to see how they pulled this film off.

Ok.. Two reasons. The other one was Jessica Biel. Oh, and maybe the cool fighter jets. It's always an awesome sight to see huge pieces of machinery defy gravity and all logic. I'm talking about the physicality of real objects, not the CG Talon planes that were created. It's been a while since I saw a movie like this, and while I grew up on Top Gun, this approached that level of coolness. The only things missing were the real airplanes flying.

Regardless, the particle effects and hard surface modelling that DD did on this show was pretty excellent. The cloud and gasoline aerial work two thirds of the way through were really great. As well, the Talons on board the aircraft carrier were well done. They were missing some weight when they took off, but overall it was very minor, and something a regular audience member might not pick up on. I'm sure the team did some research, and Top Gun was probably one of those films to see! Some of digital fire work was pretty bad, and I'm not sure how it passed muster. Some clipping in the highlights, which could have been from not protecting for float film delivery. Some of the compositing could have been improved, most notably the radiation cloud over the city. It seemed like it was a TV res scale up! I'm not sure why it was so blurry. Other than that, most, if not all of the comps done of the actors in the jet were well done. I didn't really notice anything horrendous. Only one shot pokes out, and that's Josh Lucas' acting while piloting near the end of the movie, and he's moving left and right in the cockpit like he's dodging bullets, and the plane is going straight. Haha, joke's on you Josh! ;)

Acting wise, everyone performed fairly well.. No Oscar performances here, but they conveyed what needed to be told to progress the story. The fourth wingman does some pretty neat flying, on the cool scale, but it is all digital. This was definitely a popcorn movie. No thinking about what's happening next, because you were pretty much led along.

A fun movie, albeit mindless entertainment. A decent 6 out of 10.