Monday 31 December 2018

Moontrap: Target Earth

MOONTRAP: TARGET EARTH (2017) 

This low-budget sci-fi adventure is a belated sequel Moontrap (1989). 


One digital visual effects scene has a Comanche stealth gunship that appears suddenly, hovering in the night sky, and shoots a man standing up on a ridge in the desert.


Monday 24 December 2018

Tomb Raider

TOMB RAIDER (2018) 

This actioner is both a remake and prequel to Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001). 


Near the end of the movie, an NHI NH-90 transport is hijacked by the heroes as their escape vehicle from a remote island. 



Friday 21 December 2018

Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle

JUMANJI: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE (2017) 

This comedy adventure movie features a Bell UH-1H, found in a barn at a jungle camp and stolen by the heroes as their getaway vehicle. 


The Huey gunship’s main rotor is damaged by enemy rocket fire.


The chopper hacks through tree-tops and drops into rocky gorge where the pilot says “the collective is busted”, and the Huey nearly crashes.


Flying just above the ground, the Huey is chased by rhinos while the hero climbs up, outside of the cabin to fix the rotor in mid-air, just in time to escape from a stampede in the canyon.






The heroes return for a dropped jewel and one of the sidekicks is pushed out of the Huey to distract animals.


When the sidekick returns, and falls from the sky, the chopper tilts over on its side to catch the falling man.




This flying stunt sequence was filmed in a studio with the actors aboard a helicopter prop and green screens for digital visual effects.   





Eventually, the Huey lands safely on a hill-side.

Tuesday 18 December 2018

Wynonna Earp

WYNONNA EARP (2016-8) 

This TV series is a weird western of supernatural horror. 


Season two’s final episode, I Hope You Dance (2017), has an Agusta-Westland AW-109S Grand that lands in a field as transport for the heroine’s newborn baby.  

Sunday 16 December 2018

211

211 (2018)

This movie is an American crime thriller, filmed in Bulgaria. 


There’s a PZL Swidnik Mi-2 Hoplite flying over the scene of a bank robbery.


Later, a night siege is visited by an Agusta-Bell 206 JetRanger. 

Saturday 15 December 2018

Justice League

JUSTICE LEAGUE (2017) 


After one battle sequence, there’s a couple of police AW-109s hovering at the island location.


Thursday 13 December 2018

Triple 9

TRIPLE 9 (2016) 

This movie is a police thriller about crooked cops. 


One crime scene has a Bell 407 hovering over the parked cars.  

Tuesday 11 December 2018

Megan Leavey

MEGAN LEAVEY (aka: Rex, 2017)

This movie is a biographical drama about a US marine (Kate Mara) and her military dog.  


An early scene has troops walking up the ramp of a CH-46 Sea Knight. 


Later, a Bell 212 Twin Huey flies the injured heroine to hospital. 

Sunday 9 December 2018

Skiptrace

SKIPTRACE (2016) 

This action movie is a comedy adventure starring Jackie Chan.


During the climactic fighting scenes, a Hong Kong police MD 902 Explorer hovers above a cargo ship docked in the harbour.


Later, the chopper flies over water towards the city.

Saturday 8 December 2018

Firebase

FIREBASE (2017) 

This short movie directed by Neill Blomkamp is about aliens in Vietnam. 


It features a helicopter disassembled by a mysterious force in the sky where it floats in mid-air like a display of spare parts.


There’s also a trio of Hueys flying over the jungle and landing in a clearing.


Other Bell UH-1 choppers appear in US army camp scenes.   

Thursday 6 December 2018

Fifty Shades Darker

FIFTY SHADES DARKER (2017) 

This movie is a sequel to romantic drama Fifty Shades Of Grey (2015). 


Flying from Portland to Seattle, an EC-130 has engine trouble and it crash-lands in the forest near Mount St Helens. 




Special effects for the stunt sequence include a mock-up, set on a mechanical gimbal to simulate the flight.   




Wednesday 5 December 2018

Defenders

THE DEFENDERS (2017)

This TV drama series is about four superheroes in New York. 


The first episode, The H Word, has an AW-109 flying into the city where the chopper lands on a roof-top heli-pad.

Tuesday 4 December 2018

BayWatch

BAYWATCH (2017) 

This comedy-drama is a big-screen remake of a popular TV series about life-guards in Los Angeles.  

An early scene has kids flying a quad-copter on the beach.


Just after the rescue from a burning boat, an HH-65 Dolphin arrives on the scene.


This US Coast Guard Dolphin also appears on TV later during a news report.


During a night scene, there’s an MD 500E used by the bad guys. 


This getaway flight - with a rope ladder dangling from it - is caught in the danger zone of a fireworks display, and it fails to save the fleeing villainess.






Monday 3 December 2018

Travellers

TRAVELLERS (2016)

This sci-fi TV drama series is about agents from the future trying to save the world.


Season one’s episode Room 101 has an AS-355F1 (C-GTLC) that lands on a roof-top, bringing police to meet an FBI agent. 



After the cops talk, the Twin-Star takes off again.


A later episode, Helios 685 features a CH-53 that hauls a laser-cannon machine onto the roof-top of an industrial research lab.