THE BLUE ANGELS is a very captivating documentary on IMAX and Amazon Prime about the famous Navy exhibition team. The movie explores a year in the life of a particular team as they go through training, exhibitions and then retirement from the Blue Angels. The movie starts by telling viewers that the Navy has about 3700 combat pilots in active duty every year. Out of that, six are chosen to be members of the Blue Angels for about two years. In January, the six men featured in the movie are put through intensive training for three months. Their exhibitions feature flying that’s absolutely amazing for its need for precision and perfection. After training, the pilots travel the country like a sports team or rock band to 32 shows. Toward the end of their year-long exhibitions, the pilots choose the people to replace them.

THE BLUE ANGELS is an excellent family movie. It will inspire children and adults. Except for one very light obscenity, this one of the cleanest, most wholesome movies since the Golden Age of Hollywood. It’s highly recommended by MOVIEGUIDE®.

(BBB, PPP, L, V):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Extremely moral worldview promoting excellence, teamwork and graciousness between the superior pilots who are chosen to be part of The Blue Angels jet plane exhibition team of the United States Navy for two years, with some pro-family themes;

Foul Language:

One “a…h…” obscenity;

Violence:

No depicted violence but exciting and dangerous maneuvers at very high speeds and reports about the 28 Blue Angel pilots who died during their expositions and several pilots chosen to be Blue Angeles pass out in the G forces experienced in a centrifuge;

Sex:

No sex, but discussions of how much the pilots love their families and family reunions;

Nudity:

No nudity;

Alcohol Use:

No alcohol;

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

No smoking or drugs; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

Nothing else objectionable.

THE BLUE ANGELS is a very captivating documentary on IMAX and Amazon Prime about the famous Navy exhibition team and a year in the life of a particular team as they go through training , exhibitions and then retirement from the Blue Angels. THE BLUE ANGELS is one of the most moral, uplifting and positive movies ever made.

The movie starts by telling viewers that the Navy has about 3700 combat pilots in active duty every year. Out of that, six are chosen to be members of the Blue Angels for two years. In January, the six men featured in the movie are put through intensive training for three months. Their exhibitions feature flying that is absolutely amazing for its need for precision and perfection. For instance, in the famous Navy diamond, six planes fly at over 400 mph extremely close to each other with just a few inches between their wings, so one little slipup can cause a disaster.

At El Centro, Calif., their flying involves experiencing seven Gs on a centrifuge, which forces the blood down into your feet and causes pilots to pass out. Some of them do pass out in training on the centrifuge later in the movie. Of course, you can’t mess up when you’re flying wingtip to wingtip. So, each pilot must get incredible control of their body, mentally and physically. The crew chief spends hours every day talking to them about their procedures.

After training, the pilots travel the country like a sports team or a rock band to perform 32 shows around the country. At one point during those shows, they return to Pensacola, Florida, which is the official home of the Blue Angels. There, they’re united with their wives and children. Many of their wives are also serving in the Navy. During this part of the movie, they discuss the 141 Blue Angels support people, with each pilot having his own support team.

Toward the end of their year-long exhibitions, the pilots choose the people to replace them. Choosing the boss is extremely difficult. Pilots who serve their two years on the Blue Angels, return to active service in the Navy. For the first time during this movie, the Navy appoints a woman to be a member of the Blue Angels, leaving it open ended whether she can perform under the stress to achieve perfection.

The last part of the movie shows a little bit of the history of the Blue Angels and the fact it was started by Admiral Nimitz in 1946 to show the world the Navy’s prowess in flying in planes as well as in ships. Many of the pilots testify they saw a Blue Angels exhibition when they were six and even four years old, and therefore caught the vision of becoming member of this elite team.

THE BLUE ANGELS is an excellent family movie. It will inspire children and adults. Except for one very light obscenity, this one of the cleanest, most wholesome movies since the Golden Age of Hollywood. It’s highly recommended by MOVIEGUIDE®.

