Stealth

The US military have devised a top-secret jet, piloted by a sophisticated artificial intelligence system named EDI (the shipboard computer no less). This AI system is nearly perfect; except that it could learn a thing or two from some real pilots, namely about combat manoeuvres. Thus three of the best pilots out there are brought in to train EDI. However, during a routine flight the jet gets struck by lightning, EDI starts to develop a mind of its own and all Hal breaks lose. EDI begins to attack ground targets and the pilots are ordered to destroy it. However, the deviant AI has learnt the pilots' moves with alarming speed, making the whole process very much harder. Should the pilots fail, and EDI be allowed to reek its havoc then there is a very real chance it could be the start of World War 3.

It may sound like a silly plot for a film, but the one thing that films are good at is showing us "what if?" It's certainly possible to imagine that one day AI systems will control warfare vehicles, just like autopilots do in commercial flights these days. Stealth is also set at some unspecified point in the future, which means that the whole premise isn't that hard to swallow. What's more there are a few twists to add to the simple plot, which keep things interesting.

One can imagine that when this film was first being sold to studios its selling sentence was something like: super cool jet piloting itself goes ape starts blowing things up, lots of explosions and pro pilots trying to stop it. Thusly the action in this film is very impressive, from the explosions to the flying of the beautiful jets themselves. The flying is relatively realistic, compared to other films, and fans of planes will much enjoy the acrobatics.

Stealth is a great chance to see what the best visual effects Hollywood can currently produce are. Another action film? Yes, but with jets.

Parker Bic