Black Mirror

BLACK MIRROR - Series Three (2016)

Created by Charlie Brooker, this British TV anthology show, launched in 2011, explores sci-fi related and media-based themes.

Series three’s third episode Shut Up And Dance, about cyber blackmail, has a quad-copter flying with a camera for watching a fight scene in the woods.

Men Against Fire includes a military quad-copter drone used by soldiers for their surveillance of a farm-house. 

GITS

GHOST IN THE SHELL (2017)

This live-action remake of the manga and anime GITS franchise features some futuristic helicopters, including a Dauphin / Hind hybrid design, that’s first seen approaching the Section 9 HQ.

A winged rotor-craft, first appearing in silhouette, patrols the streets. 

After the battle against a spider-tank, this big rotor-craft with enemy gun-men aboard, unfurls its wings for an urban assault mission.

However, when a sniper shoots it down, the damaged machine slams into a building and then crashes in the street.

In the final sequence, the Hind style chopper drops a team of agents on a roof-top in the city.

Emerald City

EMERALD CITY (2017)

Directed by visual stylist Tarsem Singh, this TV fantasy series based on The Wizard Of Oz begins with episode The Beast Forever, featuring a robot helicopter machine cruising over the sea.

The final episode There’s No Place Like Home has squadrons of copter drones, a sci-fi version of the ‘flying monkeys’, that swarm into the sky where they spell out the name ‘Ozma’ for the city’s estranged princess.

American Assassin

AMERICAN ASSASSIN (2017)

This action movie features a US navy Bell 412 rescue flight arriving at the villain’s hide-out.

The military helicopter chases a speed-boat and hoists the hero to safety just before a nuclear bomb explodes underwater.

Although the Bell 412 is caught in the blast wave, the chopper’s pilot regains control and so the spinning helicopter does not crash into the sea.

Some poster artwork features Black Hawk helicopters that don’t appear in the movie.

Contract To Kill

CONTRACT TO KILL (2016)

This B-movie thriller, starring Steven Seagal, is a good example of using drone helicopters, on screen, in action cinema. 

It first appears with an assault rifle attached, remote piloted in gunship mode to attack a parked car.

Fitted with a video camera, the eight armed rotor-craft is re-deployed for a surveillance mission, flying outside a hotel in Istanbul.

The copter follows the crooks’ car and lands in the street.

Later, the drone takes a night flight and lands on the pavement.