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List Price: $9.98 | | Label: Paramount
Salesrank: 16704
Released: July 1, 2003 |
| Our Price: $35.00 |
| Used Price: $7.51 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Time has been kind to Flight of the Intruder, a rousing aviation-action adventure that looks better now than it did to critics who panned it in 1991. Perhaps they were expecting a Tom Clancy-ish blockbuster (producer Mace Neufeld oversaw the Jack Ryan franchise), but director John (Conan the Barbarian) Milius had something potentially more substantial in mind. The first 75 minutes are pure Milius: Macho bluster, male bonding among ill-fated pilots and Naval bombardiers, and a Big Wednesday-like passion for dangerous fun. But Milius's favorite topics have sharper teeth here: He's made a scathing anti-Vietnam film that still honors the bravery of soldiers who do their job even when the job itself seems pointless. That's why ace Brad Johnson (why didn't he become a huge star?) and maverick bombardier Willem Dafoe plot a renegade mission, bombing a Hanoi arms depot with their low-altitude A-6 Intruder in the movie's pyrotechnical climax. Fringe benefits abound, including early roles for Tom Sizemore, Ving Rhames, and David Schwimmer in his big-screen debut, three years before Friends and looking like the dweeby grandchild of his Band of Brothers martinet. --Jeff Shannon
Flight of the Intruder Reviews:
The Intruder Flies High. 
2009-09-12 - "Flight of the Intruder" does a surprisingly good job of capturing the violence, the adventure, the human drama, and the sheer, absurd insanity of war. Yet this film presents those elements in a way that is intelligent and insightful. Definitely a couple of cuts above the typical war move, and worth watching more than once. Hey, I bought the DVD.
Flight of the Intruder 
2009-05-25 - Loved the action contained in the movie. I was actually in the squadron the story is focused on and the author Stephen Coonts was actually one of the pilot's in that squadron of "Bedevilers"(VA-196) when these events were to have taken place.
Good movie, watched it several times with the kids.
2008-08-23 - Great movie. Not a block buster but a good one and the kids enjoyed it too.
Stephen
An Exciting Aviation Movie
2007-12-07 - During the Vietnam war, A-6 Intruder aircraft were used to bomb targets in North Vietnam. Unfortunately, many of these targets had little or no military value, and the only destruction caused by these raids was to trees or staging areas. No large targets were hit. However, many American crewmen were killed during these missions. This movie tells the story of the A-6 and how one crew took matters into their own hands.
Brad Johnson stars as Jake Grafton, a brash Intruder pilot. He and his bombardier are on a mission against enemy targets. Jake drops his bombs and heads for home. The target is destroyed, but Jake's bombardier was mortally wounded. Back on his ship, Jake learns that his bombardier has died and all he succeeded in hitting was a group of trees. Commander Frank Camparelli (Danny Glover), the squadron commander, tries to calm Jake down, but to little avail.
Meanwhile, Virgil Cole (Willem Dafoe) has joined the squadron as Jake's new bombardier. After serving three tours, Cole has become cynical of the war, but he still loves to fight.
Soon, Jake, Cole, and other members of the squadron are sent off on another raid. Once again, the results are the same; another worthless target destroyed and more crewmen killed. Jake and Cole have become incensed at these missions and they have decided to take matters into their own hands.
Jake and Cole decide to fly a mission into Hanoi to destroy a SAM base. Although the mission is a success, Jake and Cole now face court-martial charges. Will they be convicted, or will they somehow beat the charges and remain in the Navy?
This is a top-notch movie. It does a good job of showcasing the A-6 Intruder. This aircraft carried no defensive armament, yet it served as the Navy's primary carrier-based bomber for much of the Vietnam War. Brad Johnson and Willem Dafoe are very good in their roles. Danny Glover is excellent as Commander Camparelli. The combat scenes and air battles are exciting to watch as well.
I highly recommend this movie. The action is non-stop and thrilling to watch. Watch and see how two bomber crewmen take matter into their own hands and deal a lethal blow to the enemy.
Low octane 
2007-11-30 - John Milius with an aircraft carrier to play with - he must have thought he'd died and gone to Valhalla, or at least until Flight of the Intruder got trapped in release date hell and proved his last theatrical release to date. Originally scheduled for Summer 1990, but put back to avoid a clash with Air America, its Autumn release was then postponed so that Paramount could use it as a standby for the cinemas that had booked Godfather III just in case Coppola didn't finish editing in time. He did. Then, to cap it all, three days after finally opening in the States in a re-edited version, the first Gulf War started, rendering it almost unpromotable because of his gung ho reputation.
Yet in actuality, hawkish sentiments confined to a great one-line riposte to Jane Fonda's Sixties politicking, Intruder continued the mellowing of Milius and is rather more aware than Top Gun of the moral implications and complications of its tale of Navy pilots during the Vietnam war. It's not without its problems: Willem Dafoe gives an uneasy performance and is prone to a VERY odd giggle even by his standards while Danny Glover doesn't actually appear to have anything to do until the last reel (Rosanna Arquette has even less reason to be there), with Basil Poledouris' score far from the standards of his previous collaborations with the director (the composer shared in the bad luck, dropping out of Dances With Wolves to score his friend's film, with disastrous consequences for his career at the time) - but it was none the less a qualified return to form for the director.
It also shows how his strengths and weaknesses had become reversed, his interest in quieter moments now taking precedence over the pyrotechnics and plotting. Extremely well filmed but with a go-nowhere narrative and the kind of curiously passionless action scenes that marred the thematically more interesting Farewell to the King, his heart just doesn't seem to be in them anymore. The finale, which owes more than a little to The Bridges at Toko-Ri, is distinctly underwhelming, and the aerial scenes are particularly disappointing, with the pivotal raid on 'Sam City' coming over more as a video game than cinema (ironically, the video game had better graphics despite coming out before the film). However, there are still a fewstunning shots, including an amazing slow motion shot of rescue planes passing a downed jet, and Milius is fully at home with the Scope screen.
