Stealth

Talk about mixed messages. This wannabe blockbuster salivates over the latest fighter-jet technology, as crack pilots Josh Lucas, Jessica Biel and Jamie Foxx are joined in formation by a gleaming new high-tech un-manned aircraft dubbed EDI – or Extreme Deep Invader. Cue yards of CGI fly-boy action, explosions, and the creeping suspicion you’re watching a widescreen demo for some flight-simulator video game. ‘Top Gun’ for the digital generation, then? Not quite, actually, since ’70s-generation screenwriter WD Richter subverts the gung-ho visuals with a strong note of caution. Richter makes hawkish commander Sam Shepard the villain for fast-tracking the development of this robo-jet. The jet is empowered to kill without employing the human conscience displayed by our heroes in the pilot’s seat, who fret over innocent casualties and collateral damage as the war on terror takes to the skies above Burma and Pakistan. Fascinating for its ideological tensions, it’s pretty ho-hum as supposed thrill-rides go, since the impressive but oddly academic effects can do little to enliven the cardboard leads. Base to Jamie Foxx: you’re far too good for this schtick!