The Pacific

If you want to see the Pacific version of HBO's critically acclaimed "Band of Brothers", change the channel

"The Pacific" differs from "Band of Brothers" whereas the "The Pacific" focuses on the war itself and "Band of Brothers" focused on the characters. Both miniseries are championed by Hollywood heavy-hitters Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg who were contributing writers and producers of both miniseries.

Perhaps the greatest distinction between the two mini-series was intentional. It is clear that the soldiers in the Pacific theater fought a different kind of war than those fighting in Europe. "The Pacific" is a gritty if not gory depiction of a war against not just the Japanese, but also the elements. The cast is made-up of some brilliant actors we are sure to see again in future projects. What makes "The Pacific" so good is the intense realism which brings the viewer into the battle from the safety of your couch. If there is hell on earth, you will find it here.

The army they are fighting is alien; both mysterious and ferocious. They are looked at with both awe and disdain and the Americans want to kill them all. However, there is a palpable sense fear among the men that this enemy will never surrender and will fight beyond what they feel is humanly if not morally possible. When one character hears about the Kamikaze's flying their planes into ships, he asks aloud "how can any man do that?" "The Pacific" is fast-paced and each episode leaves the viewer wanting more.

What lacks in the series is the intimacy of knowing the characters. They are kept at a distance almost as if the character doesn't want to let you in. This may be the intent of the writers; just as the soldiers took little interest in knowing each other, maybe we are not meant to know the characters.

I enjoyed this series very much and can see why there has been so many comparisons with Band Of Brothers. My observation is that in The Pacific many of the characters lack depth and development. The result was that I cared less when ill befell them than I did in Band of Brothers. I think that the first episode could have contained a lot more time letting us get to know the characters better before throwing them into battle.

The battle scenes were done very well and played very realistically. All in all HBO has done it again. Without the HBO and Showtime I think that US grown TV drama would be pretty thin on the ground. The Pacific is well worth the time.

I'm guessing most of us watched 'The Pacific' for at least one of the following 3 reasons:

1. We have an interest in history, particularly in WW2.

2. We are fans of movies and television shows (well, the good ones anyway)

3. We had seen - and loved - the previous Hanks/Spielberg co-production 'Band Of Brothers' and expected a mini-series on the same level.

Now from reading some of the reviews here I gather that third reason was the most important one for many viewers - and it's also why 'The Pacific' apparently left quite a few people disappointed. As for me, I wasn't disappointed - I was devastated.

I'm a lucky man; I've never had to suffer through a war. But I had relatives who did, and though they're all long gone now, I'll never forget their stories. War is the most extreme and outrageous experience humans can possibly endure, but there are many different aspects and layers to it, because a war is not a single experience: it's all the experiences of all the individuals who have to suffer through it, and no single film or TV show can cover all of them. 'Band Of Brothers' focused on certain aspects of a war, and it chose a narrative that helped emphasize what the core theme of the series was: the brotherhood of war. It was about people who retain their humanity and form the closest of bonds under the worst, most horrific circumstances.

That inherently human element in 'BoB' was also why we could identify so well with the protagonists, and why we were - and still are - so deeply touched by what they had to go through. It's an outstandingly well made series, and I can't imagine how those experiences by those soldiers could have been portrayed better. Which is why 'The Pacific' doesn't even try. Instead, it goes almost in the opposite direction by choosing to focus on the sheer insanity of war: the relentless horror and despair of people losing their humanity and their struggle to regain it. Of course, just like 'BoB' it's also about the heroic sacrifices of those brave soldiers, but if there is a core theme in 'The Pacific' it's that of trauma: the trauma of having your humanity stripped from you and your personality shattered; the trauma of witnessing the complete disintegration of everything you thought you were and knowing you'll never be whole again.

What we see in 'The Pacific' is Hell, plain and simple. It's scores and scores of anonymous, young Japanese soldiers running senselessly into machine gun fire, wave after wave, until the piles of their bodies are so high they block the sight for the machine gun; it's American soldiers barely older than kids in despair or completely numb from the sheer amount of random death around them; it's vibrant young men turning into barely alive husks whose only remaining focus is to survive - which means they have to kill other barely alive young men who will stop at nothing to kill them in turn; it's kids killing other kids like rats by any means at their disposal: guns, knives, flame-throwers or with their bare hands; it's people living among the rotting corpses of their dead comrades and enemies and completely losing any regard for human life. And the few moments where we witness how those kids get a brief taste of how precious and beautiful life could be make their fate all the more heartbreaking.

