B-Movie of the Week: Flight of Fury

This morning I awoke with a start, the sound of light peck-peck-pecking bringing me suddenly from an oh so succulent dream sequence involving thick fog, moldy tangerines, and something that slightly resembled Ernie Hudson in a pink parka singing Eddie Rabbit's "I Love a Rainy Night" in Spanish.

The soft rapping on my chamber door was like that of a humming bird, eager for an early morning splash of sweet sugar water. So you can imagine my surprise when I threw open the door to discover a top secret stealth bomber delivering the new Steven Seagal flick straight to my doorstep! Thanks guys! I loved you in Black Thunder!

If you haven't read my frothy review for Attack Force yet, you may want to do so right now. I hate that blasted film with a passion usually reserved for terrorist attacks and countdown shows produced by A&E. It's easily Seagal's worst effort to date, in my humble opinion, something most fans simply did not think was possible at this point in the same. Some individuals claim the project was butchered during post-production, but I'm just not buying it. The movie was horrid — nothing could have prevented that mess from being anything other than a total failure. Accept and move on, okay? Good times.

Flight of Fury, despite being helmed by the same lunatic who directed Seagal's last picture, is surprisingly entertaining. No joke! The film finds our hero embarking on a mission to retrieve a stolen stealth bomber before a terrorist organization can use it to unleash a diabolical plot against world-wide freedom. It's a simple concept, basic even, but it actually seems to work in the film's favor. There's really not too much to get confused about, quite the accomplishment for a direct-to-video release starring our favorite blues-slingin' aikido master. I'll take what I can get.

The script isn't going to win any awards, of course, but it certainly gets the job done. There are some pacing issues, a handful of pointless conversations, and perhaps too few scenes featuring Seagal himself. In fact, the big guy is kind of hard to find in the first half of the movie, since director Michael Keusch feels the need to pad the film with a ton of stock footage. Some of it's pretty obvious, too, particularly when special effects have been digitally incorporated into the scene. Quite poorly, I might add. Well, at least they were trying. Like I said, I'll take what I can get.

Word of advice, though: Seagal fans actually enjoying seeing Steven Seagal in the movies that bear his name. In other words, try to use him more often. And put a light or two on the guy, would ya? Shadows only makes him look swollen.

Article Author: T. Rigney

T. Rigney was specifically designed for the mass consumption of B-grade cinema from around the world. His roughly translated thoughts and feelings can be found lurking suspiciously at The Film Fiend, Fatally Yours, and Film Threat. …

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