A.I. goes airborne in amped-up man vs. machine tale

Think “Top Gun” on Ritalin, think big special effects, think sexy cast. That’s the formula Rob Cohen, director of past summer blockbusters “The Fast and the Furious” and “XXX,” has conjured up for his next popcorn thriller, “Stealth.”

But Cohen warns: “It’s not just mindless summer fun. We are at a place where technology is achieving a certain independence from us.... So, yes, [“Stealth”] has the feelings of speed and summer blockbuster, but it has some idea and heart.”

In this high-velocity action adventure, Josh Lucas, Jessica Biel and Jamie Foxx star as elite stealth bomber pilots who suddenly become a foursome when “Eddie,” an unmanned, experimental aircraft armed with artificial intelligence, joins the formation. But Eddie soon goes Frankenstein, morphing into a mind-of-its-own weapon that threatens the world with nuclear

warfare.

In the real world, the U.S. has already used smaller unmanned drones for reconnaissance in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and there’s support in the Senate for expanding their ranks.

“By 2020 to 2025, the entire Naval Air Force could be pilotless,” Cohen said. “This isn’t science fiction; it’s science fact.”

And so for Cohen, the pieces to the popcorn puzzle known as summer blockbuster appear to be falling into place. He’s got the stars, the special effects, the debate-provoking story and -- his favorite -- lots and lots of speed.

“For me, speed in film has been a little bit of an obsession, whether it’s car stuff in ‘The Fast and the Furious’ [or] some warp speed we tried to do in ‘XXX.’ I thought, ‘Well, this is a chance to move beyond what I thought was the limit.’ ”

-- Josh Gajewski