Customer Reviews

Warbirds

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This Sci Fi Channel production was sort of a dream come true. For those Boomer Dinosaur fans there was a run of comic books in the 60s pitting the WW2 military men against dinosaurs and other prehistoric monsters. In the back of this kids mind was always the question"Wouldn't this make a great movie?" The battles of blazing machine guns against the roaring monsters begged to be put on the screen. It looked like a great movie for Ray Harryhausen to gift us all with. Alas,it was not to be.....Untill now! CGI replaces the stop motion animation and delivers the most vicious looking Pterasaurs ever seen.Delightfully,this flock of creatures does not look like anything seen on the Discovery Channel.The monsters look much more like the paintings of flying horrors painted by J.Alen St.John for The Land That Time Forgot,or other pulp magazine covers from the 40s.In some aspects this movie looks hauntingly like Harryhausen's unmade movie concept about flying monsters invading 1950s modern times titled "The Elemenatals".But who is to say? The look of the props,and the womens make up all hold true to the retro feel of the film.How much more retro can you get than dinosaurs,anyway? There is even a King Kong refurance. No acting awards will be given for this film. But the visions of pilots dogfighting with leathery winged monsters are all that one could ask for and then some on such a meager budget. If you are too grown up,this might be a one timer. For me,it's a keeper for sure!
JPF

I liked it.So did my father,a World War 11 veteran.He was awarded the silver Star for bravery and if any generation could defeat prehistoric creatures,THEY COULD!He told me the uniforms,firearms,holsters,vehicles,etc.were all authentic. Even the women's hair-do's.Someone did their homework.I liked the idea of women heroes and wished for more character development,though. I liked the tall woman whose plane crashed when the Pteranodon landed on it.Wish she lived.I realize this is a low budget affair and special effects were very good even so.I liked the sky colors(background) when the B-29 was in flight.I never heard of the stars and they did a good job and the film had a good pace to it.Maybe a sequel,where some of the pteranodons survived and mutated form the atomic blast?

Warbirds: DVD review
Grade: B
The Sci-Fi channels movies are usual good, but I must start out this review by saying that this is probably the best movie it has made. Yes, I did give it a grade B, but I did that for a reason about the DVD, not the movie itself. (More on that later in the review.) People usually judge Sci-Fi movies, almost stereotyping them, and it just makes me mad, furious, because if you're going to take the time to watch a Sci-Fi movie in the first place, you can't really expect to find the next Oscar nominee for best picture. You're crazy if you do.
Yes, their movies are usual laughingly low-budgeted (they almost seem to take pride in the fact), but the simple truth is this: their movies are fun to watch; they're simple entertainment, in this case, Pterodons assaulting a group of Woman's Airforce Service Pilots.
The movie starts off with a group of Japanese soldiers mining for oil on an island somewhere in the middle of the Pacific, and the time is in the final days of World War 2. The Japanese unearth some preserved Pteranodon eggs, and they hatch and run amok from there. Simple, yet highly entertaining plot, and no, the plot is not only for the weak-minded; the Pteranodons don't even have much screen-time, which is my only complaint about the movie. (More dinosaurs!! Needs more dinosaurs!!!)

The acting is also surprisingly good for a Sci-Fi movie, and the characters don't always act suicidal, like in other recent Sci-Fi movies, such as Yeti. Yes, you do feel for the characters, and you do want them to get out of their situation alive.
The other problem with the movie though is the special effects. The Pteranodons look great (their made using CGI effects), but did they really have to make almost everything else CGI? I mean, even the ocean is CGI in some parts. Once again, kind of cheap guys.
As for the DVD itself, the cover is sort of misleading. At first glance, it appears as if there is a Tyrannosaurus Rex attacking the planes. There is no Tyrannosaurus Rex in the movie. If you want to see Pteranodons and T. Rex's in one movie, go watch Pterodactyl. (Which is not as great as this movie.)
Another problem with the DVD is the special features. I wasn't exactly expecting a whole "making of" documentary, but I wanted at least something else! All there is to the special features is the trailer for the movie, and a trailer for some other movie. That's it. Whoop-dee-doo.
Overall, if you love dinosaurs and the Sci-Fi channel, this is a must-see. They really hit gold with this one, I just wish they would keep making gold like this all the time...But it never hurts to dream, does it?

