Stealth Available on DVD for All to See

When I first saw the previews of Stealth, I saw the usual heart-stopping excitement associated with action-movie previews. I didn’t think much of a film about three stealth fighter pilots who are joined by a prototype jet with Artificial Intelligence capability. Then I saw that it was directed by Rob Cohen, who gave us the intelligent yet action- packed classic The Fast and The Furious. Considering that film’s interesting characters and deep plotline, I was hoping Stealth was of the same vein.

Unfortunately, this was not the case. Stealth begins with a brief exposition that in the near future, the military had to create a special squad in order to combat terrorism. For some reason, it feels the need to explain that many (400) were called, but few (3 pilots) were chosen.

The squad’s leader is Lt. Ben Gannon, played by Josh Lucas, whose credits include much better films such as A Beautiful Mind and Sweet Home Alabama. Ben is unfortunately in love with the second member, Lt. Kara Wade (Jessica Biel), despite all naval regulations to the contrary. Love is not a problem for their third member, Lt. Henry Purcell, who is nothing more than a “player”. Purcell is played by Jamie Foxx, whose Oscar caliber performances in Collateral and Ray make him quite overqualified for his little screen time in this film.

The action, not the characters, drive this film that starts with a bang (and then some) and one of the most expensive military simulations ever. The trio of fighters proceed to shoot up tanks, machine-gun placements, and trucks. It ends with a missile that the camera spectacularly follows through a maze of caves into a great explosion. As great as it looked, I couldn’t help but wonder at the price of such a demonstration. They must have blown up at least a few million dollars worth of armaments. It’s like they were trying to make a multi-million dollar movie, or something. Is this our tax dollars at work?