Phenomenally successful in the Czech Republic, Jan Sverák's World War Two drama focuses on two Czech pilots (Ondrej Vetchy and Krystof Hádek) who flee Europe to join the RAF and fight the Nazis. Then, in a real Pearl Harbor kind of moment, they both meet and fall in love with the same woman (Tara Fitzgerald).
Trying to be a love story, a period drama and a war movie all at the same time, Dark Blue World never really gels as a whole, and the decision to relay the action in large chunks of flashback only adds to its fractured nature. Thank God for the dogfights, then.
Filmed using real planes, CGI and outtakes from tubthumping 1969 epic The Battle Of Britain, they go a long way towards making up for the uneven tone. In fact, it's hard to imagine how the pant-wetting terror of taking these flying sardine cans into combat could have been captured any more effectively.
