The pilots in this so-called Chinese Top Gun are mostly top in the sense that they are in selfless support of China’s frontline troops thanks to the emerging technological superiority of the People’s Republic (which would have made for a less snappy title). Another in China’s seemingly never-ending line of propagandistic, government-backed action films, this is only distinguished in dunderheaded patriotism from its American 80s and 90s equivalents by its absence of any functioning sense of humour.
It’s about the country’s next-generation fighter pilots, but the plot is last-generation: promising flyboy Lei Yu (Wang Yibo) is plucked from his unit by veteran Zhang Ting (Hu Jun) to join the elite outfit trying to get “limit data” at high-altitude from the new stealth planes. Apart from a passing rivalry with Deng Fang (Yu Yosh), that’s about it. But the drama of interest is taking place outside the confines of this film, as referred to in Born to Fly’s constant political pep talks about foreign powers trying to contain China and impinging on its waters. The prologue features a pair of these incursive badboys who declare: “We can come and go whenever we want.”
