When I heard there was an Indian Top Gun at the local theater, I figured I’d hop into my car and take the side roads to the danger zone.

Fighter is an Indian action/war film about top guns, hot shots, cockpit jockeys in the Indian Air Force (jai hind?). Specifically a team lead by a maverick who doesn’t always follow the rules.

He’s played by Hrithik Roshan who I last saw in War but I think is HUGE in Indian cinema (him and his abs… which… yikes… have their own need for speed). His love interest is the hottest helicopter pilot ever played by Deepika Padukone who I’ve seen her in a few movies now too. Both of these insanely beautiful people fight the evil forces of international terrorism (and Pakistan).

And now I’m tugging at my collar wondering exactly how uncomfortably jingoistic this film is. It doesn’t literally wrap itself in the Indian flag like RRR did, but man, it make American 80s action films seem tame in comparison. And I don’t know enough about the turmoil between the two countries (and Kashmir) so I’m not sure if I should be emboldened or embarrassed by the nationalism. Or if it should matter to me at all.

But it is fun cheese looking at it from the outside as pure chest-thumping action. America exported enough of our jingoistic noise, we probably deserve some right back.

As far as the film goes, it’s all pretty generic fighter jock comradery and ego-tastic posturing. If the flight scenes aren’t as good looking as certain other top shelf films and if the airplane maneuvers are questionable, hey, it’s an action film. And there’s probably more fisticuffs and gunplay out of planes than there are in (and, wouldn’t you know it, those are over-the-top too).

I’d say it’s more fun than not but also at two and a half hours, maybe a little too long. There are twists and turns and romances and tragic backstories and song and dance and side-characters galore so they fill the time well, but the core story is still pretty thin.

But I’ve seen worse over-the-top action films… this one was entertaining. Especially if you like to watch improbably good looking people lose their flightsuits and don sexy midriff exposing outfits and DANCE!

Score: 84