Into the Sun (1991)

(In French, On Cable TV, August 2020) I don’t specifically have anything against movies that twist genres midway through—done properly à la From Dusk Till Dawn, it can be a memorable experience in itself. Done badly, or without conviction, it ends up being like Into the Sun, a too-low-budget comedy that plays with the idea of a professional fighter pilot being tasked with showing his job to a Hollywood actor looking for inspiration for his new role. So far so good: it gets a few laughs. The first half-hour of the film feels midway between Top Gun and Hot Shots!, which is a very strange tone to take, both too serious and not serious enough. Things take a bad turn when our protagonists are shot down over enemy territory (in a rather unconvincing sequence), leading to a prolonged ground sequence that’s far from being as amusing as the beginning of the film. There aren’t many casual laughs to be found in the heroes being captured and tortures, and it doesn’t help that Hot Shots Part Deux would cover much of the same ground far more successfully a few years later. Into the Sun disintegrates during that last half, unable to make the most effective use of its actor turned soldier (See: Tropic Thunder) or its soldier swayed by the actor. Good idea, disappointing execution: a film’s premise going unfulfilled.