Flyboys (2006)

(Flash Review)Based on a true story, before WWI begins, a bunch of Americans volunteer to be fighter pilots for the French military and learn to master these early aviation machines and battle the Germans. The movie brings a typically eclectic bunch of characters, based on real people to some degree, and create partially flushed out characters from them. The movie shows how the pilots were trained to fly these plans as well as how to prepare for combat. There are several fairly exciting battles in the sky but after a while tend to get a bit redundant. There is also a true romantic story line to compliment the battles. Overall, it was average but the director failed to dramatically engage the viewer with the characters to evoke true emotions for them mostly because the drama is very cliché and been there done that many times before. A better example of this subject can be found almost 100 years earlier with Wings (1922).

I can't quite put my finger on why this was only an okay movie, I just felt like I'd seen it all before, even though it was based on real events (and pilots) it still didn't feel original. Flyboys follows the adventures of young Americans who volunteered for the French military to become their country's first fighter pilots since the U.S still hadn't entered World War 1.This tries really hard to be episodic but falls short as we follow the boys through training. The dog fights are well done and exciting, the romance aspect so-so. There are also some moments of utter cheese.I did enjoy the battle weary pilot Reed and his ongoing showdown with his German nemesis. Pretty poor odds of making it home alive. 06.13

Despite the low rating this movie got, I rented a DVD because I love aerial combat films. I went into this movie not expecting much but was pleasantly surprised throughout the entire film. Yes, it is a bit cliché at certain points but it did not take away much from the overall experience. The characters were decently done for their roles although I did not connect with most of them with the exception of the main character, his love interest, and the African American pilot. The acting was well done although not amazing by any standard. Although I rolled my eyes when the film introduced the romantic interest of the main character, it turned out pretty well. The romantic connection between the two characters was cute due to their language differences. Overall, I would recommend this movie to anyone as it was very entertaining.

I've seen some grousing about the fact that the characters in the film are all composites of several of the real American airmen. They tell us in the very beginning that the film is BASED ON facts, not that it's actually totally factual. I found the film to be an excellent quasi- historical film. The training of the pilots, their quarters, the aerial combat sequences were all very realistic, I thought. Yes, some of the aircraft were computer generated, but it's difficult to gather many actual aircraft of that era together to use in the film - there simply aren't that many flying anymore. The only thing that really hit me as not being true was the fact that nearly all the German aircraft shown in the film were the triple winged ones. They were never the only aircraft in the Luftwaffe and only about 300 were built. It was much slower than many other fighters of it's day, but more agile. I'm sure the filmmakers chose to use them because they're somewhat "iconic" of WW1 German fighter aircraft. In fact, most German aircraft were biplanes. But that's my only complaint. I found the acting, direction and cinematography were very good, editing was very good also. So the execution of the film was very good. There are some great films about WW1 out there and I think this film belongs with them