4000+ Faith Based Articles and Movie Reviews – Will you Support Us?

Our small team works tirelessly to provide resources to protect families from harmful media, reviewing 415 movies/shows and writing 3,626 uplifting articles this year. We believe that the gospel can transform entertainment. That’s why we emphasize positive and faith-filled articles and entertainment news, and release hundreds of Christian movie reviews to the public, for free. No paywalls, just trusted, biblically sound content to bless you and your family. Online, Movieguide is the closest thing to a biblical entertainment expert at your fingertips. As a reader-funded operation, we welcome any and all contributions – so if you can, please give something. It won’t take more than 52 seconds (we timed it for you). Thank you.

4000+ Faith Based Articles and Movie Reviews – Will you Support Us?

Our small team works tirelessly to provide resources to protect families from harmful media, reviewing 415 movies/shows and writing 3,626 uplifting articles this year. We believe that the gospel can transform entertainment. That’s why we emphasize positive and faith-filled articles and entertainment news, and release hundreds of Christian movie reviews to the public, for free. No paywalls, just trusted, biblically sound content to bless you and your family. Online, Movieguide is the closest thing to a biblical entertainment expert at your fingertips. As a reader-funded operation, we welcome any and all contributions – so if you can, please give something. It won’t take more than 52 seconds (we timed it for you). Thank you.

If you’ve ever oohed and aahed at a fighter jet demonstration, you probably also wondered about the laborious efforts that must go into producing such an enthralling aerial display. The documentary The Blue Angels aims to answer all your questions, providing a detailed, behind-the-scenes look at the venerable United States Navy and Marine Corps outfit that has probably done more to boost enrollment than anything other than the Top Gun films. The connection is further emphasized by the fact that Glen Powell, who played military pilots in both Devotion and Top Gun: Maverick, serves as one of the film’s producers.  

The Blue Angels, which tours the country annually for eight months at a time, consists of six jet fighter pilots flying in dazzling formations, sometimes no more than a terrifying 18 inches apart. Paul Crowder’s documentary chronicles their 2022 season, from the highly competitive selection process to the rigorous training to the exhausting tour that includes not only the aerial demonstrations but also considerable outreach programs including visits to schools and hospitals.  

Naturally, the film provides personal portraits of the various members, including the flight leader, Brian Kesselring, whose all-American, square-jawed good looks and intense personality could certainly provide plenty of acting opportunities should this flying thing not work out. “This place is the great equalizer,” he explains about the rigorous program that separates the men from the boys. And thankfully, finally women, as we’re later introduced to Amanda Lee, the first female pilot ever to be inducted into the program.

Kesselring leads the training, which includes desk sessions that have an almost ritualistic quality. The goal is to make six jets fly as one. “That’s the Blue Angels magic,” he says proudly.

And magic it is, with the film including generous amounts of amazing flight footage, much of it shot from within the cockpit, that illustrates the rigorous flying patterns, including their signature Delta Formation in which the six jets come together with seemingly impossible closeness. External views are provided by a helicopter outfitted with IMAX-certified cameras, representing the first-ever civilian aircraft permitted to fly inside the performance airspace known as “the box.” Not surprisingly, the aerial camera unit involved was also responsible for the flying sequences in Top Gun: Maverick.

We also learn about the history of the Blue Angels, which was the brainchild of Admiral Chester Nimitz, who created it in 1946 to promote public interest in naval aviation. The film doesn’t shy away from the tragedies that have dotted the program, which has had 28 fatalities since its inception. Their names and faces are memorialized on a large portrait displayed in the organization’s headquarters.

The tremendous effort involved in the training process is best illustrated in a harrowing sequence in which we see several applicants participating in a centrifuge testing session. The pilots are not able to wear G-suits while flying because their inflating and deflating could interfere with the plane’s controls. So they must counteract the G-force with sheer physical strength, clenching all the muscles in their lower bodies to prevent the blood from leaving their head and causing them to pass out. Two of the pilots in the session, their faces horribly contorted by the effort, do indeed lose consciousness, and it’s very tough to watch. You’ll find yourself clenching your own butt cheeks in sympathy.  

