
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, May 26, 1990                   TAG: 9005260398
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CHRIS GLADDEN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

'FIRE BIRDS' DOESN'T GET MUCH ABOVE GROUND LEVEL

It's sometimes hard to tell whether "Fire Birds" is a spoof of old B-grade war movies or whether it actually is meant to be a serious action-adventure. I doubt that the many writers and director David Green are sly enough to slip a parody past us, though.

Therefore we'll have to take this cinematic recruitment poster for the Army at face value.

The plot and the script are stubbornly simple-minded - particularly when the movie's gung-ho preachiness is at full throttle.

But a peculiar bit of casting does make the movie entertaining at a modest level because the actors can't be contained by their stock characters.

Nicholas Cage plays Jake Preston, the movie's hero. Jake is a hot-shot helicopter jockey who is obnoxiously full of himself. At the beginning of the movie, as plans are being made to unleash the Army choppers on a South American drug ring, Jake makes a high-minded patriotic speech to his superiors.

Even the top brass wonders if this guy is real. However, Cage, always a ham, reverts to his trademark zonked-out intensity. It has nothing to do with his character, but it at least gives the movie an interesting weirdness.

Tommy Lee Jones plays Brad Little, the helicopter instructor who puts the polish on Jake's talent. Jones always lends a movie a touch of authenticity, and he's a likable old mentor here, a middle-aged pilot yearning for combat.

Sean Young plays Billie Lee Guthrie, Jake's old girlfriend and a fellow pilot. Jake still carries a flame, though he can't come to terms with Billie Lee's determination to erase sexism from her career and their relationship. Young at least gives her one-note character some grace and humor.

Apparently, drug lords are replacing the Russians as villains these days because of the momentous events in Eastern Europe. Here, they're a faceless crew known simply as "THE CARTEL." Only one - a mercenary helicopter ace - is given any identity, which only makes the movie seem more foolish in its sword rattling.

There are some reasonably exciting aerial sequences, and the conventions of the B movie at work here are so anachronistic they have a sense of nostalgia. But as a believable action picture, "Fire Birds" never gets off the ground.

`Fire Birds' A Buena Vista picture at Valley View Mall 6 (362-8219) and Salem Valley 8 (389-0444). 90 minutes. Rated PG-13 for violence and language.

by CNB