Warbirds Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES PLOT SUMMARY
In the midst of World War 2, a OSS officer leads a group of female pilots on a mission to deliver a secret weapon, only to crash land on an island in the Pacific after an encounter with a deadly storm. On the island, they must not only contend with a small band of Japanese soldiers but the native inhabitants of the island as well...
| Jamie Elle Mann | Max West |
| Brian Krause | Jack Toller |
| Tohoru Masamune | Ozu |
| Lucy Faust | Hoodsie Smith |
| David Jensen | Colonel W.R. Hamilton |
| Henry Ku | Kodama |
| Jon Mccarthy | Sgt. Murphy |
| Marel Medina | Katzu |
| Caleb Michaelson | Sergeant John Lee |
| Dennis Nguyen | Takashi |
| Gizza Elizondo | Vicky Teeling |
| Stephanie Honore | Lana |
| Shauna Rappold | Betsy Quigley |
| Kevin Gendreau |
3.30 out of 10 (131 votes)
Visitor Reviews
amazingly bad, even for the sci-fi channel
posted on 11 Aug 2009i can hear the production meeting now: "we've had too many 'people stuck on an island with a monster' movies. how can we freshen it up"? from what must have been the lengthy brainstorming session that followed, here comes the result. i know, let's show women wearing bright red lipstick and put some pomade in their hair. that way, we know we're in the 40's during WW2! here comes sci-fi channel's magnum opus "warbirds". an all-girl flight crew (with a few men along for the ride) are piloting a super secret something-or-other across the pacific when they are attacked by a big bird and forced down on a mysterious island. they meet up with some Japanese soldiers, who are also stranded and attempt to figure out what's hunting them at night and how to escape the island.
Unspeakable.
posted on 05 Aug 2009Like many of the other commentators, I love made-for Scifi-movies and how could I resist "Dinosaurs Vs. WWII" as a plot summary? I should have. It was crap. Bad acting, bad effects, bad script, and bad directing. Even the costumes were garbage. The whole thing might have been salvaged if the actors/directors hadn't taken themselves so seriously. The movie would have actually been fun as a tongue-in-cheek thriller, but they insisted upon acting as if dinosaurs fighting lady-aviators in a Pacific atoll was high art. If there is a merciful God, Scifi will put this turd back in the vault and never speak of it again.
Seen better acting in blue movies
posted on 30 Jul 2009What can anyone say about this film? No words exist for how much i hate this film. My dog could write a better film in five minutes. Some people may enjoy this and that is your own taste. But i doubt anyone would like this film. Its like the whole film just tried too hard. The actors over acted by miles. They really thought they was staring in the next massive upcoming film. And for them i feel sorry. As for the storyline... I would believe button moon is more real then that. I just have nothing nice to say about it. The only thing i am going to do now is write to the writer and ask for 2 hours of my life back or some form of payback...
Funniest movie I've ever seen!
posted on 28 Jul 2009I don't know what all the bad reviews are about. Don't they know this was a hilarious comedy?! It made fun of all the awesomely horrible monster movies! The lines were so ridiculous and the special FX were brilliantly bad! The music was awesome, just like one of those romantic WWII movies. It included the wacky hair dos and bright red lipstick that could withstand a pterodactyl attack and an atomic bomb blast. Perfect! I have to assume these guys meant to make a comedy. Actually it's even funnier if they didn't. If you want to experience Mystery Science Theater 3000 all over again where you make fun of the movie and laugh your ass off... you'll love Warbirds like I did!
At least most SciFi original movies are funny...
posted on 22 Jul 2009Not so with this one. It's just painfully bad. Brian Krause is the best actor in this dog and that's really saying something. Something not at all good.The premise promises plenty of laughs (WWII airwomen and soldiers stranded on an island of killer dinosaurs and Japanese soldiers), but the writing takes itself entirely too seriously, as do the painfully, painfully bad actors. The woman who plays the skipper is beyond dreadful. Whoever approved this POS really needs to reevaluate their career. Seriously. I consider myself a bit of a connoisseur of Scifi original movie cheese and even I couldn't stand this thing.
