SummaryElite Apache helicopter pilots are tasked with destroying powerful armed drug cartels operating in South America.
Directed By:David Green
Written By:Step Tyner, John K. Swensson, Dale Dye, Nick Thiel, Paul F. Edwards
Fire Birds
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
31
User score
Mixed or Average
5.2
My Score
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Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Unfavorable
31
5% Positive
1 Review
1 Review
32% Mixed
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
63% Negative
12 Reviews
12 Reviews
75
Routine military melodrama leads to a satisfactorily explosive climax. But what makes Birds truly riveting entertainment is not the conflict between good and bad guys, but the clash between the film's apparent intent and the loony subversiveness of its performances.
50
The best to be said for the current production is that the editing is refreshingly swift, the cinematography is clear-eyed and the running time is mercifully short. (I clocked it at just under an hour and a half.) But do I recommend Fire Birds? That's a negative. [29 May 1990, p.D1]
40
Originally titled Wings of the Apache for the Apache assault helicopters prominently featured, Fire Birds resembles a morale booster project leftover from The Reagan era.
30
Once it is said that the helicopters are good and the movie is bad, there isn't much left to say about Fire Birds. [26 May 1990]
25
A sure sign that a movie is doomed from the start is when it opens with a printed quote from President Bush's September 1989 so-called "war" on Colombian drug lords, and the screening audience giggles. Fire Birds tumbles to the very depths of lousy filmmaking on that note. [21 May 1990]
25
Cage plays his part in exactly the mode of the maimed swain of Moonstruck -- his voice is flat, his jaw slack, his eyes glazed over. He knows it's junk, and he just can't help himself. [26 May 1990, p.E1]
20
Fire Birds is Top Gun without wings. Without personality. Without sex appeal. Nicholas Cage is no Tom Cruise. Sean Young is no Kelly McGillis.
User score
Mixed or Average
5.2
50% Positive
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
17% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
33% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
Jun 13, 2025
0
Once in a while a special film comes along that defies explanation. Defies the laws of nature by existing. I really hope that our nation's enemies didnt see this film. God damn them for doing this to our troops. Goddamn them for doing this to such exceptional actors. How they got mixed up in the film. They appear horrified and shamed in every scene. I simply dont understand how they deemed this fit to release. Or how a film could fail on every single level.
Production Company:
- Touchstone Pictures
- Nova International Films
Release Date:May 25, 1990
Duration:1 h 25 m
Rating:PG-13
Tagline:The best just got better.
