Not Top Fun
Top pilot Paul Watkins (Michael Paré) loves to fly and also protect the air space above an Arabian country so when he is ordered to play escort to the popular and cocky movie star Tom Slade (Anthony Michael Hall) he is less than impressed. But as a patriotic pilot Paul does what he is ordered to do and shows Tom everything that the pilots go through. Both surprised and angered by Slade's natural ability to be good at what ever he does the odd couple find themselves having to put their differences aside to work together when a sample flight results in actual combat and ending up having to eject in enemy territory.
Watching "Into the Sun" I couldn't help but think they got the casting wrong as whilst Anthony Michael Hall and Michael Paré are okay they just don't have the same comic spark of say Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez or Daniel Stern and Bruno Kirby. In fact brothers Sheen and Estevez would have been perfect for "Into the Sun" with Estevez better cast as the by the book pilot and Sheen as the actor who has a charming, arrogant side. But we didn't get the right actors and so "Into the Sun" only ever ends up okay at best.
Now for the first half of "Into the Sun" we get the comedy of Tom Slade not only being annoyingly good at everything but he also flirts with Watkins' woman, Maj. Goode, which gets under then skin of Watkins more than ever. And it is moderately amusing although more often than not the jokes rely on Anthony Michael Hall making his eyes bulge which grows tedious after a why. And to be honest things are kind of the same in the second half as we end up with some chalk n cheese buddy stuff when they end up in trouble in enemy territory.
The things is there isn't a great deal more to say than that other than through out the entire movie you just feel the casting not so much spoiled the movie but dragged it down to be average and forgettable. In fairness it is not the supporting actors as they all deliver what is expected and would have worked even better with lead stars that had the comedy timing.
What this all boils down to is that "Into the Sun" on paper is an okay action comedy which genuinely could have been a memorable movie. The trouble is that for what ever reason Anthony Michael Hall and Michael Paré were cast and whilst on paper they both tick the character boxes with Hall delivering humour and Paré delivering action hero they don't have the chemistry which the movie needs to be memorable.
