Thunder Over Reno (2008) User Reviews

Awful amateur production.

[guy_joseph · 1/10 · 5 August 2009]

I was duped into watching this by the 9.0 IMDb rating at the time. I have never commented a film here before, but I feel honour bound to warn any prospective viewers off of this diabollically amateur production.

The script reads as though it was written by a five year old, and the lines are delivered with a woodenness which makes 1980s pornography seem Oscar-worthy. I spent most of the time watching this movie trying to figure out if it was a spoof or not... and I eventually came to the sad conclusion that it's not. It's really just THAT bad. Please believe me, watching this film is the equivalent of self-flagellation of the brain.

If I had to say one positive thing about this film, it would be that, maybe, just maybe, if you just watched the plane-racing sequences with no audio, and played Iggy Pop's "The Passenger" instead, it might be cool. Though it would probably be better if you turned off the film altogether, and just listened to "The Passenger". It's a cool song.

Fun and family friendly - just needs a bigger budget!

[barrykerry · 8/10 · 28 April 2012]

I notice there are a few negative reviews of this film on here but I was recommended this film by a friend who was visiting from Canada and I really enjoyed it. My six year old son and eight year old daughter also watched the film with me and they also loved it, especially my son who is into anything to do with flying - the vintage airplanes were just wonderful and it was lovely to see them shot in such beautiful and contemporary footage. I think the film makers here have done the best with what was clearly a limited budget and I would love to see this film be remade with a budget that it deserves. I think a larger budget would really allow this picture become what it was intended to be, but nevertheless our family still enjoyed it and I can highly recommend it for a great family friendly film!

Perhaps Worth a Re-make in the Future

[stoughs · 24 August 2011]

Contains classic, beautiful air-to-air photography at high speed, in clear air and often at magic hour. The linear, obvious and juvenile screenplay was a classic of what high school story writers try to accomplish: Underdog struggles against all odds and eventually triumphs and gets the girl in the bargain. The fundamental question is: Assuming the problem was trying to work to a very low budget, could the company have done better than produce this truly awful picture? Given a child-like screenplay with no human insight evident, the answer is "no." But, given that the screenplay could have been tweaked to replace the cardboard characters with real humans, even with that change there were many other impairments to the success of this film. Other low-budget drama films win awards ("Glengarry Glen Ross," "Old Boy," "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf," "Reservoir Dogs" and thousands of others). My viewing experience was that the film was not entertaining (an artifact of the infantile story line), very poorly cast or cast hastily and without an ability to audition well, replete with unrealistic dialog (another script problem), some decent acting mixed in with really awful acting, and the most odd hodge-podge ("hotch-potch" as we would say in Yorkshire) of photography and lighting that I have seen outside of no- budget amateur short films. Like another reviewer, I too found that I had to watch this picture in two-minute segments because it was so awful in almost every dimension. The fundamental expectation for a feature film is that the talent will be able to realistically play against one another without obviously reading a mental teleprompter while so doing. Alas, that was not the case here. With a perceptive screenwriter who understands the human condition and some creativity, it might be possible to construct a less-obvious story that would hold the interest of the audience. Then, with a professional casting director, talented director, and professional lighting cinematographer, I could foresee building a project around the beauty of flight from the Reno Air Races coupled with a great story, and it might be possible to produce the next "Top Gun."

My associates are using this picture as one of a number of examples of poor film-making. That is the silver-lining: Every error is a chance to learn and get better.

Finally, I did not appreciate someone, who worked on this picture, reviewing it and giving a score of "9," and then putting in a list of excuses within the review itself. That is a direct conflict of interest.

Airplane porn...

[kdryan · 2/10 · 16 May 2023]

I am an aviation and air racing nut and Race 57 is probably my favorite plane ever. I still could not stomach this movie; that is how bad this is. Do yourself a favor and turn the sound down and just watch the planes because the plot and acting will make you want to vomit. So many plot holes and so few words to write with. So they're going to take a kid flying a crop duster and drop him in a highly modified and even more rare P-51 Mustang? Even seeing the late great Bob Odegaard (whom I met once) is not enough to save this turkey. The male lead should be banned from ever acting again and whoever wrote this should be denied a pen for life. There is NOTHING believable about this.

Very fun.