Over large stretches, 'The Pacific' is devastating and depressing to watch, and though I found it never less than compelling, it's actually easy to see why many viewers who had hoped for a similarly engaging experience as in 'BoB' were left disappointed. But this is a different story about different people who fought in a different theater of the war and who went through different experiences, and once you stop comparing it to the story of the men in Easy Company from 'BoB', you'll find that, while different, in terms of sheer quality 'The Pacific' is every bit as good and as much of an outstanding achievement as its more popular predecessor.

The realism, the performances, the music and the production values in the series are superb (this was a 200 million production after all), and the attention to historic detail is simply staggering. As for me, witnessing what these men went through left me devastated; yet I am grateful I've watched 'The Pacifc': because in its relentless depiction of the horrors of war it honors the sacrifice these brave young soldiers made in the hope future generations wouldn't have to do the same. I originally rated this series 9 stars out of 10, but upon a recent rewatch and with more knowledge of the war in the Pacific theater, it's clear that this is a 10/10. Outstanding.

Favorite films: IMDb.com/list/mkjOKvqlSBs/

Lesser-Known Masterpieces: imdb.com/list/ls070242495/

Favorite TV-Shows reviewed: imdb.com/list/ls075552387/

Please, for the love of God, please do not overlook this miniseries. I have seen way too many people who don't bother to see The Pacific because it wasn't like Band of Brothers. This was in no way, shape, or form meant to be like BoB. If you have studied WW2 at all, you would know that the war in the Pacific was a totally different war than the European theater.

I loved Band of Brothers, it was a great and realistic series of the harsh realities of warfare and the scars it can leave. The Pacific was much harder to watch than BoB ever was. BoB was all about the bonds formed in combat and how this can tear people apart. This grim series displayed how completely unprepared the US military was mentally for how truly horrific this war would be. Not only were you fighting the unpredictable and relentless Japanese soldiers, but you were also fighting the terrain. The dense woods, the heavy rain, the thick mud. Not to mention all the diseases that came with these harsh conditions. Water was a luxury in a lot of situations. The filmmakers brilliantly showed how this affected the fighting men, who became virtually hollow shells, their sanity teetering on the edge of their knives.

The Japanese killed everyone without remorse. One particular scene that gave me chills to witness was in the latter half of the series when a group of civilians was slaughtered by a Japanese machine gun nest while running to the American forces. One person, a child, started to crawl slowly to the lines, a couple bullet wounds on his body. One of the combat rookies wanted to run in to help the poor boy, but was kept back so they would not be shoot too. All the Marines could do was watch, as the helpless child was brutally killed after a bullet from that machine gun emplacement hit him in the back of the head and his body went limp instantaneously.

This is on par with Saving Private Ryan, another collaboration between Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, as one of the most horrific, gruesome, and realistic war dramas ever put to film. I highly recommend giving it a watch, but be warned: this series is not for the faint of heart.

I'm Australian and it's ANZAC day today where the whole country honours all those who have served our country and others in all theatres of war. I judge The Pacific as a dramatic representation of the war in the Pacific, not a 100% historically accurate documentary.

I'm so glad The Pacific is on, because it highlights part of the war that was so vital to my country. I might not be Australian today if our allied forces hadn't won the battles. Maybe because I grew up with a significant focus on the impacts of the war with the Japanese, I get a lot from the show and when I watch it I feel how awful it was for the marines and all who were there, and how Australia was the closest safe haven for those men and women. Just seeing a brief mention of the starvation, tropical ulcers, how important it was to stop the Japanese airstrip on Guadalcanal, the Japanese mentality, is enough for me to get a lot out of the show. I already know how long it went on for, and that the battles were many and varied.

Think the Burma railway, Changi, Kokoda, and I realise the enormity of what these people went through, they were skeletons in rags if they manged to survive and come out of there. The Japanese bombed Darwin, there were submarines in Sydney Harbour, and just last year, we finally discovered the wreck of a hospital ship that he Japanese torpedoed and sank, just off Brisbane. The college I attended was turned into a US army hospital base in WWII and has miles of underground tunnels. MacArthur's base in Brisbane is still named after him, it's now a shopping centre, MacArthur Central. The anniversary of the battle of the Coral Sea a few years ago in Townsville was huge.

The Pacific is a great show for me. I like it, I appreciate what they're representing in the short time they have to do it in a TV show. Just a quick look at someone who says goodbye to family in a snowy climate and then lands on a tropical island speaks volumes about what they faced to me. If it brings even a small amount of appreciation to others who are not as familiar with this part of WWII, The Pacific has done a great job. I give it a thumbs up.

For another interesting story set around this time, check out the movie Paradise Road.