MOVIE REVIEWS : ‘Into the Sun’ Simply Doesn’t Fly

You get that sinking feeling early on in “Into the Sun.� Is it possible the people responsible for this film actually think that the dialogue and plotting in movies such as “Ishtar� and “Top Gun� and “The Hard Way� is something to strive for? This sort-of-comedy (citywide) about a movie star (Anthony Michael Hall) and a flyboy (Michael Pare) is a hand-me-down production lifted from movies that were hand-me-down to begin with.

Hall plays a vain fathead superstar who is prepping for a “Top Gun�-style movie by hanging around an Air Force base in Sicily. Pare is the unfortunate flier assigned to show him the ropes. Inevitably, they bump heads over the same woman, get shot down in hostile Middle Eastern territory and become buddies.

There’s a tiny comic spark in the idea that Hall, a video-game whiz, turns out to be a wizardly bombardier. His hand-eye coordination is a lot better than the director’s. Fritz Kiersch, working with a minuscule budget, achieves the minuscule. The liberal use of model airplane mock-ups and rear-projection doesn’t cut it anymore--for that much we have “Top Gun� to thank.

Hall has a few funny moments, so does Terry Kiser playing an over-the-top agent, but “Into the Sun� (rated R for language) would be more accurately titled “Into the Video Stores.�

‘Into the Sun’

Anthony Michael Hall: Tom Slade

Michael Pare: Capt. Paul Watkins

Deborah Moore: Maj. Goode

Terry Kiser: Mitchell Burton

A Trimark Pictures release of a Trimark/Hess-Kallberg production. Director Fritz Kiersch. Producers Kevin M. Kallberg, Oliver G. Hess. Executive producer Mark Amin. Screenplay by John Brancato and Michael Ferris. Cinematographer Steve Grass. Editor Barry Zetlin. Music Randy Miller. Production design Gary T. New. Art director Dana Torrey. Set decorator A. Rosiland Crew. Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes.

MPAA-rated R (language).