1940's women aviators. Nasty flying dinos. Battle of the sexes. Atomic bomb detonation. Pangs of conscience. Two survivors. Enough said.

The title of the comic book mentioned in a previous review was called Weird War Tales by DC Comics, and yes, this movie does indeed recall that anthology series; but there is another horror movie on DVD that reminds me more of the Creature Commandoes (a group of monsters that battled the Axis Powers during WWII) that appeared in Weird War in the late 70's...the title characters were a vampire, a Frankenstein monster, a werewolf, a robot and Medusa and the recent cheapie horror flick that sort of captures this concept is Horrors of War. Warbirds is a superior effort.

In the past 24 hours, I've seen some pretty awful movies on the Sci Fi Channel (now called SyFy). SABRE TOOTH. SKELETON MAN. People running through the same northern California woods from...something.

I just watched as much as I could of WARBIRDS and I'm trying to understand the good reviews here. World War II buffs? "Hogan's Heroes" would be more accurate. Dinosaur fans? If you enjoyed the original "Land of the Lost" TV series....

This is really a bad movie. An all-chick team of fighter pilots? What planet did that happen on? Not earth, not from 1941 to 1945. The special effects are just the same generic CGI stuff we've come to expect from a "Sci Fi Original." The script is pretty run-of-the-mill stuff. The acting, worse. Looks cheap, acts cheap.

You will learn to hate the word "over." In all the poorly-acted, static shots of the pilots talking back and forth, they keep saying "over." Over and over and over.

It's not even that fun of a bad movie. Just...bad.

I avoid "made for sci-fi" films like the plague, but because I've always been a dinosaur and WW2 buff, I watched it out of curiosity. I was pleasantly surprised. No, it isn't a classic by any stretch of the imagination, but it IS the best movie by the sci-fi network I've ever seen. It is well-cast, well-paced and, considering the (low) budget, well-filmed. All too often, "B" movies set in the '30s see an opportunity for everyone to have tongue-in-cheek fun with the costumes, hair styles and sets, with big-band swing music accompanying the proceedings. This one, on the other hand, remembers that its setting is a grim one and never tries to be "cute". Another point in its favor is its use of the japanese soldiers: though depicted as human beings, the film never tries to create a "kumbayah/We Are the World" atmosphere. The 2 factions remain enemies to the bitter end. I'm not a big fan of CGI as it always gives me the feeling I'm watching animated concept art instead of the real thing, but the way it was handled here was almost acceptable. Also, the women are handled with unusual maturity. Depicted as competent soldiers without the shrill screeching of a politically correct agenda, the female characters are not spared the horrors of the island any more than their male counterparts. No pornographic, slasher-flick mentality here, their untimely ends are shown as tragic and/or heroic. Though the plot is by the numbers, the cast was well chosen and the life they bring to their characters makes this a rather engaging affair. All in all, one could do a lot worse than this half-way decent little flick. I give it 2 beers up and a bowl of chips.

Warbirds (2008) is a fantasy adventure set in the Pacific during World War II, that features a team of female flyers, a pack of flying dinosaurs, and an atomic bomb. This effort from the Sci Fi Channel attempts to be deadly serious in tone, but often displays a naiveté that is often quite humorous and even exasperating. Spoilers follow, so continue at your discretion.

