Blue Tornado (1991) User Reviews

Blue Gun

[BandSAboutMovies · 5/10 · 2 February 2024]

This movie is everything I love about Italian exploitation films.

It's logo looks exactly like Top Gun while the title refers to Blue Thunder.

It has a cast partly made of American TV actors - Dirk Benedict and Ted McGinley - and international stars like Patsy Kensit and David Warner.

It's directed by Antonio Bido, who also made The Bloodstained Shadow and Watch Me When I Kill, who co-wrote it with Gino Capone, who also wrote Conquest.

It stars as a ripoff of Top Gun and somehow has some amazing shots of real jets in action instead of stock footage. Obviously, Bido got access to some Italian military bases and uniforms to make this look good. So when it starts like any flyboys against the establishment movie, you may be fairly shocked - spoiler warning - when aliens show up.

As they work on new flight maneuvers, Colonel Alex Long (Benedict) - he's Maverick but his call sign is Firebird - and Philip (McGinley) - he's Goose but answers to Thunder - see mysterious lights. After being warned off, Phillip wants to see exactly what it is and flies directly into the light, disappearing and his plane showing up the next day. Alex is accused of sabotaging his friend's plane and making up the UFO tall tale. He's finally able to convince his commander (Warner) to take another trip which costs NATO several more jets. Finally, he becomes friends with a UFO expert named Isabella (Kensit) and prepares to find Phillip by climbing a mountain, guided by Phillip's dad who just so happens to be a mystic mountaineer.

I thrilled to Lieutenant Starbuck (or Templeton "Faceman" Peck) being best friends with Jefferson D'Arcy. The best part is when Alex gets to the mountain's peak, his friend is just standing there, backlit by a UFO and they just leave. That's the ending. Pals, walking down a mountain, after literally finding aliens, no words need be said, I guess.

In Aenigma: Lucio Fulci and the 80s, Bido claimed that Fulci saw a private screening of this movie, then got up on stage and said, "Nobody in Italy would have been able to do something like that." This does not seem like something Fulci would do or a movie he would like.

How wonderful is it that this movie ends with the quote "There's life on every star" from Goethe?

at least it was mercifully short

[Aylmer · 2/10 · 24 February 2001]

I just got done watching this fairly easy-to-find Italian hybrid of TOP GUN and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, and am quite amazed by how much it completely sucks. The ending is a total cop-out and doesn't explain anything about what the film was building up to. On top of that, the film is boring and couldn't be any less interesting, with David Warner incessantly rambling on and on about proper procedure and Dirk Benedict arguing that he needs to find his lost wingman no matter what. The film boasts a whopping ONE action scene near the end which doesn't make any sense whatsoever (a couple pilots crash their planes while shooting at a beam of light)... and it couldn't be any more low-tech. Basically 90 minutes of footage of model airplanes zipping by the screen too fast to really see... and then lots of moronic dialog about UFO's (which never show up in the film, although they are continuously hinted at). Even CLOSE ENCOUNTERS finally showed the aliens at the end as relief for all the boredom before-hand. This action/sci fi film doesn't even try to be exciting. Basically another dull and worthless film. Grade = F.

Embarrassingly awful

[FountainPen · 2/10 · 20 February 2018]

This is rubbish. WHY did Kensit and Warner accept parts in it? Did they need money so badly? The only worthwhile scene was 2 jets "fighting/chasing" another jet ~~ that segment was mildly entertaining. The rest of the film was absurd, juvenile, amateur trash. There are too many of this kind of film around. Bad story, bad acting, bad direction, bad script, story loopholes. Stay away from this crap which I rate 2/10. (Yes, there are some movies which are even worse!)

NATO training secrets revealed

[Chuck-188 · 2/10 · 13 December 2002]

Can you believe this is the way we train NATO fighter pilots? The final scene of Blue Tornado involves the hero climbing a mountain. Col. Long (Dirk Benedict) has to climb this mountain to encounter the aliens. So, how does he prepare? He gets the aged father of his missing buddy to guide him. Col. Long lets the old man carry all the supplies in a huge pack. The old man also has the only ice axe. Col.Long just walks along following the old man. Just when you get feeling good and sorry for the tired old man, he slips and falls. It looks like a broken leg, and Col. Long is forced to leave the old man to spend the night alone on a narrow ledge. Does Col. Long provide first aid or pick up the pack or the ice axe? - No, he continues on his quest so he can get there before dark. I won't spoil the ending, but Col. Long does not have any emergency provisions when he faces it.

The rest of the movie is just as dumb, the unspecial effects are lame, and the acting is stiff. Don't miss this one if you possibly can.

An English "Top Gun"

[krysfamulan · 23 July 2000]

Another nice fighter pilot movie this time in England. It might be elsewhere, but all the english accents seem to point it to England. :) The film is credited to be from Italy. It has similar quirks to "Top Gun". Such as: the rock music, the fancy manuevering, and the enemy wearing dark helmets so you can't see their face. There's also shots of Dirk Benedict walking the airstrip with dark sunglasses and his flight jacket. It all starts with Dirk Benedict as Colonel Alex Long, a.k.a. Fireball. He is the "Maverick" type character that is kinda reckless and hates following orders. Dirk has the suave look, but he's no Tom Cruise. His partner, Philip, a.k.a. Thunderball, flies a separate airplane, (unlike Goose in Top Gun) loves the mountains, and has a family, of course, unlike our main character. After Philip is killed, Alex has to deal with Philip's family, and trying to get the nerve to fly again. Sound familiar? The strange thing is, there is no trace of Philip's body. The love section comes way too quick. One minute Alex meets Isabella in the library, and the next they're making out in an observatory. Hello? where is the verbal fencing that normally occurs between the two lead characters? Also there doesn't seem to be any other tension or conflict. No competeting pilots, no superiors that they butt heads with.

And the UFO concept is ok, but is slow to get going. Isabella's only role seems to be to support Alex's UFO theory, that's all. That and being his lover. And the only way to solve this problem is to hike up into the mountains to find out for himself? Seems like "Close Encounters" meets "Top Gun" I have a hard time seeing Benedict in anything else after seeing him in "The A-team" He lacks in this movie mainly due to the poor script writing. There's no growth for him, and the only things that drives him is to pursue the truth about the death of his friend. An ok movie, but not really worth it. The UFO concept is muddled and nothing is really put into it. I would say a 4.5 out of ten for me.