Hollywood is making a lot of junk these days. Some good pictures but some real bad ones too. There seems to be a perception amongst producers, directors and studios that all they need is a few "pretty" young faces and a ton of special effects and, VOILA, instant hit! Well, sometimes yes and sometimes they end up with an extremely forgettable picture filled with unknowns and not so great effects (the horrendous "Anaconda" pictures come to mind). Having said that, I have always wondered why they don't use those same unknown actors and some of the fabulous effects they are now capable of and make pictures that are historic, entertaining and could not have been made on this scale in prior years because of the lack of present technology. In other words, pictures heavy with special effects don't always have to be of the science fiction or horror genre. Flyboys is a PERFECT example of this and it really worked! It's 1916 and America has a year to go before entering the Great War. Germany has invaded France and the air is the new 20th century battlefield. France is short of pilots and some brave and adventurous young Americans heed the call and form the Lafayette Escadrille, an all American wing of the French air force. In our story six American boys, from vastly different walks of life join the Escadrille, all for very different reasons. After they get through the voyage there, the culture shock and the training, they do what they came there to do, fly, fight, kill and maybe die. They watch their friends die, one by one, as the dreaded Hun advances deeper into France and their missions increase by number and intensity. We know who won the war, this picture shows us how and at what price. The acting was good. Unknown young actors playing unknown young flyers. Perfect. The only name I know was Jean Reno, who played the squadron's leader and teacher. He was good in a subdued role, but the true star of this picture was the effects. Wow! We could literally not tell the actual flying from the computer flying. Absolutely flawless. This, to me is a use of these effects that has been long overlooked. History came to life in a way that it never has before and allowed us to "see" a time that we could have only read about in the past. I was amazed when I heard that the producers could not find any studios to back this picture and they had to get private money to bring it to the screen. Typical Hollywood mentality. This was good, solid movie making using all the skills available on a mostly untold story. I was impressed. "You still wanna rub my head for luck?" RECOMMENDATION: While many pictures have been made about WWII, not enough have been made about the "Great War". This is history, OUR history and we need to see it for that reason and at the same time get our money's worth with a fine piece of entertainment. Take the whole family! Rated PG13 for war violence. TWO BLOODIED BUT NOT BROKEN, ALL AMERICAN THUMBS UP! U.S.A. TO THE RESCUE!!! (as usual!) Movie Review © 2006 by Terry Anderson |