Why do Japanese have a US truck
posted on 04 Jul 2009Warbirds is evidently a low budget SciFi movie. This type movie that was popular in the 50's when I was a kid. I noticed that the Japanese military truck had a white star on its side and US military identification on its front. It seems that it would have been very easy to cover these up. I guess that everyone just overlooked this error while making the movie.One has to suspend belief in viewing movies. I caught several discrepancies in the movie but it was entertaining and for a low budget flick was worth watching. It is nice to see some WWII flicks still being made. I found the female pilot to be very attractive and intelligent.
Have I seen worse? Noooo!
posted on 26 Jun 2009The plot premise and the CGI aren't all that bad. However, the plot development is atrocious. The WASP skipper can't take a single order without an argument. The "warbirds" out fly 300 MPH aircraft. They don't attack the Yanks in the Japanese camp after the first encounter -- they're scared off by the boy scout campfire? Gimme a break. They don't attack the B-29 under repair. Oops! We're fixing those two incinerated Wright R-3350-23 and 23A turbosupercharged radial engines with spare parts found laying around on a remote Japanese fighter base? Oh, and all the female flight crew just happen to be certified fighter jocks who are checked out in Japanese Zeros... yep.I can't believe that people write this kind of crap, expecting to sell it, and I really can't believe someone bought it and spent more money producing it, and I really, really can't believe Brian Krause doesn't make enough off "Charmed" residuals to run yelling and screaming far, far away after reviewing this script.I rate this a "One" simply because there is no "Zero" (pun)! You have to really wonder if the Sci Fi Channel would not be far, far better off rerunning old '50s B&W "Saturday Night at the Drive-In" features. Could somebody with a little clout make this recommendation before these guys self-immolate?
A return to the bad old days of Sci-Fi Channel originals
posted on 14 Jun 2009A WASP air crew is ferrying a bomber to Hawaii in WWII. When they arrive, they're immediately ordered to take an officer and some secret cargo to an island in the Pacific. What could the secret cargo be? It's near the end of WWII, it's in a bomber, and they're going to an island near Japan? The only reason anyone watching this didn't guess the cargo immediately was that they gave the writers too much credit for originality. Surely it couldn't be THAT obvious? Yes, it is. As they're flying over the ocean, they encounter bad weather and are attacked by pterodactyls. Hmmm...WWII, bomber, giant flying creatures, where have I heard that before? Maybe in Reign of the Gargoyles, which Sci-Fi aired a few months back? Anyhow, they make an emergency landing on a small island, and battle a couple of Japanese soldiers and a hoard of pterodactyls for the remainder of the movie.A women's air crew that's been working with each other for a while could have been very interesting, a lot more interesting than a male air crew - give the women some credit! But no, the things that come out of these people's mouths are just dumb and obvious. The lead female absolutely can't accept the fact that there are secrets during war and she's not allowed to know them, which puts her at odds with the officer throughout the movie. So basically we get 60 minutes of arguing. The rest of the female characters are as interchangeable as their bright red lipstick and '40s hairdos. Having characters argue throughout a movie is the cheapest of cop-outs when it comes to dialog. There's only the thinnest veneer of character development, and it just gets darned annoying after an hour of listening to it.The worst part is that the characters dress like it was 1945, but that's it. What draws a person in to any drama set in the past is the difference in culture and attitudes. It's 1945, the Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor and we're at war with them, and yet the lead woman is horrified that we might drop an A-bomb on our enemy. "Thousands could be killed!" she exclaims. Oh good grief. Three hundred thousand Germans were killed in allied bombing raids, yet this is the first time it's occurred to her that bombs kill people? The Women's Airforce Service Pilots only existed to free up more men to fly combat missions - to kill more of the enemy. Thousands of them. Why would she volunteer for such a thing if she's horrified at the notion of the enemy being killed? People in 1945 were too worried about how many of their sons, husbands and boyfriends were being killed by the Japanese to engage in this politically correct nonsense anyway.The CGI is also bad, and the direction is just sloppy. One of my favorite scenes is where they load a bunch of 55 gallon fuel drums onto a truck. Do you know how much one of those things weighs? A little under 500 pounds. Yet two people load them into the truck with just a small amount of feigned difficulty. They arrange them in such a way that as soon as the truck started moving, the drums would all roll out the back. But of course they don't, the magic "this is just a movie" forces holding them firmly in place.Overall, extremely weak character development, the blatantly obvious PC version of 1945, crummy effects and pterodactyls that quite honestly bored me. Better luck next time Sci-Fi Channel.
