Product: Flyboys [Blu-ray] (2006)
Rating: 3.0
A bland romance with some flying action thrown in
"Flyboys" pretends to be the 21st century version of the first Academy Award winner for best picture,Wings (1927). There are a lot of similarities in the film -- both feature American boys going off to France in World War I as aerial aces; both films have lengthy romantic interludes; and both feature pretty good air action scenes in dogfights with Germans.Yet it is, ironically, the older film that is more authentic, more fun, has better flying scenes, and has better music than its newer mate. "Wings", which was among Gary Cooper's first films, is more naive in its "script" (it's a silent film) but far more realistic and exciting in its all-important aerial scenes.What "Flyboys" does with aerial excitement is pretty typical and bland by 21st century standards. Most of the scenes are computer-generated and feature things that could not possibly happen mixed with a perfection that obviously wasn't the case in 1918, when the United States officially entered the war.In one instance, an American flyboy -- being tailed by a German -- lets off the throttle, the plane goes backward, and his stationary wheels rip through the upper fuselage of the German plane, knocking it out of air. Sure, that could happen, uh huh.Both films features lengthy and boring love scenes but, again, the older movie has the better stuff. The love scenes between Buddy Rogers and his female star in "Wings" is more authentic, more interesting and, frankly, more realistic than the nonsense that goes on being American flyboys and French girls that don't even speak the same language.Still, this movie is good for an evening's entertainment but people around here giving it five stars and saying it's great apparently have never seen another film. This movie has long, long boring sequences between the action and it goes on far too long. At almost 130 minutes, this movie is at least 30 minutes too long. It could have been edited compactly to fit a 95-minute span that would have left viewers fresh and involved. As it is, it overstays its welcome by at least a half-hour.If you are thinking of renting or buying "Flyboys", do yourself a favor and watch "Wings" from 1927 instead. That movie has the best World War I air sequences ever filmed and, by comparison with "Flyboys", is still exceptionally relevant in 2008.