Product: Flyboys [Blu-ray] (2006)
Rating: 5.0
Up up & away!
Here is a story about some of the very first military aviators the world has ever seen. While hot air balloons were used during the Civil War to survey battlefields, WWI was the first conflict in which military aviation made a huge impact on the outcome.Long before flight simulators, ejection seats and pilot training schools (which take years & years to complete), the world saw pilots who flew by the seat-of-their pants and took just a few months to become qualified to take to the skies. They used incredibly primitive flight simulators to learn what they could on the ground, and there was little rm to develop bad habits as they were pushed straight into conflict as soon as they were able to control their aircraft.James Franco is an up & coming actor who has his chance as a sort Errol Flynn role, and he pulls it off nicely. His character is a Texan who finds himself @ the end of his rope. So, he sets off for France during WWI and becomes a fighter pilot. Along the way, he meets up with several other Americans doing the same thing. While they may have fudged some details, all of the major characters in the film depict historical people.It's unfortunate that this movie didn't do all that great at the box office. World War One doesn't generate a lot of interest these days, and that's a shame. Up until WWII, it was the most important war the world had ever seen. Sadly, its mantra as the "War to end all wars" has long since become an obsolete concept. Nevertheless, it is a vitally important war for us to understand as its a war our great grandparents fought in. While the FX of this film are quite impressive, the main reason you should pick this DVD up is simply because it's history on the screen. It's your history, and it's my history.