Search - RAM-K SU-27 on DVD

No Danger Of Plot Spoilers With This One.

A. W. Crawford | WI, US | 11/04/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"What this is is a DVD about a plane. More specifically, a DVD about a plane that's quite clearly aimed at the modelmaker rather than the general aviation enthusiast.Plot? Hah. It's not even a documentary - it's just several sequences of film of Flankers flying. In fact it looks as though it may be several shorter films joined together. Midway through it credits two Japanese narrators - despite the fact that there's been no narration and the only soundtrack is jet noise and some rather variable music.Even the aerobatics enthusiast is going to feel short-changed - yes, you get to see some of the incredible feats of which the Flanker is capable, but they're usually shot from so close in you either can't tell what is going on at all, or can only guess what's happening by watching how the plane moves in relation to the light cloud cover. In some of the less obvious cases they show you archive footage of the same manouever from a better angle, just so you know what you couldn't quite see.OK, that's the negative. On the positive side, the picture's beautifully clear and sharp, and the color looks very natural. There's a lot that suggests its been filmed with the modeler in mind - in addition to a lot of the flying sequences following the plane closely, we're treated to long, slow closeups of stuff like ejector seats, instrument panels and wheel wells. At least, I hope that's what it suggests - maybe there's a cult of wheelwell fetishists out there, or something. Regardless, if you're planning to model the Su-27, there's lots of closeup detail.Definitely very much a specialist DVD of the variety that, if you're not in the target audience, makes watching paint dry look like an extreme sport. However, if you're in the target audience, the footage here is potentially at least as useful as many of the more pictorial books on Flankers out there."

A must for the serious collector.

saidordaz | New York, NY United States | 03/03/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There are few planes in the sky that are as versatile and remarkable as the Suchoi 27 and variants (NATO reporting name is Flanker, Russian pilots call it "Crane"), and this film answers all questions about what this jet is capable of, including footage of the original master pilot who created the "Cobra" maneuver, performing it for the cameras. A must for fans who would like a closer look at what this incredible jet is capable of. For fellow modelers, this film has close up shots of the cockpit, wheel bays, exhausts, etc, proving a mine of information for a correct scale representation of the original. The film definitely does this plane justice."