Flyboys

When I first saw the previews and read the synopsis, I was expecting a horrible film like Pearl Harbor. Fighter pilots in love with a girl. Happily the love story is not sappy or sickening and actually helps create character development. And how the love story ends is a very nice non-Hollywood ending.

The Planes look magnificent, but could have been done better. The use of German Dr1's (the Fokker Triplanes) as the only German fighter is understandable as distinguishing friend from foe. However, making all of the Dr1's (except for the main villains ) solid red is extremely annoying. While it is up to some discussion if the Red Baron's Dr1 was all red or mostly red, it does not mean that all Dr1's were red, especially all red. The Dr1's came from the Fokker factory usually in an olive drab paint scheme with a light blue underside. The film makers could have added a red scheme to the planes but left a portion olive drab and blue underside, it still would have made the Germans distinctive without being clones of Manfred von Rictoffen.

The dogfights are fun to watch and are fairly exciting, however the planes fly highly unrealistically at times. Overall the CGI is excellent but at times it is noticeable as CGI. The planes that explode (Explosions are such a Hollywood staple :) ) are unrealistic. The planes are traveling 70 t0 100 miles per hour in reality, but the explosions react as if the plane is standing still, going up in a ball instead of being spread along the doomed plane's path.

Over all it was fun to watch and covers a historical period that has long been neglected in film.

This film's opening prologue states:"By the start of 1916, World War I had wreaked havoc across Europe. Over nine million people would eventually die. Although the airplane had only recently been invented, it was quickly adapted into a war machine. The young men who flew them became the first fighter pilots and a new kind of hero was born." The adventures of the Lafayette Escadrille, young Americans who volunteered for the French military before the U.S. entered World War I, and became the country's first fighter pilots. Among them , Blaine Rawlings (James Franco) , Eugene Skinner (Abdul Salis) , William Jensen (Philip Winchester), Beagle (David Ellison) and Reed Cassidy (Martin Henderson , Reed was mainly inspired by Raoul Lufbery whose personal insignia is an eagle's head surrounded by the words "Je Vois Tout" meaning "I see all") , the leading flying ace of the Escadrille Squadron (similarly to film , the real Lafayette Escadrille actually had a pair of lion cubs as mascots).

Spectacular dogfighting , colorful scenario , all-star cast and memorable acting . Big-budget extended adventures produced by Dean Devlin about a maverick pilot and his partners undergoing risked feats on air and bombing on earth . Based on a story by Blake Evans and being well adapted by Phil Sears and David S Ward . Very good aerial actioner plenty action , steamy romance , drama , fantastic cloudy scenes and spectacular dogfighting . James Franco shows professionalism as a crack fighter pilot , he plays an ambitious youth assigned to dangerous missions , Franco even earned his pilot's license in preparation for this film . Top-notch support cast gives excellent performances as Jean Reno as a stiff officer , Philip Winchester , Tim Pigott Smith , David Ellison and a gorgeous Jennifer Decker . Special mention to Abdul Salis whose character of Skinner is based on the Escadrille-pilot Eugene Bullard, an American who has gone to France and worked as a boxer there, he was also a son of a slave, just like Skinner .

Rousing aerial scenes spectacularly staged , though in excessive use of digital effects , being the first movie to motion capture planes. Filmmakers attempted to use lightweight reproductions of WWI aircraft, but grounded them after an accident. Wonderfully photographed by Henry Braham and marvelous musical score by Trevor Ravin are the chief assets of this spectacular film . As no studios would back the film, a group of filmmakers and investors including producer 'Dean Devlin ' and according to press-releases "ace pilot" David Ellison, son of Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison, spent more than $60 million of their own money to make and market this film. This lavish airplane movie was professionally directed by Tony Bill . 'Flyboys' is a rehash of the former airplane movie clichés in which the splendid casting stands out . Rating : Good and entertaining , it's a fairly watchable and breathtaking film and results to be a good treatment of WWI flying aces .

When this movie hits theaters this fall it will be setting a new standard for digital FX photography action scenes. I had a hard time telling the difference between the real stunt flying and the CGI. It almost makes George Lucas's dogfights in space look crude. (OK, maybe with the exception of that fantastic first shot in Episode 3.) But imagine that level of technological knowhow applied to a WW1 dogfight. And like the original "Star Wars" there is a scene here involving the German equivalent of the Death Star threatening Paris that is nothing short of spectacular. A shame, then, that the rest of the story is less than inspiring. Whatever the actual history, I didn't quite believe the subplot of the black American pilot. He seemed a cliché and just one of several stock characters. The love story ultimately goes nowhere, either, though James Franco and Jennifer Decker both turn in moving performances. As innocent and naive as Franco and his friends seem, they never get past the cardboard stage. It would've been more interesting to me if they were a neurotic, drunken, whoring bunch of elitists, most of whom would then never get over the experience. Rather than tell that tale of a decadent, sophisticated flyboy of the Lafayette Escadrille, however, they settle here for the Disney version, appealing to the lowest common denominator and an audience of teenagers, with Franco doing a good job playing Luke Skywalker, or maybe Gary Cooper. Jean Reno seemed largely wasted. I kept hoping he'd have more to do. But lest you think I had a bad time, think again. This is a movie about "aeroplanes," and they are all terrific, be they replicas or virtual. And the overall production design is superb.

In 1916, a group of young American volunteers join the French Air Force under the command of Captain Georges Thenault (Jean Reno) to fight the Germans in World War I. They are trained by the veteran pilot Reed Cassidy (Martin Henderson), who lost all his pals, and after a couple of missions, the survivors become the respected Lafayette Escadrille. Meanwhile the Texan fighter pilot Blaine Rawlings (James Franco) meets the gorgeous French Lucienne (Jennifer Decker) and despite the difference of languages and culture, they fall in love with each other. Who will survive the war?

"Flyboys" is an entertaining war adventure with a pleasant romance, in the same style of William A. Wellman's masterpiece "Wings" (1927). The characters are well developed in the concise subplots and the performances are great. The battle scenes are well made as well the special effects. And the beautiful Jennifer Decker is an adorable woman and steals the show. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Flyboys"

This is the story of American volunteers who fought for the French during World War I before America entered the war. It is based on a true story, and largely faithful to that story. The first world war was the first "ugly" war. It is the first war where, as one of the characters observes, "Neither side will win. It will just end." And, this movie does not shrink away from showing the horror, the ugliness, and the overwhelming grimness of war.

Because the special effects made it possible, more than any movie in recent memory, it graphically shows the excitement and the adrenaline rush of combat flying. The combat sequences are nothing short of dazzling; they were so good I could experience vicariously the rush of bullets tearing through cloth fuselages, the spins and turns, and dips and climbs, and barrel rolls, and dives, and with all that, I could look inside myself and know I did not have the courage to do what they did. In the end, that's what this story is about, and the love story, the individual pilot lives fade into the background.

Still, it's worth noting, one of the movie's best moments is the denouement where we learn what happened to the Americans of the Lafayette Escadrille, those who survived. I won't spoil it for you, just know that truth is stranger than fiction, and often a good deal sadder. I enjoyed Flyboys for what it was: the chance to vicariously experience the adrenaline rush of aerial combat. Performances were good, and Jean Reno was great as the captain of the Lafayette Escadrille. Nice popcorn flick.