To call Airwolf: The Movie a masterpiece of the cinematic form would be a lie. To call it a good movie wouldnt be a whole lot closer to the truth. However, if anyone is hankering to be dipped in the 1980s and soaked to the bone in the decade, its a bit of a treat.
From the twanging synth soundtrack and the Cold War obsession to the overly emotional dolly bird love interest and the staccato tough man dialogue, this is the 1980s writ large. That said, this DVD and Blu-ray re-release has turned out to be oddly topical, dealing with the Libyans and the threat of the country having too much airpower (maybe David Cameron should show Airwolf to the UN in his bid to get a no-fly zone over the country approved).
The rather simple plot see sadistic, rebel scientist Dr. Moffet (the late, great David Hemmings) defecting to rogue state Libya. However he doesnt just take himself to North Africa, but goes off with Airwolf, a super-advanced, jet-powered helicopter that can fly faster than the speed of sound and on its own has enough fire power and technology to dominate the skies and perhaps ignite World War III if the US doesnt get it back.
In order to prevent a major calamity, the American military hires Stringfellow Hawke (Jan Michael Vincent) to go to Libya to steal the copter back. Hes the only person whose flown Airwolf other than Moffet, but hes taking time off follow the disappearance of his brother, and isnt that keep to get back in the pilots seat. Cue much synth music, soft lighting and dodgily edited action sequences with helicopters.
The movie is basically a re-edited version of the pilot episode of the 1984 TV series, turned into a stand-alone adventure. Aspects of the pilot that were designed to play a recurring role in the series are toned down (such as Hawke only agreeing to go on the mission if the military helps him find his brother), while the language and violence is toned up.
Its all kind of fun in a cheesy, 1980s way, and Airwolf itself is still pretty cool, but the whole thing is more than a little dumb and with an 80s TV level budget its not exactly state of the art in the action department indeed it features some of the least convincing punches Ive ever seen. It is undoubtedly a silly, simple and not very well plotted movie, but the kitsch factor does mean its still watchable
A note of caution should be offered in regards to this being a Blu-ray release. The transfer is pretty abysmal, to the point where at times its difficult to believe youre actually looking at whats supposedly a 1080p picture. Presumably the original master isnt great it was made for TV in the 1980 after all and this is the best they can do, but to be honest, with a 4:3 image that doesnt look much better than the DVD, stereo sound and no special features other than an image gallery, you might as well stick with the standard def version if you are an Airwolf fan.
Overall Verdict: Its pretty rubbish in many respects, but if you love the 1980s, youll revel in this, just dont expect the Blu-ray to be much of step up from the DVD in any respect.
Special Features:
Image Gallery
Reviewer: Tim Isaac