10 Most Intense Aerial Dogfights In War Movies

One staple of action cinema that has taken full advantage of the level of scale and scope presented by filmmaking is the aerial dogfight. The term originates from the observation that dogs tend to fight each other by going after the other dog's tail, an action that is somewhat mirrored by clashes between pilots (they would follow each other in the air and often strike from behind).

Over the decades, various films have showcased incredible and nail-biting battles that had the skies as their backdrop. Dogfighting sequences lend themselves to jaw-dropping visuals as well as highly tense and kinetic moments, and their setting ensures that it is always uniquely entrancing watching them unfold - more-so than other kinds of big-screen action.

These sequences have also led to the innovation of various techniques in visual effects, sound work, cinematography, and even storytelling due to their highly specialized nature. The following dogfights are seminal examples of this trope done right and some of them even elevate the overall quality of the film they feature in.

Les Chevaliers du Ciel (Sky Fighters) is a 2005 French military action film based on Tanguy and Lavendure, a popular French comic book from the 1950s that inspired a television series that had a run in the 1960s. The film, unfortunately, employs many tropes used in films in this genre and achieves nothing remarkable with them to elevate its narrative.

However, it is well-shot and the filmmakers used every penny in the budget to give it a sleekness in films with budgets significantly larger than its own. The film also has a cheesy, eighties action movie esque tone that gives it a sense of (often unintentional) hilarity.

The opening dogfight between the film's protagonist ace pilots and enemy forces is largely devoid of CG-elements, features superb shot selection and the fighter jets in question are easily identifiable due to their different colour schemes, enabling the viewer to follow the action without being confused as to who the protagonist is in the scene.