Firefox

In FIREFOX (based on a novel by Craig Thomas), Clint Eastwood is Vietnam vet Mitchell Gant, who is brought back into service to swipe an experimental high-tech fighter jet from those evil 80s-era Soviets. This new MIG fighter is the next step in the evolution of air combat, a virtually invisible craft that responds to its pilot's thoughts. The governing powers have determined that despite being occasionally incapacitated by fiery flashbacks, Gant is The Right Guy For The Job, mostly because he speaks Russian and he's expendable.

Gant may know his way around a cockpit, but he's new to the world of espionage. So when he must assume the identity of a known smuggler and sneak into Moscow, he's the proverbial fish out of water, especially as an American in Cold War-era Russia. He has the assistance of some Russian dissidents who don't exactly ease him into the spy game, swapping his identity and bludgeoning a man before his eyes. Don't worry though… in prototypical Clint fashion, he still finds opportunity to beat the snot out of a couple guys.

Eventually, Gant gets to the covert facility and, thanks to some self-sacrificing rebels (and no shortage of slow-witted Russians), makes off with the top-secret plane. Ah, but it's not that easy… the Russians built it and they know its abilities and limitations, making Gant's unpredictability and flying skills his greatest assets. As it turns out, the Soviets also conveniently had a spare Firefox plane sitting around, so the Russian pilot Gant "replaced" is hot on his trail seeking payback.

Directed and produced by Eastwood himself, FIREFOX (for the first two-thirds, anyway) is a Cold War spy thriller that ranges from taut to languid. But the afterburners kick in when that plane takes to the skies, and Clint (the director) does a fine job capturing the superfast aircraft -- watching the Firefox blow the snow off a mountain or rip up the ocean in its wake is a kick (a few mildly dated and dodgy FX notwithstanding), and the final confrontation is pretty exhilarating. Working with special effects whiz John Dykstra (who brought the wall-crawler to life in SPIDER-MAN) was probably handy experience for Clint while making SPACE COWBOYS some twenty years later. Seeing the life-size actual Firefox plane sitting in the Siberian hangar, however, just reinforces that in 15 years (or less), oily overcaffienated young mouse-jockeys sitting in front of their monitors creating CGI sets and space battles will think "Hey, remember way back when filmmakers actually built miniatures and full-scale models? Chumps!" Kinda sad in a way.

Clint also offers a solid performance as the grim, burned-out Gant (and though his Russian articulation is dubious, it fits in with the rest of the Russian accents, which are all over the place). Nowhere in the realms of Harry Callahan or Josey Wales, but still more memorable than, say, HONKYTONK MAN. He's surrounded himself with capable and recognizable actors - in addition to Freddie Jones and the late Nigel Hawthorne, you'll spot familiar genre character actors such as villains Toht and Dietrich from RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, Admiral Piett from the original STAR WARS trilogy, and Dim the Droog from A CLOCKWORK ORANGE.

Though the effects aren't as polished as we've become accustomed to and it can be a bit sluggish at times, FIREFOX is still a serviceable Clint thriller with a kickass plane.