Film Review: Stealth

In 2005, when I saw the trailer for this sucker, I couldn't have been more excited. Futuristic planes zipping across the skies, blowing the crap out of each other...hell yeah!

When I got around to seeing it, I couldn't have been more disappointed. Even though the planes are cool and there's a ton of fun action and SFX, the movie turned out to be very flat, shallow, and nerve-wracking. In Rob Cohen's attempts to shove the sensation of flying at supersonic speeds in the viewers' faces, he purposefully shook and shimmied the camera in every way he could. There are so many shakes, zooms, pans, moves, and shakes that it becomes irritating to watch even the standard war room scenes. Did I mention that the camera shakes a lot?

The good news is that there are still some cool things to the film. I always did enjoy the aerial combat scenes, despite the shakiness of it; among the film's highlights, the futuristic jets engage in some thrilling dogfights, blow up a massive airborne tanker, and does some incredible low-level flying all over the place. These are moments that are fairly cool and fun to watch.

The story, however, leaves much to be desired, and I think that's the film's biggest downfall. The characters are as shallow and stereotypical as they can be, and are utterly forgettable by the film's end. I actually think the characters of the GI Joe films are a grade better than this! As for the plot, it covers some interesting ground, but is really just more of the same: pilots blow some stuff up, plane goes crazy, they have to rescue their wingman, blah blah blah. Themes of technology and morality are glossed over, but never fully explored.
This film uses some pretty horrid photography and editing. Acting is pretty lame from the cast, and the writing is terrible. This production does use some awesome sets, props, costumes, and special effects. The music score by BT, one of my favorite electronica bands, does have some cool parts. The film also uses some songs I personally like.

Stealth kinda straddles the threshold for me between being a total disappointment and a guilty pleasure. It has an irritating style and there's not much to the story or characters, but it does have its moments.

3/5 (Entertainment: Good | Story: Marginal | Film: Poor)