My Cultural Diet

It’s easy to describe Born to Fly as China’s response to 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick. Easy, and also misleading. Whereas Top Gun: Maverick transcends its propagandistic qualities and actually becomes entertaining thanks to charismatic performances, an affecting storyline, and thrilling aerial sequences, Born to Fly has none of those things. As a result, Liu Xiaoshi’s film about a group of young test pilots testing China’s new stealth fighter is basically a military recruitment ad dressed up in tearjerking melodrama. (Not surprisingly, Xiaoshi created promotional materials for the Chinese military prior to directing Born to Fly.) This film doesn’t have performances, only half-realized tropes in flight suits. It doesn’t have a storyline, just loosely connected events punctuated by patriotic speeches. And it doesn’t have thrilling aerial sequences, just painfully obvious green screened CGI. Apparently, Born to Fly’s producers were so worried about Top Gun: Maverick comparisons that they delayed their film’s release to improve its visual effects in a bid to avoid any ridicule. That, and the Chinese Air Force was less than pleased with the film’s depiction of its new Chengdu J-20 fighter. All of that’s to say, based on the version of the film that was finally released, I shudder to think what the original Born to Fly was like.

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