During the air war over Vietnam, a U.S. Navy A-6 Intruder bomber pilot schemes with a hardened veteran to make an unauthorized air strike on Hanoi. After his bombardier is killed, Jake "Cool Hand" Grafton (<a href=">Brad Johnson)', a carrier-based Intruder pilot, questions the purpose of Navy bombing missions. He finds an ally for his cynicism in Virgil Cole, a bombardier on his third tour of duty, and together they ponder the notion of one unsanctioned mission "downtown", to "Sam City" in North Vietnam. Recommended viewing, especially for those who have not read the book. The flying scenes are great, with ferocious sound to match. While parts of the story will seem quite familiar, the raid on Hanoi is an unusual focal point of the film, and terrific. Danny Glover and Willem Dafoe have the best developed characters, but overall the acting is fine. The motivation of the different characters is quite interesting and adds to the excitement. Dialog varies from profound to hokey. The film is is recommended as one of the better Vietnam War movies. There is plenty of action, and "Flight of the Intruder" certainly exceeds expectations as entertainment. - MERK The story was lacking! Being a veteran, a fan and supporter of Naval Aviation, I loved all the air and carrier operations sequences. They were all realistic thanks to U.S. Navy cooperation. But being a Coonts and Jake Grafton fan, in my opinion, the actors didn't bring much life to the characters established in Stephen Coont's best selling novel and the screen writers went their own direction.<br/><br/>Danny Glover is a good actor. But in my opinion, I didn't feel the "command presence" of Cdr. Frank Camparelli that I felt reading the pages of the novel. Glover put in the demeanor of Camparelli, but didn't get the command presence right. (If you want to get a good idea of command presence, check out the performance of the late Richard Crenna in "First Blood." Or see Gene Hackman's performances when he plays high ranking military officers like in "Behind Enemy Lines" and "Crimson Tide.") <br/><br/>Brad Johnson was okay as Jake Grafton, but was Luke warm compared to the novel version. For example: if you read the court martial and testimony of Jake Grafton in the novel and see the on screen version, you will be highly disappointed in how the film presented it. It's like they watered the Grafton character down! <br/><br/>I thought Willem Dafoe's performance as Lcdr Virgil "Tiger" Cole was the most convincing and closer to the novel version than everyone else who had a character from the novel. The movie Tiger in my opinion was a little better. But unfortunately, one good performance doesn't make the whole story.<br/><br/>The Callie/Jake relationship from the novel was turned into a corny subplot for the movie! I really loved the way it was presented in the novel and loathed the way they interpreted it on screen! Callie in the novel was a pretty smart woman, but in the movie she didn't seem that way and her character lacked dimension.<br/><br/>Others have already stated other differences, so yeah I know, the movie will always be different from the novel. But it doesn't mean the movie can't live up to the novel. A good example of a movie adaption of a novel that is a good interpretation is "The Great Santini." Of course like all novel - movie adaptations, not everything from "The Great Santini" book is in the movie. But if ever there is movie that is true to the novel (in characters and plot), it's "The Great Santini." I think if "Flight of the Intruder" was true to and lived up to the novel, then I would agree that it shouldn't be underrated.<br/><br/>Despite the nice Naval Aviation and action sequences, this movie leaves a lot to be desired in the story and characters. Yes, there will always be differences in a novel - movie adaptation, but it doesn't mean the movie should stray so far away from the book that you get an inferior interpretation.
Laukidel replied
293 weeks ago