Born to Fly

"Lei Yu" (the competent Yibo Wang) is an aspiring test pilot who is selected to take part in a prestigious programme to improve the efficiency of the Chinese Air Force's jet fighters. A bit of rivalry with "Deng Fang" (Yosh Yu) and inspiration from their commander "Zhang" (Jun Hu) makes sure the young man and his equipment are tested to the extreme - but can he rise to the challenge? It certainly has a bit of the look of "Maverick" (2022) to it, with some impressive aerial photography and dog-fighting and it also tries to imbue something of the engineering and science to the plot - crediting the young airmen with skills well beyond just being able to fly a plane. Sadly, though, the producers just couldn't (or wouldn't) steer clear of the political jingoism that rather nauseatingly lauds the virtues of their Air Force against an unknown (English-speaking) foe that is constantly harassing and threatening them. By mid-way through I felt rather sorry for "Lei Yu" - to say he seemed a bit accident-prone would be like saying Jonah liked whales - so the fact that he survives at all is quite a remarkable feat! There's the merest hint of a romance with his doctor "Shen Tianran" (Dongyu Zhou) but for the most part this is all about a young man's determination to succeed. It's perfectly watchable with some decent production standards and had it kept off the flag-waving grass, it could have made for another example of well-enough made high-octane cinema. At times it just smacks too much of a party rallying cry though, and that lets it down.

Big budgeted film with the help of Chinese military. There are shots of test pilot cemetery and big field of solar panels that I don't think it has been revealed to outside world before. Most of the content is based on true stories. The movie contains a lot of interesting and technical stuff about a little known career - test pilots. Surprisingly, I enjoy learning all those technical terms. The test flight scenes are super intense thanks to the very well done CGI. The romance line is almost non-existent and actually I think, unnecessary. There are also some humors here and there. Expect some degree of patriotism propaganda though.

It's quite awkward and embarrassing, like a poor imitation of Top Gun. It's an excellent example of the director's arrogance, who seems to have no understanding of a pilot's duty. The whole movie revolves around an arrogant character who thinks he's unrivaled and pretends to know about engineering and design, while the rest of the characters seem to exist solely to praise and flatter him, ensuring he has enough opportunities to showcase his supposed coolness. The entire storyline is a complete catastrophe, not to mention the numerous setting errors. It begs the question, where was the budget spent? It seems they invested all their money in hiring this "handsome" guy instead of consulting with aviation experts.

This was an obvious attempt at replicating Top Gun, but without the chops. I dropped off three times, but finally made it through on the fourth attempt. I rented it for $2.99, that was a mistake.

The storyline is OK, at least now I know there are test pilots out there. Acting was also OK; not great, not horrible.

The part that was hard frustrating was the obvious Chinese propaganda and "us vs the world" antics. I watch movies to entertain myself, not to be brainwashed. It was rated 9.9 on Viki, the highest score I've ever seen on the app thus far. I am guessing the hero / martyr propaganda resonated with the Chinese audience.

Before reviewing this movie, It's really important to dig into the diegesis of it creation. I invited you to search around if you want to find more about it, but for those who won't, it's basically more a tool than a movie to prove the chinese people how awesome there air force are. To a reach a ridiculous point where it was MANDATORY for them to go watch Born to Fly at the nearest cinema during there 'Golden Week' vacations. It's a pretty dismal practice for sure but this has nothing to do with the potential quality of the movie, which is globally awful.

Get past the pathetic caricature of americans pilots at the very beginning of the movie which can have been conceptualised by North Korean artists in 1960, you got an avalanche of CGI dog fights. First thing that pop through your head is: was this really made in 2023? Second thing (if you have seen real jet fighters manoeuvres at high speed or just understand the foundation of flying): was it any jet fighter pilot on/off the set to notify the director that all these dog fights scenes are beyond ridiculous and totally unrealistic? Even if, they weren't heard.

But even if you can pass all this, there is something terribly wrong with the script. The main focus during the entire 2 hours is on the fact that they must develop a stealth fighter jet. Ok. So why do you spend all your time talking about improving the engine to reach that goal and not the jet frame?

There is many more things that doesn't work but I won't lose more of your time. To conclude, it try's to mimic some of Top Gun movies but fail miserably and looks like another cheap chinese knock-off of an american formula.