Product: Flyboys [Blu-ray] (2006)
Rating: 3.0
Disappointing and cliched`
I purchased this dvd after finding it got a very limited release at the cinemas here in australia (one session a day at major cimemas in it's first week of release here is not what I would call a good sign) and failed to see it on the big screen.My first thought watching it was that this is the sort of movie that you need to see on the big screen. It is something that I still plan on doing. Despite it's very limited cinema release here, I know of a few old cinema venues around town that show movies months after their initial runs have ended. I plan on visiting one to see Flyboys to see it how it should be seen, on the big screen.That all said, the first big dogfight scene of the movie had me screaming in frustration. A few other reviewers have talked about the historical accuracy of the film being refreshing. My question to that is how do they explain then seeing a whole squadron (or the equivilent of the time) of Fokker Triplanes diving in to attack?? Knowing that only a few ever made it to the front, and the ones that did make it there, never lasted long in service due to a slight problem of wings breaking off in flight??!! Yes, I am being perdantic, and we are talking hollywood here I know. But to go to all the detail with the amazing looking CGI, I would have liked them to go with a little bit of research and realism as well.The whole 'Black Falcon' character is just an insult to the original red baron, especially the scene of where an american flyer is gunned down on the ground (this is not a world war II movie chaps). But this, along with the typical and banal love story, is what left a bitter taste in my mouth about this film. It just follows the cliche`s so terribly with the plot and story. No insight to the characters, no developed empathy for them and what they must have gone through. Pretty pictures and awe-inspiring dogfight sequences for sure, but no substance.I guess it was my mistake expecting something like the blue max and das boot, which this film surely isn't. Disappointing, and a shame. I'll be seeing 'letters from iwo jima' on sunday, wishing that 'flyboys' could have had the same emotional impact. Chances lost.