Stealth
starring Josh Lucas, Jessica Biel, Jamie Foxx, Sam Shepard, Joe Morton, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and
Richard Roxburgh
written by W. D. Richter
directed by Rob Cohen
This is a predictable, worn script about Man against the machine. A self-controlled, high-tech computer-operated warplane goes out of control and decides on its own targets and courses of action, contrary to the orders of its military controllers. The computer brain of the aircraft acquires so much knowledge that it achieves consciousness - likeVger in the original Star Trek movie - and pilots have to “talk” to it to try to reason it back to the ground. Listening to it was like listening to David Hasselhoff talk to his car in Knight Rider. It also reminded me of the Robocop movies, of the Roy Scheider, Daniel Stern movie Blue Thunder and, of course, Hal from 2001 – A Space Odyssey, and even of Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times.
I didn’t like this movie. It was cheap and silly. The acting was as nothing, the story was silly, and the flying sequences were like a computer game - which might have been the point, considering the high speeds and capabilities of the most advanced experimpental military aircraft. The premise of career-proud military officers knowingly pushing ahead with faulty weapons systems has been used before. I wish I could enumerate some of them here, but you probably know what I mean.