Iron Eagle II

Chappy (Louis Gossett Jr.) and Cooper (Mark Humphreys) are a duo of Air Force aces slated to fly a joint mission with two Soviet pilots against an unnamed Middle Eastern foe in this low-budget actioner. Cooper does not hide his dislike of his Soviet comrades -- he was the lone survivor of a jet shot down over Soviet air space. He makes things tense for the Soviet pilot Varkovsky (Alan Scarfe), but Cooper does some macho machinations to impress the female flyer Valerie Zuyeniko (Sharon H. Brandon). There is a half-hearted morality message about how no one wins in a war, but this picture doesn't get off the ground until two-thirds of the way through the film. It's just another one of the flyboy flicks cashing in on the success of Top Gun. Still, the producers got more mileage out of the concept with two more sequels after this one. Maybe they've been breathing too many gas fumes.