Warbirds

Schlock war / Monsters

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

R4 DVD

Calling this film “schlock” may be a little inaccurate, but what else could you call such a dodgy plot, dodgy acting and more holes than a colander? The annoying part is that despite these weaknesses it’s actually pretty good. If you were a Godzilla fan this will be your sort of film.

A group of women civilian ferry pilots take a new B29 bomber to Hawaii. From there it will be ferried on to a combat unit somewhere in the Pacific. The Air Force has other ideas. They are to ferry a secret cargo on a secret mission to Tinian island. A detachment of soldiers led by an arrogant Colonel will guard the cargo. En route they are downed on an unknown island after their aircraft is damaged by some sort of huge flying lizard.

As well as lots of flying lizards the island also has a small detachment of Japanese, all that is left of a Japanese Air Force contingent that manned a fighter base there. The lizards have been feeding well. The two groups must cooperate if they are to get the bomber off the island before the lizards pick them off. While the Japanese repair the damaged engine the Americans go to the beach to get drums of fuel from a Japanese fuel dump. The beach is, of course, the ones the lizards are using, so we lose more Americans.

The girls know that if they get the heavy bomber off the ground it will be a slow, easy target for the lizards. Two girls volunteer to fly escort in the Japanese Zero fighters on the airfield. Even though they are civilian bomber pilots, flying a high speed foreign fighter apparently presents no difficulties. They are, after all, Americans. The bomber takes off, the lizards attack, a few more Americans are lost. Now we find out what the secret cargo is, as if anyone doesn’t know by now.

The plot is, as mentioned, unlikely but the CGI is brilliant. The acting is almost over the top, especially by Brian Krause playing the Colonel, but only “almost”. I finished up wishing that the lizards would get him, but I was disappointed. The cinematography and sound are first class and altogether it’s a very watchable film. It was originally made for the Sci Fi Channel, but this DVD should give it a wider audience. It was probably made on a limited budget but that doesn’t show. For cheap thrills, try this one.

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