Return to base/Soar into the sun movie review and game suggestion
There are two alternative titles I can give to this movie, Ace combat and iron eagle: Korean edition. One thing is sure though, this movie was unexpectedly enjoyable. I got into it expecting an overexaggerated dramatic action movie, but it seems Koreans are no Japanese.
The plot
Jung Tae-yoon(Jung Ji-Hoon aka Rain) is the youngest pilot to join the black eagles, a south Korean aerobatic group comprised by top tier elite fighter pilots. He is also the the one to be thrown out faster than anyone after he performed a dangerous, unscheduled stunt that leaves most of the crowd displeased. Now he is transferred to another unit as an F-15K pilot. There he finds some old friends, but also comes into conflict with superior officer and unit's top gun Cheol-hee(Yoo Jun-sang) who plays by the rules, while Jung has a free and defiant spirit.
It was a huge mistake to expect a Japanese style action movie. For one the movie is more drama and comedy than action, but make no mistake there is action in the movie and its impressive too.
Movie elements
The drama of the movie revolves around the lives of the pilots, and I believe it does a good job. It shows how their relationships and conflicts work out as well as how they deal with past and current tragedies. Generally it builds around the characters and it makes you care for them. I believe however that there will be people who will not expect this and will be like “blow stuff up already!”
The comedy in the movie is found in abundance and most of the time it can be categorized as slapstick. Its nothing to make your belly hurt, but it will get some laughs out of you. Some however might find this non fitting, although I had no problem with it
Surprisingly action is not the main focus in this movie. Sure there is a threat from north Korea looming in the background, but action sequences are few and far in between varying in duration, but boy, do they look good! And incredible amount of effort has gone into the special effects of the movie they look most impressive and convincing and I must give special commendation for the fact that many in flight scenes were made with real aircraft and stunts thanks to the cooperation of the south Korean airforce, however at times air fights feel sort of disoriented and scenes feel disconnected somehow. Also there are scenes were they seem to use what appears to be air-to-air missiles to attack ground targets. There are also some less than convincing aerial maneuvers, but by now I must have started to become nitpicky
Drama would not work if there weren't good actors. Everyone does a very good job at playing their role with possible exception the American officer who is awful(and ugly). There is only one problem. If you do not pay attention you might loose track of who is who. Names are hard to remember and the same goes for faces in aircraft breathing masks.
Final verdict
Not what would you expect, but well acted and with spectacular effects and action, Return to base is an enjoyable movie that will please most people, but not trigger happy and impatient or nitpicky viewers
The good
-Well acted, it makes you care about the actors
-Properly written drama
-Spectacular effects and action
-A lot of Real life flight and stunts footage thanks to Korean airforce involvement
The bad
-The American officer
-Air-to-air missiles used to attack ground targets?
-Some times air-to-air action feels sort of disconnected
The grey
-The comedy
-Focuses more on the drama and the personal lives of the actors than the action
WHAT TO PLAY
Obvious candidates, Ace combat 4, 5, 6 and assault horizon. Why? Well, all three have some sort of personal drama with their characters while all revolve around air combat.
If you are into the hardcore scene then I suggest you go buy Flaming cliffs 3 which includes the F-15 with realistic handling and Jane's F-15(which is dated and I don't know if it works on modern computers, but its still great).
Ace combat 3 only exist in Japanese with a plot and the English version is striped down to a plotless mindless shooter while belkan war is missing some definitive characters. 2 and air combat, are not suggested for obvious reasons.
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