[roryshilehf · 9/10 · 27 April 2012]

Its interesting because it says that Butch Bandi is a local hero, star of the high-school football team kind of guy. A staple of the small agricultural community of Death Valley Junction where he works in the family business as a Crop duster. But in my humble opinion throughout my film I found him to be deeper than that.I really did think that the main character had certain rough edges that I liked seeing. This script was totally well written and developed. I liked that a lot. I had a blast watching some of the high flying adventure parts. There was even more excitement I would have liked to have seen. the supporting cast was totally an important and talented part of the movie that did a good job. I don't know what the budget was, but they did a lot with whatever they had.

Boo Ya!

[robert-nichols72 · 9/10 · 26 April 2012]

I totally thought this movie was a very Great big idea. I enjoyed it a ton. I think that they did such a good job. I liked the fact that it was real, not just some 100 million dollar special effects movie that relied on CGI. I thought the Director seemed to have a very clear sense of making a movie that both pilots, and people who have never seen anything like that before enjoy this movie. It also seemed like build up to some of the big scenes where done right. Not just all of the sudden huge action out of no where like so many other movies. i would like to see a part two! Good movie and I liked that it just wasn't the same thing I have seen over and over.

What a fun movie!!

[nbraird · 9/10 · 24 April 2012]

I seriously had a blast watching this movie! I was surprised how enjoyable this would be. I love movies where the main character is a fighter! And I don't mean like a fighter in the ring, I mean a fighter in life! Someone who is fighting for a better life, or a better situation or just for something they want. I loved watching Butch fight for what he wants. The main character Butch was awesome and really kept me rooting for him. He was likable and realistic. Not some Badass who kills people, and not some Clark Kent goodie two shoes. I thought the main actor did a very good job. The supporting cast too did good! The races where so cool and fun as well. I want to see this again on a bigger screen!

I liked the overall concept and I saw the forest thru the trees.

[lordhumungus513 · 17 November 2011]

Overall I thought this was a pretty great take on an even greater idea.

It was very low budget as far as films go by today's standards, however clocking in at just below $1M, I find that this was still amazing!

From start to finish it kept me entertained. It had many layers and elements to satisfy even the most finicky critic.

It was a clean family story with exciting highs and no real lows... plus there where no lame CGI...it was all real.

I absolutely loved the actor playing the role of the hero Butch Bandi. He was very focused and into the zone at all times.

As many already know,any low budget has some budget-constraining issues... but the vision and passion portrayed here far out weigh the obvious.

Family clean story

[joshbc-30-876152 · 10/10 · 4 August 2013]

To be honest I really loved this movie. It has a very strong story and very powerful characters with which I can relate. It is not one of the superhero movies that let me thinking that I am out of place, with strange characters with which it is impossible to relate beyond a cartooned sense of connection. This is a real movie with real people, real stories.

Low budget yes, reported well below $1M...unreal! Family clean story...no lame CG...all real. As any low budget has some budget-constraining issues but the vision and passion well out weigh...7 stars!

Would love to see a remake with today's 4K HD GoPro's.

[lvholdingsnv · 8/10 · 14 June 2021]

I recall this was shot on SONY CineAlta 900's (ground) and 950 (air-to-air L39 Fighter jet with Skip H. And Meran S.) that was incredible at the time. The production was just a few years too early to benefit from GoPro and the likes. Love to see it come-back. Heard the Director/Writer has new backing and may be back...Ill look for a remake.

No matter what these guys captured the race and event in a way that will love forever. Bravo.

FU#KING AMAZING

[viktorramberg · 10/10 · 28 April 2021]

In my opinion this movie had it all! And the flight scenes were awesome. Really good filmed, and great acting, as well as the plot.

And even more impressive is that it's all done by minimal budget of 2 200 000$.

I highly recommend this movie to everyone that just want to have a really good time watching one of the absolute diamonds in the history of cinema.

Yolo swag.

It sucked so bad it gave me the Benz.

[jlord-50338 · 4 September 2017]

This "movie" is God awful. Sample of the "tough guy" dialog..."I'm gonna get you, oh, tough guy wants to fight, na Sheriff, he's OK...Butch Bandy? Really that's the best you could do?

Take away the airplanes and you are left with acting that is so bad I prayed for the return of MST3K.