W.A.C.'s vs. a whack script
posted on 12 Jun 2009Flying dinosaur creatures, Japanese spy soldiers, American GI guys, pretty W.A.C.'s who are hot shot pilots, a mysterious covert mission; put them all on a remote Pacific island during WWII, and stir vigorously into a broth called Warbirds.It's a mindlessly fun watch, since the film suffers from Sci-Fi Channelitis. A familiar plot: military fighting a conventional enemy, while ferocious monsters lurk in the shadows, soon jumping out and croaking soldiers from both sides. A lot of jargon is used in this movie: when they're not saying, "Roger that!" or "Over!," they're being insubordinate to a cog-in-the-machine military brass Colonel whose last name is "Inept," or at least it should be.Why are the creatures there? How many? What are they? Unknown and never explained, but the supply of them never runs out. Every time anybody wants to fly a plane, these things swarm out of nowhere. Their CGI design is OK, but far from groundbreaking. They screech loudly while they slash and smash anything they see. The dogfights are hilarious: when one of them is shot, it explodes into a fireball, lol. Since this movie doesn't know if it's a war movie or a monster movie, it has cornball clichés from both. Example: Whenever the opposing soldiers confront one another, guess what flying monster crashes the party at a key moment.The ending is pretty colorful, but its depiction of what happens is (and I'm putting this nicely) inaccurate.Plenty of suspension of disbelief is necessary for this movie. A sense of humor for the sublimely nonsensical is also helpful.
Hot babes!!! Flying dinosaurs!!!!! What more could a guy want? Well...
posted on 21 May 2009...some excitement would be nice. I gotta admit, this movie was a disappointment. True, this flick is typical SciFi Channel Original schlock. But given that I have a soft spot for attractive women and dinosaurs, I thought this would be a winner if for no other reason than the cheese factor. But it was just dull. An American WWII mission ends up with an emergency landing on a desolate island where some Japanese soldiers got ambushed by some killer pterodactyls. Then the Americans get a taste of Pterodactyl Pterror, all the while trying to get their planes off the island and making sure the Japs don't take advantage of the situation. The problem is, there's not enough pterodactyl action; the movie really is more fixated on the WWII angle. The pterodactyls make their presence known but at times they're a secondary plot device to the "secret mission." Hot babe Max West (Jamie Ellen Mann) and her superior Jack (Brian Krause) spend too much time arguing over whether the mission is worth it. The other girls -- Betsy, Vicky and Lana -- serve nicely as eye candy. However, the scene where green galpal Hoodsie volunteers to attempt a solo mission off the island because she supposedly weighs less than Max is a joke, because Hoodsie looks like she needs to go see Jenny Craig while Max definitely takes care of herself. When they are fighting the pterodactyls, this movie is entertaining. But there's just not enough of it. I won't give this a 1 like most people have, because this is definitely better than most crap SciFi channel puts out (i.e., "Kraken: Tentacles of the Deep," "Hammerhead: Shark Frenzy"), but "Warbirds" is only worthy of a disappointing 4.
Boring!!
posted on 07 May 2009This was one of those movies that are made on a cheap budget with bad actors and bad dialogue. My husband and I made some coffee, curled up on the couch, and looked forward to a good movie. Well, what a disappointment!!! We know that the movie 'Killer Tomatoes' was the worst movie ever made ~ well this we voted as the 2nd worst movie ever made!! The acting was appalling, the dialogue was really corny and cheesy, in fact we could have written the script better ourselves. We cannot believe this was only made in 2008 ~ how did it pass as a movie? We have seen better old black and white movies that are still entertaining, but this 2008 movie 'Warbirds' was not entertaining at all. Very weak indeed!
