Biggles: Adventures in Time

In answer to the insistently-asked question in the theme tune - yes, i do indeed want to be a hero, as evidenced in my bravery in admitting that this is, and long has been, a favourite film of mine. This is a one of those films many people refer to as a "guilty pleasure", well - i feel no guilt or shame in declaring my love for this movie. It's simply brilliant fun. Great action adventure larks, with likable characters, a neat time-travel plot, a groovy '80s theme tune, and an appearance by genre legend Peter Cushing (in his final screen performance). Honestly, what more do you need? Oh, you need more, do you? OK, then: Francesca Gonshaw, the really cute barmaid from early seasons of 'Allo 'Allo, as a Belgian resistance fighter (i swear, if she's said "Listen very carefully, i shall say zis only once" in that accent, my mind - and indeed my pants - may have exploded). Also, for all of us watching Doctor Who in the mid to late '80s, roles for both James Saxon and Marcus Gilbert. How'd'ya like them apples? Absolutely sublime nostalgic fun. To be watched with a few ales, alongside "The Living Daylights" or "Young Sherlock Holmes and the Pyramid of Fear". Bliss!

source: Biggles: Adventures in Time

'Biggles', taken as an SF-Adventure movie, is great fun. It bears little resemblance to the 'Biggles' books of W E Johns, though. Excellent performances, costuming and production values and sure to entertain boys from 8 to 80!

Mildly diverting sci-fi/action adventure movie that has some potential, but never really hits the right notes. Owing much to 'Back To The Future'(1985), and, 'The Terminator'(1984), it hasn't got the style or momentum of either. An American fast food manufacturer inexplicably finds himself dropping through a 'time hole' to the Great War, where he encounters flying ace Biggles and his bunch of chaps giving the Germans a jolly good thrashing. But the enemy has new 'sonic weapon' up it's sleeve that could spell the end for all decent folk. With much toing and froing between 1918 battlefields and 1980's tourist London, it all gets a bit messy and rather pointless. Neil Dickson gives a one note performance as the eponymous hero, whereas, actually Hyde-White seems to be the main character who does most of the heroics. The soundtrack is atrocious, the worst thing about the whole film - at one point there is a WWI fighter plane attacking our chaps in a church to a hi-energy disco track! Good points are Peter Cushing, as watchable as ever, and some excellent aerial stunts with the bi-planes, and a helicopter. it just leaves you thinking...what were THEY thinking.

BIGGLES could have been a great, authentic adaptation of the famous 'boy's own' adventure stories by Captain W. E. Johns, but some genius scriptwriter had the idea of updating the storyline to then modern day to draw in the American audience. Thus we get a slapdash sci-fi outing involving an annoying Yank who repeatedly time travels to WW1, where he gets involved with the antics of the eponymous hero. In essence, this is a film of two halves. The period-era stuff is fairly decent, featuring a workable performance from Neil Dickson as the hero. There are the requisite aerial dogfights and gun battles, all of it following a simplistic action-template formula, but it works well enough. The old ruined gasworks setting of Kubrik's FULL METAL JACKET is brought into play again and provides a fitting backdrop for the action. A shame, then, that the modern-day stuff is so off-putting, and no surprise that it has dated more than the WW1 story. Alex Hyde-White's American accent is way over the top, and the lame humour adds absolutely nothing to the story. The only good part is the presence of Peter Cushing in a large-ish supporting role; this was to be his final screen performance, and it's an acceptable denouement for the star, his character filled with the quiet dignity we've come to associate with the actor.

