Fire Birds
(1990)
Overview
A joint task force operation between the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Army has been formed to dismantle one of the largest drug cartels operating in South America. Multiple attempts to assault the cartel's mountainous compound have been thwarted by a Scorpion-attack helicopter piloted by a cartel leader, Eric Stoller (Bert Rhine). After having several aircraft shot down, most notably a pair of UH–60 Black Hawks and their AH–1 Cobra escorts, the army turns to the new AH–64 Apache attack helicopter, which can match its enemies' maneuverability and firepower.
Director
David Green
Writers
Step Tyner, Paul F. Edwards, Dale Dye, Nick Thiel, John K. Swensson
Top Billed
Nicolas Cage
Keywords
Top Billed Cast
Crew
Reviews
The Movie Mob
⭐ 4/10January 2, 2023
**A miserably bungled Top Gun impersonation with helicopters… why?**
Lame Top Gun with helicopters. Almost everything is a straight rip-off. Nic Cage is a much more exaggerated Maverick. Tommy Lee Jones fills the Viper role. Flight school. Overly cocky pilots. Contentious playful romance. Fire Birds so closely replicated Top Gun that it forced a comparison that Fire Birds lost miserably. The cheese factor was cringe. The soundtrack was nowhere…
read the rest.
Sierbahnn
⭐ 5/10August 15, 2026
This is a helicopter-based version of Top Gun and it has a lot of issues. The unlikability of the characters is enough to make me want to turn this off and the horrifyingly bad attitude that our main protagonist has towards what is framed as his love interest but is portrayed more as a very toxic relationship is gut churning. You then add some really bad pseudo-military jargon and some half decent footage of Apache attack helicopters and you have… read the rest.
Status
Released
Original Language
EN
Budget
$22,000,000
Revenue
—