Red Sky

Plot synopsis:
In 2001 in Iraq, two American Navy pilots—Butch Masters and Tom Craig—are ordered to bomb an abandoned plant. The order appears to be false. American experts get killed in the plant. A secret chemical device, called "Rainmaker", designed for oil fields destruction, gets stolen. Military court cannot prove the pilots' intentions, and gives them a dishonorable discharge. After seven years Craig is rich and famous. He manages a private pilot team, working for Top Gun and for movies. Masters is a grease monkey in a small airport. He still tries to investigate his old case, and dreams of his own pilot's team. In order to get a license to fly Russian jets, Masters goes to St. Petersburg, where he meets old friends and new problems. At the same time, a Kurdish militant group plans to capture a part of Northern Iraq and found a new Kurdish state there. They plan to use Rainmaker to destroy oil fields there and make the territory uninteresting for Americans. The terrorists' base is located in Northern Iran, and cannot be reached by US military. Navy intelligence offers Masters to clear his name by performing a secret off-records mission to Iran with a team of retired pilots. Using unmarked planes, they have to bomb the base and destroy "Rainmaker". Doomed to death, betrayed by friends, and left in the Syrian desert, Masters and his team finds unexpected support from the Russian Knights aerobatic team. Russians and Americans go to the final battle side by side.

Tags: violence, murder

Review:
Not Bad, but not particularly good.
I watched this film on the premise that it had fighter pilots and former *NSYNC member, JC Chasez.
I am glad to say that if I watched this with any further expectations, I would have been deeply disappointed.To me, this movie felt like a rough draft and really needed to be polished.
Some of the SFX seemed unrealistic, leaving the movie looking amateur.
Most of the duologue was forced and seemed out of place, whilst other parts were bland and wooden.Filming locations differed which changed up the otherwise boring plot.
One redeeming feature is that the plot and characters are fulfilled without leaving you wondering 'what happened?' afterward.Overall, this film didn't keep my attention and unless you are a devoted fan of anything aviation related, I wouldn't bother watching this..
The plot I believe is the result of something hastily slapped together,for a direct to video release.
It contains a bunch of people who can't act to save their life.Aside from Bill Pullman who must be really in need of money,and look very out of place.
You have the usual stereotype character the good looking cool guy.Who fly fighter planes just wearing a leather jacket and a helmet.
the not so good looking and so on.They have stolen a bit from other airplane movies.I Recognize a few scenes here and there,borrowed from movies in the 80 and 90s.Like a good portion of the storyline.
I can clearly see stuff like Iron eagle,flight of the intruder,and a dozen others Some of the plane scenes are clearly computer animated.Quite badly too.
Others are just hilariously bad filmed.
When they fly low over the rooftops in Moscow, underneath a grey and overcast sky.Yet every inside shot from the cockpit show they are above the clouds, with clouds underneath a clear blue sky above.Lest not forget the constant re-shot they use.I could count at least 3- 4 scenes that were being reused in the filmMario Van peebles are not believable as a CIA agent.You actually start laughing at him, cause he's o out of place.It look like he's been picked up from a bad 80 action flick.
And the all over acting leaves a lot to be desired.
Rachael Leigh cook look like she have no idea what her part is suppose to bring to the movie,in mostly every scene that's not one on one,she look lost,and totally clueless of why she's there.
Overall not a bad movie..
Better than the pathetic cheeze of Iron Eagle (or it's pathetic added on clones)Don't expect "Top Gun" quality of production and it can be interesting.
However don't expect Plan 9 either.Some decent actors..
but poor direction from MVP whom can't direct or act his way out of a wet paper bag.That said..
(Some moron(s) somewhere keep giving that putz $ to make movies and he creates nothing but total crap..
a decent display of older Mig-29's mostly which is not as common for an American movie.
Too bad they did not have a real director instead of MVP...
perhaps with someone with actual directing skill this could have been a better production..
The movie with obvious goofs.
Finding a way to turn back to golden days...Air combat...Fighters...Guns...All of them attract me in first time to see this movie.
