Kong tian lie [Sky Hunter] (2017)

(On TV, November 2020) If the United States can have their proudly blunt Top Gun, we’d be churlish to deny China the fun of having its own Sky Hunter. The story ought to feel familiar, what with three pilot friends being brought in (or not) to the Chinese Air Force’s elite “Sky Hunter” unit, and being at the right place once terrorists from a fictional nation take Chinese hostages. The script is a big messy piece of nonsense (who knew that flying helicopters and fighters was a similar skillset?), but it’s put together competently, and believability is not quite as crucial once we see the footage. For western viewers, there’s some weirdness in seeing “enemy” planes being flown by the heroes—The J-11 (very similar to the Russian Sukhoi Su-27) is prominently featured, as are the J-20 latest-generation stealth fighter and Y-20 airlifter. Things quickly head into fantasy land once it gets into the nitty-gritty of its geopolitical tensions, with most villains speaking English even as they play stereotypical terrorists. (This being said, the film isn’t quite as anti-American as you’d think—the inevitable establishing scene between our hero pilots and the intruding American reconnaissance plan is handled with some humour, and one notes that the film features music by Hans Zimmer and shot some material in the United States.) Actress Fan Bingbing may be most recognizable to American audiences given her supporting roles in a few Hollywood movies. The special effects are better than average for Chinese movies, where quantity often takes over quality—and it does lead to a few visually interesting scenes, especially in establishing the film’s framing device. Production values are clearly high, and while the film clearly wants to make China’s military irresistibly cool (whoever designed that star-fox unit logo deserves a raise!), it clearly borrows from the Hollywood box of tricks to achieve its objectives. Sky Hunter, despite a familiar plot, certainly ends up being an interesting viewing experience: It portrays a non-American air force with a great deal of sympathy and competence, and transposes the experience of cheering for heroes onto a different framework. It’s better executed and more engaging than many other Chinese films, and fun enough to watch on its own terms.