Product: Flyboys [Blu-ray] (2006)
Rating: 4.0
Pretty good WWI aerial drama
Flyboys didn't last long in theaters upon its release, but don't let that scare you away, it's an above average WWI period drama. During World War I, a group of American pilots joined the fighting in Europe before the United States entered the war in 1918. Flying for the French, they were named the Lafayette Escadrille. The movie follows five or six freshly arrived pilots, most notably James Franco as Texan Blaine Rawlings, as they train and learn how to fly and ultimately join the war as they take on German fighters, most notably the Black Falcon, a German pilot who doesn't follow the "rules of war." All in all, this was a pretty good movie. It's by no means a great movie, but it kept me entertained for the full 140 minute running time. The added love story isn't as bad as I thought it'd be, but the movie didn't need that storyline. It would have been better if the storyline focused primarily on the pilots and the dogfights, which are the high points of the movie. Go see this movie for the dogfights, especially the zeppelin attack on Paris and the final showdown between Rawlings and the Black Falcon!One of the complaints of the movie was that it is too cliched, and this is partly true, but for me it felt like the actors did the best they could with what they have. James Franco gets top billing as Texan Blaine Rawlings, a young rancher who joins the war after his ranch went under. Along with flying with the Escadrille, he falls in love with a French girl, Lucien (French beauty Jennifer Decker), who can't speak English. My favorite character is Reed Cassidy (Martin Henderson), the veteran pilot who slowly opens up to the new pilots. The rest of the young pilots who arrive with Rawlings include Phillip Winchester as William Jensen, the golden boy who knows he'll become a hero, Tyler Labine as Briggs Lowry, a young man from a rich family who is trying to prove himself to his father, Abdul Salis as Eugene Skinner, the lone African-American pilot in the group who must prove himself while also dealing with some racism, and David Ellison as Eddie Beagle, the struggling pilot who may or may not have a suspicious background. Jean Reno is excellent in a small part as the captain of the squadron, Capt. Thenault, but it's too bad he couldn't have been used more.The soon to be released two-disc DVD, Jan. 30, 2007, will offer a boatload of special features which I'm definitely looking forward to watching. There will be several making of featurettes, some history about the real Lafayette Escadrille, an audio commentary with director Tony Bill and producer Dean Devlin, deleted scenes, trailers, and a Flyboys Squadron DVD-rom game. So for a movie with some excellent dogfights and aerial sequences, a pretty good ensemble cast, and a not so bad love story, look for the two-disc DVD of Flyboys in January!