I expected the director and his team knew that when they should cut off rapping and adding complexity to story.
But till the mid of the movie parallel stories and artificial acts resumed.
But now i don't talk about story line or Drama's problems, But i want to say how much i wondered when i saw Iranian's military.
There was no sign of them in the movie.
2- Iranian's soldiers and Their acts was unreal and ridiculous.
4- Cars in Tabriz City ( Iran) never have such layout and you cant find such a car that be used.Iranian's are not Arab and until Hollywood resist to attention to it, every movie makes about Iran is unreal and goofy..
This film tells the story of a group air force soldiers who are disgraced because they received erroneous instructions, but they are unable to prove their innocence.
Years later, they have a chance to clear their name by stopping the detonation of a deadly weapon.The plot is well written and full of thrills.
The constant air stunts and fighter pilots battling on the skies are very fascinating.
It's great that the film it's not too bloody given it's an action packed thriller.
I enjoyed watching "Red Skies" a lot..
Why do people still cast Cam Gigandet in movies???.
This movie is no exception.
It is painful to watch him stumble through each scene as the lead character.
I wonder what on Earth he does to actually get cast in films.
Don't bother, he makes this movie terrible from beginning to end..
Can any one give me a reason not to watch this movie not much of a storyline but the plane the missiles its looks so real its just a movie you watch when hungry and your stomach gets filled up at once.
its got a great story line perfect pictures sweet punch lines as for me its a pass mark i love it and wish to view more..
I've got no problem with the movie its so awesome check it out and you wont be sorry.
Nice stunts nice shootings God,its a nice start for 2014 as for me i wouldn't give it a 10 because there was to much of talking at a time but it picked up along the line and it was sweet And if you got a problem with that you just gotta have to tweet me on twitter @iamowomizz and lets sort it out..
For that review to be left up only cements what most people already perceive about IMDb and that is the star rating doesn't mean a thing because the reviews are not regulated.The person who submitted the review should be removed as they are contributing NOTHING.On with my review, this is my first, but rest assured I have at least seen the movie in question.From the outset I had low expectations and I didn't have to wait long to be disappointed, the actors for the most part cannot act and as a result over act to compensate for their lack of skills.The command that starts the saga was clearly given by someone with a different voice, but over radio and in flight I guess that can be overlooked, however the proceeding court case cannot be, I understand that for the movie to get off the ground (pardon the pun) one must somewhat breeze over certain things, but the way in which the court verdict is conducted is terrible, there's just no way in real life these pilots would have lost their wings in the manner depicted in this movie.The actors in some scenes are wooden and for the most part seem like they are reading from the script and are so distracted by the reading they forget to act.Trying to create memorable lines that would eventually become real life quotes is another annoying factor with this movie, such as ""it's like Toy's R us, you break it you buy it", and yet another quote "It's Dejavu all over again" forgive me but isn't that the very meaning of Dejavu?.
I think about as much imagination went into the entire script as what went into those lines.....not much.CGI is not brilliant, the night scenes in what looks like a Junkers JU-52 and later an Antonov AN-2 are at best mediocre.
Moreover the CGI explosions and some of the pilot scenes are of 1960's quality, just horrible.Most everything about this movie is shallow, including the jail scene with the Russian woman (Mariya Guzeeva) who is cooperating with the U.S, the close ups of her ass and eventually even a camel toe are not required and just digs a larger hole to bury this film in.The movie is riddled with mistakes, for instance, a reference to the AN-2 while the engine is smoking the comment is made about a "cracked pan" these engines use a dry sump, regardless a engine without oil wont smoke, rather it will seize, the AK-47's referenced are actually Type 52's (Chinese copies).
Bullets that hit 'glass' aircraft canopies are clearly incorrect as aircraft do not use glass for canopies, they use perspex.I couldn't help but laugh when a fighter pilot (Mario Van Peebles) is using a SU-27's machine gun he shows a recoil affect even thought the guns are controlled remotely.Bill Pullman was poorly cast in this movie, he seems to be constantly grinning or smirking, almost (to me at least) at the script itself.