Maxine West (Jamie Elle Mann) is the commander of a group of WASP's (Women's Air Force Service Pilots). After flying a B-29 bomber from Kansas to Honolulu, they are assigned to take a group of soldiers led by OSS (Office of Strategic Service) Colonel Jack Toller (Brian Krause), on a top secret mission. While in the air battling storm winds, the plane is attacked by a huge winged creature, and with two engines on fire, is forced to land on an island. The island is the home for a large number of the flying beasts, who apparently enjoy chasing aircraft and feeding on human flesh.

The Americans encounter some Japanese soldiers, and take them prisoner. They also discover an airfield with some flyable Zero fighter planes. The Americans attempt to execute a plan where one of the Zero flies to safety, while others fly cover, but the attacking creatures are just too numerous, and force the remaining planes to return to the island. Eventually it is revealed that the B-29 is carrying an atomic bomb. Despite the risks, the group decides to make a break in the bomber, with a couple of Zeroes again flying as escorts, to take on the flying reptiles. With Skipper West piloting the bomber, the film concludes with a remarkable world changing event that rewrites history.

Warbirds is problematic in many ways, as little about the story makes any sense. The WASP's did not fly combat missions. The planning for the actual atom bomb raid on Japan was quite extensive, and pilots were fully briefed about the mission. A B-29 named the Enola Gay, and two other B-29 bombers flew on the mission. The film's haphazard portrayal of military operations and the chain of command, is not at all realistic and even traitorous.

The Americans capture three Japanese soldiers, and the commander Captain Ozu (Tohoru Masamune), just happens to have been educated at an Ivy League college, speaks English, and to top it all, apparently has some knowledge of nuclear research! Although the Americans are on a top secret mission, the prisoners are left unrestrained, and kept in a shack with open windows, guarded by one man. Even after Toller finds Ozu in the plane next to the A-bomb, the prisoners remain unrestrained, and even help repair the plane. Toller is an idiot, but at least he is trying to follow his orders. Unlike Maxine West, who is constantly questioning his decisions, and trying to prove she's as tough as a man. Instead she demonstrates that overconfidence and stupidity isn't excusive to males.

The characters do ridiculous things, like easily rolling heavy barrels of fuel, and then lifting them into a truck. Then without being tied down, the barrels somehow manage not to roll out of the truck, while it is racing through the jungle. How an American truck got on the island is a real mystery. In another scene, Toller is looking at the dinosaurs through binoculars, and then suddenly is dangling over the edge of a cliff, firing his gun. For more silliness, there are two ridiculous standoffs with guns, and the female pilots always look perfectly made up and glamorous, while flying. Flying dinosaurs would be a rare sight for most of us, but it seems like no big deal to these people. The CGI effects for the dinosaurs and the aircraft are passable, but hardly convincing.

Warbirds is a female friendly tale that applies the concept of "girl power" to the war in the Pacific. Like a program intended for children, there is a naïve attitude that as long as the girls stick together, all will be right in the world, even if there happens to be a war going on. The script isn't too concerned with logic or historical accuracy, and often makes the actors look ridiculous. Toss out the CGI effects, and the film looks like an episode of the 1970's TV program Black Sheep Squadron. If you're interested in seeing empowered women pilots triumph over some semi-realistic looking flying dinosaurs, and incompetent male leadership, while rewriting the history of WW II, this is the perfect film.

I got a DVD of this movie from a friend as a gift and watched it, and afterward I knew I had to buy one for one of my friends to pass along!! It's a little over the top with the acting but it is a FUN movie. This movie reminded me of; "The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra" but with so much better effects! Same over the top acting but with a strong storyline and special effects to keep you entertained.
I would rate and put this one in me "B" movies selection, so if you like ; Fun, Campy over the Top movies with a hint of the 1960's feel try this one out!

first of all warbirds are a lot smaller than shown on cover making the dinosaurs look a little more realistic, the females are cute and sexy.. balancing out a lot of the movies weaker area's, enjoyed the movie not an epic and not expected to be one.. just a quick entertainment fix. better than any reality show..Dino's, Gals, and old warplanes not a bad mix at all..