Summary
- Fire Birds was created as a clear attempt to cash in on Top Gun's success.
- Despite some stars attached, Fire Birds went with lesser-known talents for screenplay and directing.
- The movie was a superficial copy of Top Gun, and didn't put any effort into meaningful character development, and under-delivered on action.
In 1986, Top Gun was released to massive acclaim from audiences, with a compelling story that combined Cold War conflict and romantic drama. With the charisma of Tom Cruise, the direction of Tony Scott, strong Hollywood backing and a brilliant supporting cast, Top Gun was one of its decade's biggest hits. It spurred a slew of later aviation movies, including a forgotten attack helicopter movie starring a young Nicolas Cage: Fire Birds.
Top Gun was by no means the first aviation movie, especially considering the popularity of World War II movies like The Battle of Britain and Tora! Tora! Tora! That said, the iconic movie did bring something new to the idea, namely that it focused on the pilots first, explored the training side of flying, and was as much a romantic drama as an action flick. Balancing Maverick's training in the F-14 to become an elite pilot against his love for Charlie appealed to a wide array of moviegoers, from people who loved aviation to those who loved the drama and romance. The film set new standards for realism, down to protracted shots of real aircraft carriers and their planes. In 1990, Nicolas Cage starred in a movie that tried to duplicate everything that made Top Gun work, only for helicopter pilots instead of jets. Though it had a good idea behind it, Fire Birds went down as one of the actor's biggest flops and was doomed to failure from the start.
Fire Birds Came in The Aviation Movie Craze
Top Gun's success came amidst an aviation and military craze in Hollywood, and the movie's success only spurred that on. Between the 1980s and 1990s, aviator movies like Iron Eagle, Flight of the Intruder, The Right Stuff, Fire Birds and even Hot Shots! were released, all to mixed reception. Along with Top Gun, these movies all followed similar ideas but with different military sub-cultures, such as bomber planes, test pilots and helicopters. Each of these films would offer moviegoers a small but dynamic cast of characters to get invested in, following their journey toward the final, high-stakes mission. In the heyday of both the fighter jet and the Cold War, the ground was incredibly fertile to tell these stories. Though the 2000s followed similar movies, like Stealth and Flight of Fury, the heyday for jet movies mostly ended in the new millennium. In Fire Birds, the creators opted for a different aircraft.
Fire Birds fell on the cheaper end of the spectrum when it came to such movies, and that low budget certainly showed. Casting the up-and-coming Nicolas Cage and Tommy Lee Jones at the start of his heyday, the movie did have a few things going for it despite its low budget. It had only been four years since the success of Top Gun, and other movies had kept alive the love of aviation and other military movies. It likewise cashed in on the growing tensions between the United States and South American drug cartels. The film follows the same basic structure of Top Gun throughout, beginning with a failed mission, seeing a pilot sent to an elite test school, having personal drama on his squadron and gearing up for a final mission. Though there were a few changes to the details, it was clear that the movie was simply trying to be the Top Gun of the Apache gunship.
Fire Birds Was a Shallow Copy of Top Gun
Fire Birds tells the story of a helicopter pilot, Jake Preston (Cage), who, after a mission against South American cartels goes awry, is sent to a military base best described as the "Top Gun" for helicopters. Training under a seasoned flight instructor, Brad Little (Tommy Lee Jones), Preston clashes with his fellow pilots, including an old girlfriend of his, Billie Guthrie (Sean Young). The movie, much like Top Gun, alternates between the personal lives of the characters and their drama and the high-intensity training for what would be the film's final mission. Preston faced challenges like his ex being on his team, a rebellious personality and an unforeseen problem with his eyesight. In the final battle, which was relatively drawn out, Preston went up against the mercenary pilot who had killed his friends at the start, this time emerging victorious.
From the sea of aviator sunglasses to the gratuitous use of '80s instrumental themes for a training montage, the filmmakers' intent was clear. Every scene felt either like a copy of Top Gun or an attempt to outperform it, but this never materialized in any real quality. However, there were moments when the movie felt closer to Rocky IV than Top Gun. Even worse is that the main antagonist, Jake Preston, wasn't written as being even close to as likable as Pete "Maverick" Mitchell. Instead, he came across as more spoiled and immature to Maverick's over-confidence.
Where Top Gun benefited immensely from its fantastic imagery, such as long shots of an aircraft carrier flight deck and F-14s, Fire Birds only offers desert landscapes and confusing flight scenes. The intrigue and scale of carriers, F-14s, and beachfront shots is completely absent from the movie, leaving it a much blander picture when compared to Cruise's movie. Top Gun also benefited greatly from excellent cinematography and choreography for the flying sequences, with an attentive focus on the jets in action. For Fire Birds, these flying sequences, especially in action, were a lot harder to follow. Part of the flaw came in the vehicle itself, with helicopters having never been romanticized in quite the same way fighter jets are, especially navy aviators. What worked well in Flight of the Intruder simply fell flat in this attack helicopter flick.
Some Things in Fire Birds Worked Well
Cage's protagonist, Preston, was imbued with all the self-doubt and character drama of Maverick following the death of Goose, yet was written as much less relatable. There hadn't been nearly enough set-up between Preston and his fellow pilots in the opening scene for viewers to grieve for the hero the same way they can for Maverick after Goose's death. One of the film's biggest mistakes, yet strengths, was that it made its supporting protagonists almost all more likable than the star, just another way the script let Cage down. Namely, the film felt more about Tommy Lee Jones' Brad Little proving himself as an instructor than it did a triumphant mission for Preston. In fact, the movie picked up what Top Gun only teased, with Brad Little joining the final mission just as Tom Skerritt's Viper offered Maverick. If viewed as the story of Brad Little instead of Jake Preston, it becomes a more likable film.
In the film's defense, any movie about pilots in training so soon after Top Gun was sure to illicit comparisons between the two anyway, so going all in makes some sense. The actors themselves did have good on-screen charisma, particularly between Nicolas Cage and Tommy Lee Jones, who do a good job of portraying the old school vs the new generation of pilot. The film touches on this theme throughout, particularly when Little breaks out an unconventional way of helping Preston overcome an issue with his vision. The movie does have some light, comedic and romantic moments, and it's not hard to imagine a better writer/director team producing a genuinely iconic film.
Fire Birds Didn't Have the Crew of Top Gun
One of the biggest issues with Fire Birds came from its absence of a compelling writer or director. Where Top Gun had been made successful through the commitment of Tony Scott and the backing of Hollywood giants Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, Fire Birds had no such luck. When it came to writing and directing, the movie wasn't lucky enough to have anyone as prolific as Top Gun's powerhouse production. Although the Cage movie did have assistance from the US Army, it simply wasn't enough to help the movie win over the Top Gun audience. While the film did cover all the same topics as Tony Scott's masterpiece, it just couldn't capture the quintessentially '80s tone and charismatic characters that made Top Gun so beloved.
Were it not for the star power of Nicolas Cage, Tommy Lee Jones and Sean Young, Fire Birds would have gone down as just another '90s action flick. Although it may seem unfair to judge the movie against Top Gun, it's clear throughout that the goal of the filmmakers was very much to have the film go down as "Top Gun for helicopters." Critics at the time even commented on the rather obvious duplication of Tony Scott's iconic film, with some scenes being an almost shot-for-shot remake. For Cage's biggest fans, the movie can be worth the watch, but the movie showed how the copy is rarely better than the original -- with a vengeance.