Rachael Leigh Cook needs to have her eyes fixed if she is to be taken seriously as they are a distraction to what seems to be an otherwise fairly good actress, Cam Gigandet needs to stop trying to be the next Brad Pitt.
Mario Van Peebles has yet another notch in his belt, sadly none of his notches reflect good movies or acting, I fail to see the attraction.In conclusion Red Sky is a misery to watch, both painful and rather smelly.
It's one of those movies where you ask yourself 'should I turn it off now?' when your only five minutes into it.Any reference to Top Gun should only be done so for benchmark reasons and nothing more, sadly this movie does no justice to the 'jet fighter' movie genre.I only completed watching the movie to write this review, hopefully I can save others from the pain I endured.
A good movie if you're 12 years old.
I watched this movie, not expecting much of it.
The Red sky anthem sound quite good and one manages to get hooked more or less at the beginning.
As the story unfolds however, the suspension of disbelief becomes strained as the dialogues sometimes get childish and the acting gets unconvincing.
For example: the traitor gets way too easily convinced to abandon the dark side, as if his original criminal money motives were not the values that he lived by.
CGI gets sometimes too 90 's (meaning lacking depth, detail and adequate lighting) and worst of the worst in actual filming, the Sukhoi planes really look their age and a lack of adequate maintenance.
These poor planes haven't been airworthy for a long, long time.
I don't mean that good planes must be destroyed for the sake of a movie, but some paint and a few spare parts could have helped.
As a conclusion, I would say that it's a B/C movie, showing good effort and mediocre realization.
Watch it if you have nothing else to do and forget it..
Overall this is a decent jet fighter plane action in the skies kind of movie.
Another Mario Van Peebles movie, but even his over acting is almost watchable.
The rest of the cast is great, and there is a good back story built up to show a true brotherhood, and friendship between the soldiers from the US, and Russia.
Rachael Leigh Cook looks great, this must have been filmed last year before the newest season of Perception, or earlier, as she still looks young, and definitely not pregnant(Not that she is not allowed to be, but lately the show is missing the old RLC, and that's a me problem, so back to the review).
It is good to see Troy Garity not playing a heavy, or a creep.
Not much to say about the male leads that you do not already know, or expect from them, they do as they should, and you get what you want.
There are a lot of good pyrotechnics in this movie(Big things going boom)and the action shots are edited together well to give the seamless effect of a plane shooting, and the effect on the ground being realistic(there are too many of these lower budget films that don't understand how important that is).
I enjoyed this as a bit of action fluff, the story is not broken, it flows smoothly, and you are not left in the dark about any of the main characters, their motives, or where they end up.
I do recommend this one to anyone who likes movies with air combat, and explosions, for you this is just the ticket.
Otherwise most folks will find the story full enough, and will not feel very lost, or disappointed with the results..
An exciting B movie even if the story is confusing.
It helps a bit to understand this movie if you know it is a Russian / US joint venture.
This explains the Russian and US filming locations and cast.
It's entertaining if not fully comprehensible.Fighter airplane buffs will enjoy the multitude of planes on display.
The aerial combat is quite exciting and not that difficult to figure out who is who when they remove the mouth piece of the helmets.It's not Top Gun at all.
The surprisingly current and complicated story involves some Saddam weapon called the Rainmaker.
A bunch of young hot shot pilots (kudos to makeup for making them look younger) are set up in a friendly fire incident and sacked.
Then 7 years later some of them are recruited to destroy the weapon in Iran with Russian assistance.
It gets a bit confusing then but the action is exciting including some over the top shoot outs at airbases.
Hard to figure out at first who are the good guys and who are the bad guys.The cast is a bit better than the story.
Cam Gigandet of Twilight and Troy Garity are the good guys.
Mario Van Peebles is the villain.
Shane West of Nikita is the good guy turned bad.
