Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Blue Angels’ on Amazon Prime Video, a glossy, upbeat glimpse into the stunning feats of elite Navy fighter pilots (2024)

The Blue Angels is a feature-length documentary shot with IMAX cameras, all the better to capture the oohs-and-ahhs spectacle of some of the world’s best pilots zooming a half-dozen F-18s through the sky in terrifyingly tight formations at even more terrifying speeds. And now the film – which features Top Gun: Maverick actor Glen Powell as a producer – is streaming on Amazon Prime Video, so you can indulge your inner contrarian and watch these eye-popping maneuvers, designed to be seen on the giantest screen possible, on your wee little phone if you so desire. So it goes. Such is the state of modern movie-watching, where it’s hard enough to get people off their couches to see even the most gargantuan of Hollywood blockbusters on IMAX; selling them a documentary of any kind is a big ask. But what the Blue Angels do is elite and extreme, and extremity sells, so I can see this film popping up in menus and inspiring a curiosity watch, which isn’t without its rewards, even on your puny screens.

THE BLUE ANGELS: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Brian “Boss” Kesselring sounds like an auctioneer. The Commanding Officer of the Blue Angels – or to use civilian terms, lead pilot – sits in a morning meeting with his team of pilots and other staff, rattling through their agenda in a rapid-fire cadence illustrating the extreme precision of their military training (there’s even a point where the subtitles throw their hands in the air and read simply, “[rapid technical chatter]”). Later in the film, Boss and co. will sit in the same room, “chair flying,” which is to piloting what air guitar is to rock ‘n’ roll – they clench their eyes shut, grip an invisible flight stick and visualize their maneuvers. Boss belts out a command and WHAM, he and his five other pilots slam their “sticks” simultaneously.

If you know anything about the Blue Angels, you understand that such precision is absolutely necessary to what they do. As elite pilots of the U.S. Navy Demonstration Squadron, the Blue Angels perform literal life-or-death choreography in the air, maneuvering their F-18s in insane formations, sometimes with wingtips a mere 12 inches above another plane’s co*ckpit. Why? Well, essentially, to show off how badass the Navy can be. More officially, the Blue Angels “showcase the teamwork and professionalism of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps by inspiring a culture of excellence and service to country through flight demonstrations and community outreach.” Those are the words found on the Blue Angels’ official website, and this documentary will toe that line, never deviating from the authorized point-of-view.

That isn’t to say what we see is boring, just glossy and relatively uncomplicated. There’s nothing but smiles and pride as Boss welcomes two new pilots to the six-person unit, six weeks before their first air show of a lengthy season that includes dozens of performances. We join the pilots in the co*ckpit as they zoom and flip and spin through the air at upwards of 400 mph and 7.5 Gs. You feel like you’re there, but if you really were there, you’d be puking and fainting – a testament to the training these pilots go through, where they not only lean to perform crazy maneuvers in tight sync with each other, but do so while using their leg and abdominal muscles to literally squeeze blood back up to their heads so they don’t pass out. It’s a major commitment for these pilots, who are on the road and away from their families for weeks and weeks at a time, but this is how they serve their country, as very few have the skill and commitment to do.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: People of a certain vintage (raises hand) will remember the days when IMAX movies were exclusively educational documentaries about wildlife and mountainous landscapes and such that you’d go see on school field trips or during a trip to an amusem*nt park. I can’t name any of the titles offhand, but the distinctive feeling of zooming through the air while watching helicopter shots cutting through picturesque canyons really sticks with you. (OK, I looked up a few of the 1980s titles for our amusem*nt: you’ve got the likes of Grand Canyon: The Hidden Secrets, Eruption of Mt. St. Helens, Niagra: Miracles, Myths and Magic and Beavers. Yep, just Beavers.)

Performance Worth Watching: Kesselring gets the most “characterization” here, as we follow him through his final season as C.O. and see him at home with his wife and kids; he comes off as a clear-eyed, earnest, no-nonsense guy with all the hallmarks of a military lifer. If he gets sentimental about his wind-down as a Blue Angel, we never see it.

Memorable Dialogue: Lt. Scott “Jamammy” Goossens, Blue Angel No. 3, sums up the immediacy – and short tenure – of this team of pilots: “We’re moments in time on this team.

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Come for the gorgeous vapor trails, stay for the footage of Blue Angels-to-be visiting the “centrifuge center” and clenching their teeth as they try not to go nighty-night in the training co*ckpit (even the incoming C.O. flops over unconscious during a sit-and-spin). The status of the cleanliness of their underpants is never addressed; this isn’t that type of documentary, although the contrast of the graceful visage of the planes in the air and the gritty physical and mental acumen it takes to be a Blue Angel is the most compelling bit of this film’s thin subtext. Ancillary to that is the revelation that there are people whose full-time job is working in a “centrifuge center,” which surely must be one of the world’s most niche industries. Hi, I’m Cathy, I’m an accountant, what do you do? Oh, I’m the guy who tells Blue Angel pilots to clench their buttcheeks so they don’t pass out at seven Gs.

Note that I’m whittling the 94-minute Blue Angels down to its most interesting components here: Pilot POVs, cinematographically beautiful imagery of aircraft ballet against picturesque backdrops, glimpses into the What It Takes-ness of being an elite pilot among elite pilots. Significant portions of the documentary feel like the stuff of recruitment films – slickly produced footage of Navy folk talking about their highly specialized jobs in glowing terms, sharing some of the ins and outs of being a Blue Angel pilot or member of the staff, and brief discussions of the sacrifices they’re incredibly proud to have the privilege to make in order to represent the U.S. Navy and their country. The Blue Angels are, at their core, a promotional tool, so we shouldn’t be surprised that an officially sanctioned documentary would sand off the rough edges and feel like a propaganda film.(Think a little bit harder, and you might realize that such displays of military prowess can be a touch disturbing, and imply the threat of violence: Don’t F with America, bro.)

But at least the Angels are an inarguably awe-inspiring promotional tool – if you don’t appreciate the artistry and proficiency on display here, there’s no helping you. And that artistry extends to the filmmakers, who capture some stunning footage and give the film enough you-are-thereness to keep us interested. The Blue Angels doesn’t overwhelm us with incomprehensible jargon, although that might be preferable to the bland positivity everyone puts forth here. In that sense, it can be repetitive, not quite justifying its feature-length run time (it’d be a perfectly fine 60 minutes). Maybe if it delved into the psychology of a person willing to barrel-roll an F-18 at ludicrous speeds, it’d feel more like truth than agitprop. You surely have to be a little bit nuts to do this, but that’s just me reading into it and making assumptions that a life in the military, no matter how specialized or high-profile, isn’t all handshakes and hoo-rahs.

Our Call: The Blue Angels doesn’t dig deep, but there’s no arguing against the exhilaration of watching up close and (sort of) personal as these pilots do amazing things. STREAM IT.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.