The blue Angels is a feature-length documentary film shot with IMAX cameras, ideal for capturing the ooh-and-ah spectacle of some of the world’s best pilots flying half a dozen F-18s through the sky in terrifyingly tight formations at even scarier speeds. And now the film, which presents Top Gun: Maverick actor Glen Powell as producer – is streaming on Amazon Prime Video, so you can unleash your inner contradiction and watch these amazing maneuvers, designed to be viewed on the biggest screen possible, on your small phone if you wish. So it goes. Such is the state of modern movie viewing, where it’s hard enough to get people off their couches to watch even the biggest Hollywood blockbusters in IMAX; Selling them a documentary of any kind is a big task. But what the Blue Angels do is elitist and extreme, and extreme sells, so I can see this movie appearing on menus and inspiring curious viewing, which is not without its rewards, even on its puny screens.
THE BLUE ANGELS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The essence: Brian “Boss” Kesselring sounds like an auctioneer. The commanding officer of the Blue Angels (or, to use civilian terms, chief pilot), meets in the morning with his team of pilots and other personnel, going through his agenda in a rapid cadence that illustrates the extreme precision of his military training (There’s even a point where the subtitles throw up their hands and say simply: “[rapid technical chatter]†). Later in the movie, Boss and co. They’ll sit in the same room, “flying a chair,” which is to piloting what air guitar is to rock ‘n’ roll: They squeeze their eyes shut, grab an invisible flight stick, and visualize their maneuvers. The boss shouts an order and WHAM, he and his five other pilots hit their “sticks” simultaneously.
If you know anything about the Blue Angels, you’ll understand that such precision is absolutely necessary for what they do. As elite pilots of the U.S. Navy Demonstration Squadron, the Blue Angels perform literal life-and-death choreographies in the air, maneuvering their F-18s into crazy formations, sometimes with their wingtips at just 12 inches above the cockpit of another aircraft. Because? Well, essentially, to show how tough the Navy can be. More officially, the Blue Angels “display the teamwork and professionalism of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps by inspiring a culture of excellence and service to country through flying demonstrations and community outreach.” Those are the words found on the Blue Angels poster. official website, and this documentary will follow that line, never deviating from the authorized point of view.
That’s not to say that what we see is boring, just brilliant and relatively simple. There’s nothing but smiles and pride as Boss welcomes two new pilots to the six-person unit, six weeks before his first air show of a long season that includes dozens of performances. We join the pilots in the cockpit as they zoom, twist and turn through the air at over 400 mph and 7.5 Gs. You feel like you’re there, but if you were really there, you’d be vomiting and passing out, a testament to the training these pilots go through, where they not only lean to perform crazy maneuvers in close synchronization with each other, but do so while using their muscles. of their legs and abs to literally squeeze the blood to their heads so they don’t pass out. It is a significant commitment for these pilots, who are on the road and away from their families for weeks and weeks at a time, but this is how they serve their country, as very few have the skill and commitment to do so.
What movies will it remind you of?: People of a certain era (raise your hand) will remember the days when IMAX films were exclusively educational documentaries about wildlife and mountain landscapes and could be seen on school field trips or during a trip to an amusement park. I can’t name any of the titles lightly, but the distinct feeling of flying through the air while watching shots of helicopters traversing picturesque canyons really sticks with you. (Okay, I looked up some of the 1980s titles for fun: you have titles like Grand Canyon: The hidden secrets, Eruption of Mount Saint Helens, Niagra: miracles, myths and magic and beavers. If only beavers.)
Performance worth seeing: Kesselring gets the most “characterization” here, as we follow him during his final season as CO and see him at home with his wife and children; He presents himself as a lucid, serious and sensible guy with all the characteristics of a lifelong soldier. If he gets sentimental about him relaxing as a Blue Angel, we never see it.
Memorable dialogue: Lt. Scott “Jamammy” Goossens, Blue Angel No. 3, sums up the immediacy (and brief tenure) of this team of pilots: “We are in moments in time on this team.
Sex and skin: None.
Our opinion: Come for the magnificent contrails, stay for footage of future Blue Angels visiting the “centrifuge center” and gritting their teeth as they try not to spend the night in the training cabin (even the incoming CO falls unconscious) . during a sit-and-spin). The cleanliness of his underpants is never addressed; This isn’t that kind of documentary, although the contrast between the sleek visage of planes in the air and the brave physical and mental acumen it takes to be a Blue Angel is the most compelling part of this film’s thin subtext. . Complementary to this is the revelation that there are people whose full-time job is working in a “centrifuge centre”, which must surely be one of the most specialized industries in the world. Hi, I’m Cathy, I’m an accountant, what do you do? Oh, I’m the guy who tells Blue Angel pilots to squeeze their butts so they don’t pass out on seven Gs.
Please note that I am reducing the 94 minutes. Blue Angels Even its most interesting components here: pilots’ points of view, cinematically beautiful, balletic images of planes against picturesque backdrops, glimpses of what it takes to be an elite pilot among elite pilots. Significant parts of the documentary look like recruiting movie material: slickly produced footage of Navy folks talking about their highly specialized jobs in glowing terms, sharing some of the ins and outs of being a Blue Angel pilot or staff member. and brief discussions about the sacrifices they are incredibly proud to have the privilege of making to represent the U.S. Navy and their country. The Blue Angels is, at its core, a promotional tool, so it should come as no surprise that an officially sanctioned documentary strips away the rough edges and looks like a propaganda film. (Think about it a little more and you’ll figure it out.) that such displays of military prowess can be a bit unsettling and involve the threat of violence: Don’t mess with America, brother.)
But at least the Angels are an indisputably impressive promotional tool: if you don’t appreciate the artistry and competence on display here, there’s nothing that can help you. And that artistry extends to the filmmakers, who capture stunning images and give the film enough presence to keep us interested. The blue Angels It doesn’t overwhelm us with incomprehensible jargon, although that might be preferable to the bland positivity everyone expounds here. In that sense, it can be repetitive and not fully justify the length of its feature film (it would be 60 minutes perfectly). Maybe if you dug deeper into the psychology of a person willing to taxi an F-18 at ridiculous speeds, it would feel more like truth than churning propaganda. You probably have to be a little crazy to do this, but that’s just me reading it and making assumptions that a life in the military, no matter how specialized or high-profile, isn’t all handshakes and hoo. -rahs.
Our call: The blue Angels It doesn’t go in depth, but there’s no arguing against the thrill of seeing up close and (sort of) personally how these pilots do incredible things. TRANSMIT IT.
John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic living in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
