Sky Fighters

Sky Fighters (Les Chevaliers du ciel, 2005) is a French aerial action film directed by Gérard Pirès — watch it online on iFILM. Air Force captains Marchelli and Valois, played by Benoît Magimel and Clovis Cornillac, scramble to intercept a stolen fighter jet on Bastille Day, with Paris in the crosshairs.

What makes it stand out from standard action fare is the hardware: the Dassault Mirage 2000 and Alpha Jet sequences were filmed with active cooperation from the French Air Force, using real aircraft in real maneuvers rather than CGI cutaways. Pirès built his career on car chases — he wrote the original Taxi — and that same instinct for kinetic geography transfers well to the sky. The dogfight choreography holds up, and Cornillac gives the film more dry wit than it strictly needs, which helps. Stream Sky Fighters online on iFILM.