This movie should start out with a suicide warning...
posted on 26 Mar 2009I don't know where to start. Some sick part of me enjoys the self-torture of the Sci-Fi/SyFy Originals, but after this one, I don't know how long I can hold on. I have limited knowledge of WW2 (I sucked in history), but even I knew this stuff was made-up! The Japanese guys had an American truck, and somehow the American women knew how to fly Japanese planes? Come on. And somehow they were going to fix their big broken planes with junk from a mostly abandoned Japanese camp ripped apart by blue pterodactyls? To add insult to injury, I don't care how big the dino is... it can't fly as fast as a plane. While watching the movie, I didn't know the planes topped out at 300mph, but I knew it had to be faster than any flying animal! The worst insult to my intelligence was the "fact" that the pterodactyls were fearless in ripping through planes (literally), which had loud engines, whirling sharp propellers, and of course someone in them shooting giant bullets at the monsters... and yet the dinos were terrified at the sight of a torch. A TORCH. Come on.I have literally read stories written by children in grade school with better and more well-planned plots than this. This Sci-Fi Original took its usual crap writing, crap acting, crap effects, and gigantic plot holes and somehow managed to make a mediocre movie even worse than usual. While watching this, I had the same feeling I get when I'm getting a cavity filled, thinking "God, how much longer is this going to go on?!" There is absolutely nothing redeemable about this movie, not one thing. There isn't any humor, any effect worth mentioning, nothing. It's completely worthless. If you see it on your schedule or think about renting it, do yourself a HUGE favor and just pass it by.
So awfully bad I kept hoping it would improve so I could at least laugh AT it
posted on 22 Mar 2009Apparently, advertisers only look at the trailers any more.The trailers for this stinker made it seem like it might be interesting. Trouble is, none of the scenes in between were as good as dead air would have been.Production values - it looks like this movie must have been made with a budget that rivals some high school productions.Here's your spoiler: There was at least one scene showing one of the characters reading a comic book. The writers should have read more of those for story ideas.Every time any plot twist had an opportunity to choose the cliché route ... it does.
Average Sci-Fi Channel Creature Feature
posted on 04 Mar 2009"Warbirds" is one of the better Sci-Fi Channel entries, as it's good example of their work.**SPOILERS**During the War in the Pacific, pilot Maxine West, (Jamie Elle Mann) and her crew, Betsy Quigley, (Shauna Rappold) Vicky Teeling, (Gizza Elizondo) Hoodsie Smith, (Lucy Faust) and Lana, (Stephanie Honore) land in Hawaii and are immediately given new orders. Told to transport Col. Jack Toller, (Brian Krause) and his men, Sgt. Lee, (Caleb Michaelson) and Sgt. Murphy, (Jon Mccarthy) to another base, they take off only to have to land on a small island during a raging thunderstorm. Checking out the island, they find that the island is uninhabited but contains signs that a Japanese post was there. When they come across a small squad of Japanese soldiers and a group of ravenous beasts that hunt on the island, they are able to stop every escape attempt. As the attacks drain more of their numbers, it dawns on them that they're enemies are giant pterodactyls from the past who are bent on tearing them apart. Realizing that the only course of action is to work together, they manage to try to escape while avoiding the flying killers.The Good News: This here, while not being really bad, had some good points. One of the best is that there's a ton of action in here, almost enough to make it a straight action-movie and much more than expected in this kind of film. The air battles in here are top-notch, with a lot of absolutely fun and enjoyable battles in the skies. The centerpiece battle in the middle of the film, which is the first course of action against them, is the biggest and the best, with a lot of diving and twisting aerial maneuvers that showcase some great battle tactics on their side, and the sight of a plane flying into a sea of creatures with guns blazing, firing off rounds of ammo and tearing up dozens of creatures is good cheesy fun at it's best. It's also responsible for it's best kill, where the creature dives through a plane at full speed from above downward through the cockpit and tearing the plane to dozens of pieces, crashing into the waves below. A later air battle, which includes a couple great moments of the creatures making inroads on the planes leads t o some great suspense, and the scene rarely suffers from lack of action as there's more fighting off the creatures in aerial battles in here. There's also a really fun sequence with them on-land as they sneak supplies away from the