"Fire Birds" (1990) is reminiscent of "The McConnell Story" (1955), without the action scenes. Although the characters, dialog, and technical aspects of the film may be highly fictionalized, it is accurate and realistic enough to provide splendid entertainment in the tradition of Hollywood's golden era. June Allyson, playing a 'steely' girlfriend, would have been proud to fly alongside her man. Sean Young aptly takes on the role, while showing both a dedication for America, as well as a love for her man. She patriotically flies for her country, while cheering-on and encouraging her man (enthusiatically played by Nicolas Cage). Cage plays a young, 'hotshot' flier, with plenty of arrogance and too-much ego, until he truly learns humility from his helicopter trainer (well-played by Tommy Lee Jones). The film includes the danger and the romance of flying, as well as the privilege to serve as a flying ace. Like "The McConnell Story" (1955), I did not find the dialog to be the least bit 'corny'. June Allyson excelled as the 'good', but rather-emotional and naive wife. Sean Young excels as the 'sexy', sometimes-naughty and sometimes-nice girlfriend. But, Sean makes it quite clear that she wants to be a flier, as much as she wants to be a girlfriend or a wife. And, I do not think it is the least bit 'corny' that Sean displays a love for her country, as much as she displays a love for her man. Unlike June Allyson in "The McConnell Story" (1955), Sean Young does not wish to take on the traditional woman's role. Like her man, she has a dream to fly. And, like Nicolas Cage and Tommy Lee Jones, she excels in her role (as June Allyson does in "The McConnell Story"). And, there is plenty of 'meat' in the dialog, which is far from superficial. Whether it be Tommy Lee Jones talking about why he joined the military ("I wanted to be a full blown American hero, cook-in full tilt boogie for freedom and justice"), Nicolas Cage ("Are you ever gonna let me win?"), or after Sean Young wipes a single tear from her eyes. Nicolas Cage, Sean Young, and Tommy Lee Jones provide plenty of inspiration and strength. I rate this film an 8 out of 10, and highly recommend it to anyone who has a love for his-and-her country. With an open-and-patriotic heart, the film should make one stand up and cheer!

i actually enjoyed this movie,which is basically Top Gun with Apache helicopters.i don't think it was a great movie,but it was entertaining.sure there's some bad dialogue and the movie is pretty low key for its kind.the romance angle comes off as silly and unnecessary.but the flying sequences were OK.at least they could have been worse,and i have seen worse.the movie doesn't exactly stretch the acting talents of Nicolas Gage,Tommy Lee Jones,Sean Young,or anyone involved,for that matter.the story is not original,either.yet,like i mentioned earlier,i was entertained,and that's something.for me,Fire Birds is a 6/10

Now that the movie is about 17 years old I decide to write a review. This movie came out about the time I was preparing for my selection to flight school. At the time I really wanted to fly the Apache, but would have ended up flying Blackhawk helicopters.It really made learning to fly helicopters in the Army a bit more glamorous than it really is, of course. It was, however, a good movie that helped to represent the Army's side of Top Gun. The downside is that flying helicopters is not nearly as fast as flying F-14's, A-4's, and F-5's. The upside is that flying helicopters is much more difficult than flying the fighters. This movie accurately depicted the concentration and skill that it takes to fly an attack helicopter.the need to get our girlfriends and wives out to the movie required the typical love plot that is always required to get and keep their attention and fill downtime in the film. Jet A was not even cheap way back in the 1990's.A former military buddy worked on the set of the film. He noted that Sean was pretty cocky and arrogant. When the day was over her limo would roll up with her minions and off they went, never addressing folks on the set. Nicholas Cage was a polar opposite and was very open to even having a drink with the guys and girls after filming was complete. He made sure everyone felt included, as I understand it. That must be one of the reasons that his career took off...he is just wonderfully charismatic.

The use of helicopters against jet fighters isn't as far-fetched as another reviewer claimed; an experimental exercise at Operation RED FLAG years ago demonstrated that, counter-intuitively, attack choppers actually do very well against jets as they are far more maneuverable. But there are other reasons why we won't generally see Apaches used against MiGs in air combat. "FIREBIRDS" was a good movie if all you're interested in is aerial photography and action. Some of the dialog was puerile beyond belief, and the "ex lovers" ploy between the two leads was clichéd as all get-out. Purely for aerial adventure: A- All other elements: D-