Sky Force Review

Contemporary Indian military action dramas are rife with familiar tropes: flag-waving rhetoric aimed at a rival nation (usually Pakistan), tributes to the sacrifices of a soldier's family, intense frontline combat, and, of course, at least one poignant death. These films traffic in terror, rage, and tears - a surefire formula for commercial success. So it's no surprise we get at least one every year, most of them destined for box-office glory.

Yet, just fifteen minutes into Sky Force, a military drama about India's first-ever airstrike, there is a creeping sense that this is not going to be the next Uri (2019) or Major (2022). Far from it, Sandeep Kewlani and Abhishek Anil Kapur's film serves up a weakly-made slurry of genre tropes that two of the industry's arguably most ruggedly masculine heroes, Akshay Kumar and newcomer Veer Pahariya, can't salvage.

Far from saving it, Akshay and Veer, who play Air Force officers K O Ahuja and T K Vijaya, are stuck in a hopelessly imitative Top Gun-esque routine, including an extended dogfighting sequence lifted straight from Top Gun: Maverick. Like Maverick and Rooster, "Tiger" Ahuja and "Tabby" Vijaya share a fraternal bond - Vijaya being the star pilot, and Ahuja, his senior and mentor. Their wives share a similar connection, with the older, sophisticated and glamorous Preeti (Nimrat Kaur) guiding the younger, heavily pregnant Geeta through the challenges of their roles.

Set during the 1965 war over Kashmir, the story centres on a crucial Indian airstrike - codenamed Sky Force - launched to destroy Pakistan's cache of American-supplied aircraft. Bewilderingly, though, this pivotal moment gets lost in the film's haphazard pacing and erratic editing. At every turn, the movie fixates on a technically complex motif it clearly spent considerable time and resources perfecting: fiery explosions.

So airstrike sequences - of which there are far too many - are filled with spectacular shots of people and equipment erupting in flames. And soldiers dive in slow motion to escape the inferno, occasionally hurled against walls by the shockwaves of incoming missiles. So swept up is the film in its cinematic extravaganza, it glosses over the emotional weight of the destruction it so eagerly showcases.

Most vexingly, Sky Force can't settle on a consistent tone. It starts strong, drawing you in with stylish military action that showcases the Indian Air Force's ingenuity and dogfighting prowess. But by the third act, the story unravels and the momentum fizzles as the movie devolves into a sluggish bureaucratic procedural about the search for a missing pilot. Somewhere in this tonal chaos, a song is inexplicably wedged in - featuring Ahuja, an Air Force Wing Commander, no less - dancing on top of a chandelier.

Both Akshay Kumar and Veer Pahariya may have an embarrassment of riches in the looks department - chiseled jawlines, strong eyebrows and effortless swaggers - but their stiff performances fail to make an impact beyond the cockpit. Sara Ali Khan cycles through a litany of hammy expressions in her clichéd role as the long-suffering army wife, while Nimrat Kaur, lurking beside Akshay as his wife, styled in a severe bob and sparkling jewelry, makes a brief yet striking impression. Amid the relentless staccato of military speak, only Varun Badola delivers a lived-in performance - equal parts exasperated and bemused as an Air Force bureaucrat.

Sky Force may be technically superior to its contemporaries - the graphics and camerawork in both ground action and aerial dogfights are genuinely impressive. But beyond its insistently forceful soundtrack, the film is all bravado and no heart. It feels engineered and staged, failing to stir any real emotion or leave you feeling more patriotic than when you walked in.