Airwolf Season One

June 5, 2005

Rated: NR Runtime: 592 min Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Airwolf has often been referred to as “Knight Rider in the sky”, which is a little weird to me. Sure, KITT and Airwolf are both black, they both have lots of firepower and gadgets, but Airwolf doesn’t talk or think for itself and believe it or not, Knight Rider has much better acting. But in any case, Airwolf kicks some ass.

Airwolf Season One If you missed this show when it was on TV, Airwolf is a prototype helicopter developed by “The Firm” for use in military situations. It’s got missiles, guns, flares, can do over MACH 1 and has some really cool flying abilities. Plus, it looks damn good. During a demonstration to a congressman, Airwolf is stolen by the test pilot and it’s services sold to some terrorists in the Middle East. Enter Stringfellow Hawke (Jan-Michael Vincent) as the moody ex-test pilot for The Firm, who is given the task of getting Airwolf back.

When he does (and you knew he would), instead of giving it back he hides it in the mountains and agrees to continue flying missions for The Firm as long as they keep looking for his missing brother. This of course is the flaw with the story… Hawke is able to keep Airwolf hidden in the mountains from the government, who never bothers to just follow him when he takes another helicopter to pick up Airwolf for a mission. Plus, Airwolf has no problem getting refueled, getting spare parts, getting new missiles and ammo… all while hiding from the Department of Defense.

Right.

But if you overlook this obvious plot hole the show is pretty good. The amazing thing is that even after 21 years, Airwolf looks remarkably modern. If you swapped out the CRT’s in the control panel for LCD’s and upgraded the graphics it would pass for a modern fantasy helicopter. Heck, just buy a BELL 222 for yourself and paint it black… that is if you have 1.25 MILLION sitting around, and that’s for a used one!

Posted by John | Filed Under 4 Stars, Action, Alex Cord, DVD, Drama, Ernest Borgnine, Jan-Michael Vincent, NR