creature's nesting grounds, and when they arouse suspicion, it leads to some awesome and really fun chasing and encounters through the forest. The creatures in here are pretty cool as well, being really nice-looking and fearsome, and are one of the better designs available. The film's fast pace and really enjoyable action make this one really fun, since it's always moving and never really slowing down and just keeps the film going to it's next scene. The last part that works here is the strong opening, which is great and manages to throw in some action, suspense and more into a really fun and creepy scene that starts it off on the right note. These here are what really help the film.The Bad News: This one here did have some flaws to it that held it down. One of the biggest here is that the film is really dry for a creature feature. There's hardly any gore in here, restricted to the few kills that happen out of the air while those that do occur in the air being of really dry consequences. There's no blood in here from the kills, and with a respectable body count that this one has, it should've had something much bloodier. Some of this is the misplacement of the Japanese prisoners. Looking like prime meat for the creatures, none of them come into contact with one and are killed off elsewhere, a huge misstep for their being included and another reason for the low blood-count. The last flaw is the complete, utter and laughable CGI in here, which is frequent in the times it's used and how often it fails to impress by looking exactly like a CGI creation. From the creatures to the spiffed-up shots of them flying in the battles to even something simple like a plane flying in the air is CGI, and it always looks exactly like that without being anything resembling believability. It's old-hat, though, for a film like this to feature it, and as often as they're like that, another entry won't hurt it much. These here are the film's flaws.The Final Verdict: While not a really great entry, this one here is one of the better examples of the creature features that populate the Sci-Fi Channel. Some of the flaws may turn off the more hardcore followers, but give it a shot if interested, while those who are new to those types of films could do worse off than this one.Rated PG-13: Violence and some Language
Filmmaker with a bright future!
posted on 28 Nov 2008I think it's wonderful that film industry executives support the work of filmmakers in the "Age 12 and Under" category. This filmmaker may have a bright future, although I wouldn't advise that he give up his paper route just yet.Dinosaur effects: 3 stars Script: 0 stars Acting: 0 stars I personally have not seen such screen presence since the team of Deacon Jones and Fred Biletnikoff as Vikings in the Lee Majors vehicle The Norseman (1978, look it up!). In retrospect I'm astounded that this film wasn't directed by Alan Smithee.
Putrid
posted on 14 Nov 2008Being a masochist I continue to watch the crud the SciFi pumps out but this one may have been too much even for me. Plot holes the size of the Grand Canyon and factual errors so huge show that you do not need talent or imagination to write for SciFi. The monsters in this are actually a few steps above the usual basement quality effects they churn out but other than that there is NOTHING to recommend this movie. Script and acting are so bad I'm surprised the actors used their real names. Once again the SciFi channel has made me appreciate a film like 'They Saved Hitler's Brain' and perhaps someday they will be able to rise to that level if they put more effort into the project. Obviously written in one afternoon by people who shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a word processor.If the founding fathers had seen this coming they might well have lost the Revolution.
Another Sci Fi Channel "Classic"
posted on 27 Oct 2008Another in the seemingly endless series of Sci Fi Channel CGI monster movies. If you watch the channel at all, you know the type. A bunch of clichéd characters are stranded in a remote location and menaced by computer generated creatures.I'll probably hate myself in the morning for saying this, but the effects here were above typical Sci Fi Channel fodder. Which isn't to say that they were convincing. They just didn't look like rejects from a Nintendo game system.The plot tries to have some social relevance, masquerading as a tale of militarism vs. humanitarianism. That said, the mechanics were often forced. And some of the acting was painful to watch. In all honesty, I may be giving this film a higher score than it deserves, as I didn't see the first half (which means the entire setup and reasoning behind the monster infestation).But even if I am right, and this wasn't as bad as a many of the channel's previous crimes against humanity, I'm still forced to ask who it is that greenlights such films? What happened to the notion that great Sci Fi meant great ideas instead of ineffective monsters?
