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

Working in cooperation with the French Air Force, director Gérard Pirès was able to get some of France's top gun pilots to do the aeronautic dogfights that were used in the film. Initially at the start of the shoot, the Air Force had some particular rules regarding the minimum distances the aircraft could be together or be above the ground, but by the end of principle photography, the daring pilots got permission to bend the normal safety rules, thus allowing them to do maneuvers normally never seen (or possible) outside of actual combat. By the final days of filming, the initial minimum distance the pilots could fly above the ground (500 feet) had dropped to a tiny 10 feet, and the distance between the planes in the air (a varying range, usually of several hundred feet) had been reduced to a minuscule 3 feet, thus allowing some amazing shots that could otherwise never have been pulled off.

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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

Version of The Aeronauts (1967)

User Reviews

There no slamming on the breaks here!!

Defenatly a movie for all flight-fans out there. The aerial-photography is wonderful, i find it much better then in Top Gun. Compared to Iron Eagle, its no competition. The director has set a new standard in aviation movies. Its high, well above 25,000ft. I think there is more flying in this movie then in Top Gun And Iron Eagle put together. Yes some acting is not the best and you don't watch a movie like this one because of the intricate plot. Its all about fast military jets! Another great thing is that you don't have to listen to cheesy lines like in the other two mentioned movies. Kick the tires and light the fires, lean back and enjoy the ride.