Nice to see Rachel Leigh Cook on screen again and speaking Russian no less.Overall a B movie can be entertaining even if you don't always know what is going on..
Four Naval air Pilots are given rogue orders from Mario Van Peebles to destroy a specific site inside Iraq.
In an bad plot point, the pilots are forced to resign.
The film isn't much into mystery or twists.
Butch (Cam Gigandet) is eventually recruited by the prosecutor (Bill Pullman) and Double agent Van Peebles to destroy the WMD, now in Iran and in the hand of the Kurds who intend to use it against Iran's oil field.
Tom Craig (Shane West) also a pilot who got drummed out of the service, works on the dark side and left his girl friend ( Rachael Leigh Cook) to Butch.The film didn't require much thinking.
Rachael Leigh Cook is in Russia one minute, Nevada the next, and then back to Russia.
The plot needed polish and some suspense .
The film does have some "Top Gun" type action in it, but Cam Gigandet is no Tom Cruise.Okay as a Redbox, 50 cents off second rental.Parental Guide: No f-bombs.
1 love scene with back nudity.
"New Jack City" director Mario Van Peebles' straight-to-video feature "Red Sky" concerns a quartet of "Top Gun" style U.S. Navy aviators during the Iraq war that receive orders to blast a suspicious Iraqi chemical weapons facility with their missiles.
An unknown individual known only as "Warlord 2" (Mario Van Peebles) transmits those orders.
Later, to their horror, our heroes learn that they had fired on friendly American inspectors searching the site for a weapon of mass destruction—a Rainmaker—designed by Saddam to destroy oilfields.
The fliers—'Cobra' (Cam Gigandet of "Twilight"), 'Cajun' (Troy Garity of "Sabotage"), 'Rodeo' (Shane West of "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen") and 'P-Dawg' (Jacob Vargas) cannot prove that they received authenticated attack orders.
This stalemate prompts our heroes to leave the Navy.
Afterward, Rodeo and his fiancée, Karen Brooks (Rachel Leigh Cook of "Josie and the Pussycats") break up when he objects to the intimate way she treats Cobra in a bar.
The Pentagon believes that our heroes obliterated the 'Rainmaker' when they fired on the plant.
Intelligence agents grille Cobra about his role in the botched mission, but he refuses to tell them anything other than what he told the court.
Captain Webster is beginning to have suspicions about Cobra.
He approaches Cobra about an audacious plan to fly into Iran to destroy the Rainmaker in a "strictly off the books" secret mission where they will be flying jets with Iranian colors.
Webster offers Cobra and his comrades the opportunity to clear their names and receive honorable Navy discharges.
We also learn that during the seven years after the debacle, Cobra has been slipping money to the Marine's widow.
Anyway, Cobra and his men decide to take Webster up on his offer.
They learn that they will have to perform a HALO insertion into Iran, steal the planes, and equip them with special bombs to destroy the Rainmaker.
Of course, it should come as no surprise that our heroes are double-crossed after they HALO into Iran and land in a prison.
Mario Van Peebles generates minimal urgency in this complicated aerial combat opus based on retired Navy pilot Randy Arrington's novel "Kerosene Cowboys: Manning the Spare." The intriguing premise and the first 40 minutes create no surprises, and the characters have no depth beyond surface appearances.
None of the leads engender any charisma, especially Cam Gigandet, and Gigandet has done better things with greater personality.
"Red Sky" has all the hallmarks of a straight-to-video release.
Confined to a colorless role, Bill Pullman appears either out of place or just too old to be useful as a lead.
Rachel Leigh Cook is pretty dull, too, as an investigative journalist.
The two treacherous villains are hopelessly lackluster, too, until three-fourths of the action has taken place.
Altogether, "Red Sky" isn't a total loss.
Peebles jacks up the action after our heroes escape from the prison and perform their mission.
Their far-fetched escape from an Iranian airfield imitates "Tomorrow Never Dies" when Cobra using a jet to mow down Iranian soldiers.
Happily, Peebles paints the heroes into a dramatic corner.