Egads
posted on 13 Sep 2008SciFi Channel Original Movie: Jurassic Park + Amelia Earhardt + Pitch Black + a pinch of WW2 = Warbirds 2008.I would have to call it a "Good bad movie", as most of the acting is cheesy, and there is only one type of boring flying dinosaur.The dialog is filled with so many over used clichés, and homilies, you would do well not to be drinking anything while watching it, as it can be truly laughable. What was even funnier, was their repairing their plane out in the open, with barely guarded prisoners, falling for the "Oh I feel so faint!" ruse from one of them. And how the heck would a Japanese soldier know what a Geiger Counter was,and why it was clicking?! Yeah, like they would all miss the other guy sneaking into the big bomber plane. Yeesh! It was good to do a "MST3K" while watching it with friends.But I do wonder how all these female pilots, out on an uncharted island, in harsh jungle conditions, keep their ruby red lipstick, and don't even chip a nail, after a few days. But I do like how the "Skipper" saves the Colonels' butt on more than one occasion.
Illogical popcorn movie about female pilots battling flying dinosaurs is as cheesy as it sounds and a great deal of fun
posted on 12 Aug 2008Made for Scifi scifi war film set during WW2 about a group of female fliers who normally shuttle planes from place to place being pressed into service in order to transport a an officer, his men and his secret cargo to a secret island. Along the way bad weather they are forced down on to an island by a storm and something else. Upon landing they find that the Japanese are on the island and so is some flying monsters who are very hungry.Goofy offbeat story of the sort that was done best in the 1950's or in comics actually plays pretty good in that vein assuming you accept it for what it is. Lets face it this is is a monsters vs planes story and as that this is a great deal of fun. Is it perfect? Oh lord no (Among other unanswered questions-why is an American truck on a Japanese held island?), but it is the sort of thing to curl with and just sort of have wash over you. Perfect for a night on the couch
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Gag!
posted on 21 Aug 2009I like to get to the positive first: the women's hairdos are actually fairly accurate for the 1940s, at least if the women were the Andrews Sisters and if they were part of a USO show and not hotshot fliers. The men's hair is at least short, if not regulation. The uniforms are just about OK. Small arms are OK, too, though I thought I saw a few non-1911 US pistols (all guns are wielded with a rather devil-may-care, who knows which end the bullet comes out of, attitude).I was actually hoping that Warbirds would hark back to the old DC comics where wise-cracking GIs would battle creatures that "Time Forgot." Sure, some of these comic book dinos were blue, orange, or pink, but they were FUN.Not so, Warbirds. There is only one kind of dino, it's a pretty blue, and it's pretty boring. These must be super birds, though, as they can catch up to a 330mph fighter!Sci-Fi original dialog is usually some variation of The Bickersons and this is no different. Does the lady skipper bicker with the male commander? Yes, over virtually everything. Piloting zeroes against flying reptiles? Bicker. Revealing what the super-secret mission is? Bicker. Complaining that this "secret" weapon will kill too many of the enemy? Bicker. Oh, and at this point, the word "genocide" comes up. Genocide was bantered around by combatants in WW2? I don't think so.And every line of bickering is spoken as if someone has gotten something personal caught in a zipper: clenched teeth, hissed words, glazed stares. Again, de rigueur for Sci Fi Channel stuff.Back to our flying dinos (which only hunt at night, or daylight, or dawn, or dusk, whatever the dialog needs to be). They are deathly afraid of campfires but have no problem flying beak-first into four Zeros with a combined firepower of eight 20mm cannons and eight 7.7mm machine guns (not to mention four whirring propellers).The special effects sometimes approach the quality of the CGI used in Dogfights. Sometimes, but if you're looking to be wowed by effects, the channel IDs for the Sci-Fi channel put this movie to shame.There are a lot of annoyances, like the American commander finding a Japanese poking around the B29 and letting him off with a warning. A truck filled with fuel drums lying on their sides, careening away from the dinos, and the truck's tail gate is down the whole time (the drums don't budge, let alone roll out onto the road). And at one point, two of our hot-dogging fly gals stop their escape from the dinos to reminisce about dead friends.With only ten minutes to go, I was so numbed with Warbirds that I switched the channel to Fright Night, which I'd already seen earlier in the day.