Sky Fighters (2005)
"Les chevaliers du ciel" (original title)

While in an international fair of exhibition of airplanes, a French Mirage 2000 of the last generation vanishes and pilots Antoine "Walk'n" Marchelli and Sebastian "Fahrenheit" Vallois are ... See full summary »

Director:

Gérard Pirès

Writers:

Gilles Malençon (adaptation), Gilles Malençon (screenplay),

Stars:

Benoît Magimel, Clovis Cornillac, Géraldine Pailhas

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Benoît Magimel	...	Capitaine Antoine "Walk'n" Marchelli
Clovis Cornillac	...	Capitaine Sébastien "Fahrenheit" Vallois
Géraldine Pailhas	...	Maelle Coste
Alice Taglioni	...	Capitaine Estelle 'Pitbull' Kass
Philippe Torreton	...	Bertrand
Rey Reyes	...	Capitaine Leslie 'Stardust' Hedget
Peter Hudson	...	Général Buchanan
Jean-Baptiste Puech	...	Ipod
Christophe Reymond	...	Stan
Fiona Curzon	...	Mrs Redgrave
Jean-Michel Tinivelli	...	Colonel Farje
Frédéric van den Driessche	...	Général Hardouin
Eric Poulain	...	Capitaine Klébér
Pierre Poirot	...	De Séze
Jean-Yves Chilot	...	Houdon

Storyline

While in an international fair of exhibition of airplanes, a French Mirage 2000 of the last generation vanishes and pilots Antoine "Walk'n" Marchelli and Sebastian "Fahrenheit" Vallois are assigned to locate the plane that is flying in a hiding position below a commercial airplane. The pilots order the Mirage to return to the base, but the Mirage attacks Fahrenheit instead, and Walk'n immediately shots the Mirage saving his partner. However, the evidences are forged by the leader of a force called "Special Missions" and Walk'n is falsely accused of not following the orders and discharged from the air force. Blacklisted in the commercial flight companies, Walk'n and Fahrenheit are pressed to join the Special Missions team, where they disclose betrayals in a net of espionage.

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Plot Keywords:

pilot | plane | betrayal | saab 37 viggen | neck breaking | 

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Taglines:

'Top Gun' for a new generation.

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Genres:

Adventure | Action

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site [de] Official site [it]

Country:

France

Language:

French English Arabic

Release Date:

9 November 2005 (France)

Also Known As:

Sky Fighters

Filming Locations:

Djibouti

Box Office

Budget:

€20,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$3,712,896 (France) (11 November 2005)

Gross:

$8,168,074 (Europe) (2 December 2005)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mandarin Films, Outsider Productions, Black Forest Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The acrobatic performance seen before Capitaine Marchelli's hearing is performed by the Indian Air Force acrobatic team "SURYA KIRAN". They emit Indian flag-coloured smoke during the performance.

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Goofs

The Royal Australian Air Force officer is introduced as General Hudson. The RAAF doesn't have army ranks. It has ranks like the British RAF so he should have been called Air Chief Marshall Hudson. Also his uniform was not one from the RAAF.

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Connections

Featured in Troldspejlet: Episode #36.2 (2006)

User Reviews

Full Speed ...

A French aerial-action flick packed with fast jets, quick tempered pilots and the usual array of love-interests. Many have compared 'Les Chevaliers du ciel' to the 1986 US box office blockbuster, Top Gun. Film fans bang on about 'this lax French copy' - but it's not a copy, it's a completely different film altogether. Different plot and different characters. It just happens to feature the French Air Force, whereas Top Gun was based on the US Navy.

In my honest opinion, 'Les Chevs' (it's international title being Sky Fighters), is a very plausible film. If you ignore the weak female characters and their individual inter-woven story-lines, then the 97 minute film motors along quite happily. Then you discover that the director is one Gérard Pirès, the man responsible for delivering 'Riders' and 'Double Zero'. For anyone who saw either of these stable-mates may recall British actor Bruce Payne's fingernail scraping American accent in 'Riders' and then there was the farcical 'Double Zero' - a French spy comedy film. It was obvious that a large slice of the combined budgets went towards lunch.

'Les Chevaliers du ciel' has a fairly reasonable story: a new French fighter jet, the Mirage 2000 is hijacked on the tarmac at the Farnborough Airshow in the UK. Two French fighter jets are sent to intercept the stolen aircraft as it flies towards the French coast. Our two heros are flying the interceptors, Benoît Magimel as Capt Antoine "Walk'n" Marchelli and his sidekick, Capt Sébastien "Fahrenheit" Vallois played by Clovis Cornillac. They end up in a multitude of trouble but go on to save the day when a naughty little inter-governmental plot is revealed.

Such is the advancement in filming technology and special effects in the 19 years since Top Gun was made, this particular flick contains some very impressive aerial sequences. What many fail to realise is that the flying sequences in Top Gun were mainly filmed from the ground, whereas in 'Les Chevs', it was mostly airborne. With 21st Century kit like the Spacecam and the Vectorvision Jet Camera, what you see is what actually happened. By strapping this new technology to the underbelly of another fighter jet, the aerial sequences have you in the Martin Baker seat of ejection happiness. A pod containing 4 cameras captured the forward, rear and side-to-side action, making for a fascinating insight into the sheer joy of punching your way through a cloud bank.

The film, naturally, has to have a love interest - or 3 - as in this case. Géraldine Pailhas plays Maelle Coste, the French Prime Minister's defence adviser, Alice Taglioni plays fellow pilot Lt Estelle 'Pitbull' Kass and Rey Reyes as "Stardust", an American Air Force pilot on an exchange programme. I must say that Ms Reyes took a leaf out of 'Riders' by delivering a shockingly bad US accent and also managed to corner the market in pouting and posing. A character somewhat far fetched and unbelievable.

The inter-weaving sub plots keep you thinking and Fiona Curzon, a Paris-based English actress, makes an appearance as a certain Mrs Redgrave, a British arms dealer from Gibraltar. Sadly, she too seems to have been struck down with a case of the 'awful accents'.

Overall, 'Les Chevs' seems to have lifted Gérard Pirès out of his funk and is well worth a viewing. So brush up on your French, return the seatback to the upright position and prepare for the rush of the afterburners.