Straight Up: Helicopters in Action

The joy of watching an IMAX documentary is to see something new from a beautiful perspective. Straight Up: Helicopters in Action was made for the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum. Throughout the 40 minutes director David Douglas shows a variety of ways helicopters are used in noble settings.

They can be used in rescue missions and used to help work on power lines. Some of the recreations fall towards the cheesy side, but the shots really captivate the audience. With these cameras, the wide look at the scenery really shows the spectacle. Watching the short documentary at home cannot match the gravitas of the IMAX screens but the transfer to Blu-Ray really helps highlight the impressive aspects of the filmmaking.

The rest of the movie suffers in comparison to the filmmaking. A lot of the narration is a bit clumsy even with the classy Martin Sheen behind the mic. There isn’t a lot of focus with the structure of the film. It tries to explain how the machine works and their history but it’s too short to really have an impact. All of the vignettes go by before anything has any lasting values.

The rest of the Blu-Ray has an assortment of features. There are two documentaries highlighting the two major parts of the movie. One is showing how some of the filmmaking was possible and the other shows more information about the jobs that use helicopters. Both of them are solid, but still nothing special. There is also a director’s commentary track by Douglas.

It’s silly to boil down a review to a simple statement of advice, but this is a film worth renting if the material sounds interesting but only then.

Film: 2.5 Yaps

Extras: 2.5 Yaps