Firefox (1982)
Firefox is a better than average spy thriller starring Clint Eastwood (Fistfull of Dollars) who also directed the film as well. With Clint Eastwood's touch, Firefox turns from a below average television movie to a somewhat better than average action movie. The premise behind Firefox is interesting as it is about the United States secret attempt to steal a state of the art warplane from under the noses of the Russians. Clint Eastwood plays Mitchell Gant who is asked to coming out of retirement to steal the plane and comes across numerous obstacles on the way. .
The first half of Firefox is a spy thriller while the second half of the film turns into a pure action movie with some of the best special effects seen in movies at the time. Director Eastwood does a good job of creating enough tension in the first half of the film as Gant attempts to infiltrate the Russian security defenses with the help of disguises and as well the help of some shady secret operatives. Once Eastwood becomes airborne with the firefox, the film turn to an all out action movie incorporating some exciting special effects. The rendevous point which was set up during the first half of film is interesting as Gant has to refuel once out of Soviet airspace. How Gant refuels the firefox came as surprise and I generally liked how Gant refueled his plane which was a method I did not expect. .
Most of the characters in Firefox were interesting enough to hold your interest to see what happens at the conclusion as Eastwood does a good job of making Mitchell Gant interesting. If there was any film that was not a typical Eastwood movie, Firefox is it and Eastwood does a credible job in the film.
There were a few problems with Firefox and one of them was with Gant, I thought that Eastwood could of given a little more background into the character as all we really know is that Gant is suffering form post traumatic syndrome from his service in Vietnam, however as stated before, Eastwood does do good job with the character. One other thing I did not understand was that if the soviet jet is so sophisticated that is using neural linking to use the planes weapons and the fact that it is supposed to be invisible, why then? can the plane be detected by the Russians after Eastwood steals the jet. This leads to suspect what was the point of stealing the plane if it wasn't state of the art after all.
Overall Firefox is a little better than your average action film because Eastwood stars in it and directs the film. I only recommend the film for Eastwood fans or die hard action fans as Firefox is by far one of Eastwood's weaker films but it was interesting to see if Eastwood could make something a little different.
Aspect ration: 2:35.1
Warner Home Video
123 minutes.
Rated: PG
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