The Blue Angels Movie
“The Blue Angels” movie is a spectacle showcasing the precision flying of the elite U.S. Navy demonstration team. Filmed in IMAX, it features stunning aerial footage and behind-the-scenes looks at the pilots, though the planes are the true stars. Despite some human interest elements, the movie prioritizes the awe-inspiring flying sequences.
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The Blue Angels - Official Trailer | Prime Video
Movie Name | The Blue Angels |
---|---|
Director | Paul Crowder |
Stars | Brian Allendorfer Bobby Speed Baldock Bryon Beck |
IMDb Rating | 7.4/10 |
Top Cast |
Brian Allendorfer - Self Bobby Speed Baldock - Self Bryon Beck - Self Lance Benson - Self Ralph Bertelle - Self Laura Bogan - Self Jason Bortz - Self Eastside Camera - Self Mike Campbell - Self Capt. Ret Russ Coons - Self Kevin Cronin - Self Capt. Jason Denny - Self Capt. Ret George Dom - Self George Dom - Self Doug Dumas - Self Capt. Brian Ferguson - Self Donna Flynn - Self Capt. Ret Gregory Hicks - Self |
The Blue Angels – An IMAX Experience
“The Blue Angels,” a nonfiction film about the U.S. Navy’s flight demonstration team, was made for IMAX in every sense of the phrase. First, technically speaking, according to Cineworld’s website, “The Blue Angels was shot with Sony’s Venice 2 IMAX-certified digital cameras and features IMAX exclusive Expanded Aspect Ratio (EAR) throughout.”
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the film is primarily a spectacle, as much a demonstration of new technology and the professionals who’ve mastered it as the Blue Angels themselves.
Cinematic Recruiting Poster
The movie is an advertisement for The Blue Angels, the Navy, planes, the military in general, and an iconography-based sense of patriotism, much like the “Top Gun” films. New Yorker critic Pauline Kael memorably described the first “Top Gun” movie as “a recruiting poster that isn’t concerned with recruiting but with being a poster.” Coincidentally, one of the producers of “The Blue Angels” is Glen Powell, co-star of “Top Gun: Maverick.”
We see plenty of low-angled “heroic” shots of the pilots, moving shots taken from over their shoulders with a Steadicam as they stride through long corridors, and slow-motion shots of them walking towards and away from planes, taking off sunglasses and putting them on. There are moments where they move abreast in a “power walk” formation familiar from many a Hollywood action flick.
The Precision Flying
And the flying itself? It’s technically impressive, though not surprisingly framed or particularly poetic (probably almost no one wanted that). I saw The Blue Angels a couple of times as a kid and remember thinking that it seemed physically impossible for such large metal objects to fly so close to one another while roaring through the sky at hundreds of miles per hour. But they did it. They do it here, again, for the IMAX cameras, which seemingly were affixed to multiple parts of the planes’ exteriors and cockpits. (How is it possible that we never see those cameras in the shots? Were they digitally erased later? Or are the cameras just that small, and the camera crew just that smart?)
The Human Element
Director Paul Crowder, who also helped edit the movie, tries to find a narrative through-line by sketching out the members of the Blue Angels team. He focuses mainly (though not exclusively) on the Commanding Officer and Flight Leader, aka “Boss,” Captain Brian Kesselring, who eventually left the Angels and is now Deputy Commander, of Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5. “My feeling is, you should never feel too comfortable in the suit,” he says.
Other members of the squadron drift in and out of the foreground. There’s a bit of material about the strain placed on marriages and families by the pilots being on the road 300 days a year, but no talk of affairs, divorces, or anything like that (the Navy wouldn’t have permitted it anyway). Towards the end of the movie, through a fluke of production timing, we also get to meet the Blue Angels’ first-ever female pilot, Amanda Lee, and watch her be inducted.
The Real Stars
But make no mistake: the planes are the stars of this production, and as hard as the filmmakers try to reassure us that human stories are going on as well, the precision flying and all the training and practice that allow it to exist are what everyone paid to see, and the movie never forgets it.
The cutting rarely lingers on shots, though, which may seem odd. If you’re going to shoot and exhibit in IMAX, complete with state-of-the-art, bone-rattling surround sound, why not let the viewer experience a “scissors cross,” a “delta breakout” or a “loop break cross” from the perspective of one of the flyers for a long enough stretch that it feels as if the G-forces are bearing down?
Lasting Impression
Still, the totality does leave an impression, thanks to the crystal-clear imagery (by Jessica Young, Lance Benson, and Michael Fitzmaurice) and the diving, climbing, and rolling aircraft. The moments that resonate aren’t just about the flying, but the emotion the pilots feel as they appreciate what it was like to become part of an elite group that has inducted just 260 people since its creation in 1946.
“The Blue Angels” is a spectacle of precision flying, showcasing the skills and dedication of the pilots who make up this elite team. While the human stories are present, the real stars are the planes themselves, captured in stunning IMAX format and leaving a lasting impression on viewers.