slightly OT - Stealth

just curious if anyone here has seen
the movie - "Stealth", and have any comments
regarding the premise behind it.

received this movie review from a friend ---



allright, "Stealth" is an - "ok" movie.

certainly not deserving of the 'don't-waste-your-time'
opinion your son had of it.

it's hokey in the onset - "Navy Air Force" .... as
you say - "HAH !" ... that'll be the day ... not in
our lifetimes, ain't happening.

there's one scene with a "tech" supporting the star
of the movie (the aircraft). That dude is portrayed
as your stereotypical computer geek.

In real life, wouldn't happen - the contractor of
the aircraft would have an entire team of people on
ship dedicated to supporting the hardware ( even
more so if it's in test phases).

the computer generated imagery (cgi) was incredible.
very detailed and realistic. the credits at the end
of the movie went on for quite sometime listing all
the people involved to create the visual sequences.

basic story line, was hokey, but i liked the actual
shots taken aboard the aircraft carriers (they were
allowed to film during real flight deck operations).

"average" viewer probably wouldn't have noticed, but
they filmed the movie on 3 different carriers ( it's
supposed to be portrayed as one). The hull numbers in
some scenes kept changing. Even at the end, while the
credits were rolling, it includes "special thanks to
3rd Fleet, and sailors and crew of --" and listed the
3 carriers they filmed on.

one scene near the end had the actors at the end of
the fantail of the boat. in the background (again most
people wouldn't know what it was), there was an F-18
engine (PW F404) on a test stand...probably an actual
engine since that's where they'll run them up for
testing (jet blast aimed outward).

so the movie was a strange of mix of very authentic
scenes and very hokey scenes.

there was some publicity shot for the movie that
had the actors next to an actual Boeing X-45A UCAV
(Unarmed Combat Air Vehicle). It's an advanced (at
the moment) drone. So that prompted Boeing to make
some press releases, that

(a). their product is NOT autonomous (a computer
operating on it's own).

(b). There is always a human involved.

(c). Human pilot has final authority on release
of any weapons, not the machine.

In the film, the aircraft was called an EDI UCAV
(Extreme Deep Invader - UCAV). It was a very hot
piece of hardware. Nicknamed it "Eddie". For a
moment there, when the one pilot and the machine
had become buddies, all you could think of was
Michael Knight & KITT.

What was even more slick though were the "Talon"
fighter jets that were being used by the actors.
They were depicted as mach 4+ capable and using
scramjet powerplants. At least the outward design
looked really mean & aggressive. Strange to see them
mixed with the F-18C's on the deck. Of course forget
about cockpit layout, typical Hollywood drivel.

overall, again, an "ok" movie, but not the most
realistic.