The good parts - Peter Cushing, who cannot go wrong, and adds some much needed gravitas to the modern parts. The WW1 cast - perfect in every way. When the story is in WW1 - The English soldiers coolly wandering into a courtyard full of Germans is one of my favourites scenes. The scene with the sonic weapon - just believable (given Tesla's experiments) and nicely gruesome. Alex Hyde White isn't too bad once the story gets going. The bad The whole time travel. OK, I can see it working - but it doesn't here. It's just an excuse to modernise and Americanise the film, because god forbid an 80's audience try and deal with the story of British people in the past. Calling it Biggles - he's barely in it. Not enough to justify being the title character. That soundtrack. That truly awful, grating, inappropriate soundtrack. Marcus Gilbert - the one anomaly in the WW1 cast - he's awful. The modern American cast with the exception of Alex Hyde White - grating, irritating and stereotyped in every way. I think, on some level, the original writers and director did want to make a proper Biggles movie - the standard of the WW1 part shows that. I suspect they were over-ruled by producers and studio hacks who couldn't understand why anyone would want to watch just a straight forward story about brave British flyers in WW1. (The films penultimate line 'You're not a god, you're an American!' hints at some bitterness) Pity. There could have been a good film there.

**Spoiler warning** This movie is the very embodyment of what would happen when an eighties guy is transported back to WW1, commenting on things like nuclear weapons and punk hairdos to the bewilderment of the upper class gentlemens of the war. (I would have like to have seen all of the characters journey to the future, but that would be too much to ask^^). The best part of the movie, undoubtedly, is when Jim is transported into a nunnery wearing nothing but a towel and the nuns mistake him for Jesus -_- I would have to love to have known what was going through the boys' minds when they found him. A lot of people complain about the storyline but I think it's good and relevant. The only thing that irks me is that you never found out who went back and told the Germans to build the sound weapon and so altered time. That would have been a good thing - perhaps even if it was Stalhein himself when he was old. So, all in all, if you want a good time and a not-too-complicated storyline to have on in the background...get this. ~~Lostoyannaya

Capt. W.E. Johns would have been horrified had he been alive to see this first (and likely only) movie version of James Bigglesworth's adventures; though entertaining to read, Biggles was very much of his time - his time being World War II - and this misguided effort did nothing to make him any more relevant for audiences in 1986. Part of the problem is that Biggles isn't even the main character (though in fairness Neil Dickson's performance doesn't help much); the real focus is on his American time twin Jim, something which the original stories didn't have, but which figures here in an attempt for the UK producers to sell it to Americans (even though such grafting has never, ever worked). It's all in the name of a convoluted tale that has Jim and Biggles - whose colleagues Algy, Smythe et al are sidelined here - hopping back and forth in time, complete with Jim getting summoned into his time-tripping by unconvincing lightning strikes... not a great movie by any means, and what is Peter Cushing doing here? (Something that could be said for a lot of his movies, I admit.) As for the music from Stanislas, with plenty of assistance from Jon Anderson - yep, the fellow from Yes - listen to this and you will understand why John Williams is where he is today.

When I saw the name of this movie my first thought was: Wow! Did they actually get around to making a movie based on the old Captain W. E. Johns books? I had read quite a few of them as a kid, and while the characters were somewhat cardboard cut, the stories usually made some kind of sense and were fun to read. Not so the movie! In fact, about the only thing recognizable was the name of some of the characters... I have rarely seen any book(s) massacred the way this movie manages it (only close competitor must be the old Modesty Blaise flick from the sixties....). It is clear that the writer knows absolutely nothing about the Biggles universe - and since he is utterly talentless the movie ends up as a complete downer. My recommendation is to avoid any movie with a script written by this writer. Even when trying to look at it as a parody or comedy it fails, since it is not even funny..... Hopefully they will get around to making a decent Biggles movie at some point - the original stories definitely should make it possible...

I've read a lot of the reviews on here and there are some really negatives views of the film OK so it is a bit tosh, cheesy, the music clashes and the storyline is a bit naff! i mean can a helicopters loudspeaker destroy a massive satellite dish?!?! but not taking anything away from a great film which i thought was thoroughly enjoyable! The music, if somewhat out of place is really catchy. especially the "do u wanna be a hero" song, the action is OK! i like the part when he's firing the machine gun at the Germans in the war, then zooms back to modern day and is shooting at the police! classic! Very enjoyable film i must say