Air America (1990)

Seeing any still images of Mel Gibson or Robert Downey Jr. from this movie, you’d have no idea it was set during the Vietnam War. Not having any previous knowledge of the actual Air America and its activities in Laos during that era, this film offers a slight history lesson in its fictional story. A prime example of both actors’ early 90s careers, there is a bit of unevenness in the story, not managing to figure out how to balance its comedic and dramatic tones in the ways Good Morning Vietnam was able to do just a few years earlier. It still manages to be fun, particularly in some entertaining aviation scenes.