DVD Review from Technology Tell Magazine by Steve Anderson.There are certain breeds of movie that we don't see often. Science fiction and Westerns commonly top the list, but war movies are also frequently spotted in attendance. Our friends out at Entertainment One, meanwhile, look to fix that with "Angel of the Skies," a movie that takes another look at World War II, this time through the aviators' eyes."Angel of the Skies" follows Earl Kirk, a South African man who leaves his pregnant fiancée to go fight in World War II as part of the Royal Air Force. There's no shortage of fighting left to go, and eventually Kirk is shot down along with his crew, forced to parachute into occupied territory. Now, the handful of men who escaped death in the skies must set out on foot, dodging a vicious SS officer who will go to any lengths to finish the job his countrymen started in the sky.The good thing about "Angel of the Skies" is its wonderfully immersive quality. This feels like a look at the war, in this era, and at this point in time. It's deliriously authentic; it's like being there. It's the next best thing to actually being there. But this immersive nature also means the movie sacrifices a lot in the way of action, particularly in the early going. I don't believe I heard a shot fired in anger for the entirety of the first half hour, and that's a bit of a lag. Considering the movie only packs around 100 minutes to its name, losing roughly a third of those to a gunshot-free existence is a tough road to hoe.Still, the further good news is that once it gets started, it gets started in earnest. There's more than its share of action, with a good bit of suspense tossed in for extra fun. It's always good when a genre movie can toss in elements of other genres–action blends with suspense or horror, comedy blends with action or a Western, and so on. "Angel of the Skies" does a fine job of mixing, and gives us a wonderful synthesis. War buffs, you'll not be disappointed, and action buffs in general, this is a fine slice of cinematic action.Special features include a trailer for "Angel of the Skies," a set of audio options and English subtitles.Though it takes a while to get started, "Angel of the Skies" will do a very nice job overall. A slow start isn't near enough to cut the tension that will be sparked throughout this one, and the whole thing will make an excellent addition to the roster of war movies out there.

Just watched this on the TV. Interesting storyline let down by poor research and immature psychological insight, silly stereotyping and stilted dialogue script.Initially I thought the acting a bit wooden. Slowly each of the main characters idiosyncrasies grew on me until they became almost believable characters and worthy of the "Actor" job-description. The exceptions were the girlfriend of the main protagonist and a truly SSified SS officer. She; really quite irrelevant to the story. He; relevant but preposterous. Why, in the 21st Century, did the director decide to have a German SS officer who came from the same mould Hollywood production lines fabricated in the 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's...? The man who played "SS offizer" wasn't even any good at acting a simple 2D stereotype.Bomber flight formations were good even if the CGI was a bit naff, though one can't be too picky as the producers certainly wouldn't have had a Spielberg or Cameron budget (and they can create disastrously bad films costing tens to hundreds of millions., ie., , Titanic, Avatar, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, Jurassic Park series).The plot would have been better served with less time in the air and more time on enemy occupied ground as terrorfliegers cautiously avoiding the wrath of a heavily bombed people and SS Panzer division.The girlfriend (story) could easily have been ditched with no loss, and the cardboard cutout SS officer spun into a more credible human being. Which, frankly, is what I'd hoped the film would be like when I read the TV schedule description.

I just LOVE WW2 flying movies. This has to be the worse I've ever seen. Never mind the wrong salutes and wrong uniforms. The rank of Lieutenant has NEVER existed in the RAF (or RCAF - same structure). Pilot Officer, Flying Officer, Flight Lieutenant and so on. If memory serves, this structure was established in 1919! Prior to 1919 the RAF was the RFC.The VW Kubelwagen the SS men were driving had a RIGHT hand drive. In Germany, right hand drive vehicles have NEVER been in use. Not even in WW2.The list of errors goes on and on and on...Too much crap, not enough believable action!!! Compared to such greats as Reach For The Skies, or The Battle Of Britain, this REALLY sucks!!!

I don't want to flame South African cinema. I've enjoyed several releases from there. I also love a good World War II flying movie. This one lost credibility with me.I can forgive the CGI flight scenes that look like they came out of a game. Original planes from that period are far too rare and valuable to use to make a movie and special effects don't make a movie. The story makes the movie. Unfortunately the story is what let me down.There is a phenomena called "suspension of disbelief" in a movie. Unfortunately they literally shot suspension of disbelief quite early. The cliché evil SS officer just blew it away. His actions were utterly illogical. His men didn't point out how his actions directly worked against the Third Reich winning the war.The evil SS officer was the worst but it wasn't the only logical failure. Over and over I kept thinking "Why would they do that" and "What a wasted opportunity." I sincerely wish them better luck next time.