The feature-length film features no small amount of padding, including looks at the family lives of several of the pilots, that demonstrates that it might have been more effective as the sort of 45-minute documentary short that regularly plays IMAX theaters in museums, etc. The Blue Angels has a more ambitious rollout, showing in IMAX theaters for one week before streaming on Amazon Prime, and this is one film that’s definitely worth catching on the big screen.

Does not live up to its ambitious title, but it can be fun at times

Two buddies, Ivan Leung (an actor with several bit roles mostly on TV under his belt) and Harrison Xu (a prolific voice actor specialised in English-language dubbing of Asian series) and their actress-filmmaker friend Katherine Dudas decided to make a movie. About two aspiring actors friends making a movie. About two friends making a movie. How meta is that? Double or triple? Anyhow, that is how a little no-budget indie comedy “Extremely Unique Dynamic” was born, and we got the chance to see it at Caam Fest…

The plot is actually a simple one. Daniel (Leung) and Ryan (Xu) are life-long besties that have been trying to become famous for all their lives. As kids, they used to play filming their shenanigans with a camcorder, and as adults they are aspiring actors and roommates in Los Angeles that spend most of their time auditioning endlessly and posting the stuff they make together online. However, Ryan is about to move out to Canada with his girlfriend Harper and the two buddies have only one last weekend to say goodbye to each other and to their dynamics.

Choosing between the usual stuff like getting stoned and visiting the places of their shared past for one last time, they decide to make their own movie. One of the troubles is that their tastes and their knowledge of the different “lores” differ greatly, which is the reason why the more proactive of the duo, Ryan, insists on a meta-approach, which Daniel accepts in order to raise some of the issues in their own relationship while hiding behind the character and using it as a mask of sorts. What started as a (potentially stoner) buddy-buddy comedy quickly turns into an indie drama where two people talk about feelings…

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As filmmakers, Leung and Xu try to hit a number of topics and issues regarding the film industry nowadays, the Asian-American experience and its representation in show business and the gay-straight buddy dynamics in very brief format of just above 70 minutes. As a person with one feature film under her belt already, Katherine Dudas presumably serves as a coordinator in order for the story not to get derailed. The trouble is that all topics the trio aims for are touched only superficially and with a lot of redundancy, while there is also (at least) one meta-level too many in the very structure of the film, and it serves pretty much as an additional burden. Also, their directing style is very plain, usually relying on a series of reverse shots for dialogue scenes, which might signal either the lack of imagination or the lack of funds. Luckily, some of the jokes written in the script hit the mark spot on, while the fact that they also take jabs at the pillars of the Asian-American experience is also quite commendable.

Acting-wise, the actors in the duo might not be strong enough to pull the weight of a whole feature movie that would serve better as a short. On the other hand, they are trained enough to nuance the shades of (bad) acting on different meta-levels, which is also one of the better executed jokes. Also, the appearance of Hudson Yang (of “Fresh of the Boat” fame) in an extended cameo that eventually takes turn to the territory of Kevin Smith’s Silent Bob character works both as an elaborate film industry joke and as something that elevates the acting dynamic in some scenes.

The technical aspect of the film remains on a pretty basic level, with some questionable production values, but it is somewhat expected for a non-budget movie. It might also be a deliberate choice, given that the cinematographer Steven Shulgach and the editor Michael Scotti Jr show that they are capable of doing their jobs properly at moments they are allowed to. The whole thing could actually serve as a study how (not) to stretch something that could be a podcast episode laced with some videos to a feature film, especially when the highlights such as two music video for a couple of dumb catchy tunes and one animated sequence happen during or after the closing credits sequence.

In the end, “Extremely Unique Dynamic” does not live up to its ambitious title, but it can be fun. Sporadically and in a “slacker-ish” kind of way.