B-17: A Fortaleza

The short and skinny here is, if you like war films (i.e. Memphis Belle (1990)) and want to kill 90 mins or so, this movie will do the trick. The writing isn't terrible...the story is acceptable...the actors are all unknowns (except Chris Owen, "The Shermanator" of American Pie fame) but manage to hold their own and deliver their lines convincingly enough. There were a few scenes where the the backgrounds were a little weak (poor green screening), but they weren't very long and weren't game-breakers. I have seen many, many B-Rated movies and this one was a surprise in that it succeeded in not being an A rated film, and at the same time, better than most B rated films. It's a diamond in the rough, but entertaining enough to not be a total waste of time.

and the dialog is just too modern. this is a very poorly directed movie too. but the worst thing in this movie is the sound track, the music to support the movie simply carelessly and mindless broadcast its own tune that got nothing to do with the storyline and the plot. the cgi of the first air sortie at the very beginning was also poorly crafted, it looks just too fake, the b-17s in the sky were just like a kid's drawing, the air battle also look very disconnected. what bothered me most was the music during the air raid, it played and played so loud, not just blocked the dialog but also further ruined the realistic feeling of the movie itself. then the whole movie suddenly aground on the airbase, those young actors were just poor 3rd rated non-talents. their acting simply further ruined the already too bad movie. i really doubt that people would have the patience to watch along and finish it. this is a poorly produced movie that should not put into production in the first place. if i have to use one word to describe this movie, it would be: "BORING". there's no sense to sit through the whole nine yard to the end. it's a b-movie's b movie, not even worth paying $1.00 to rent the DVD.

Hi everybody:

Here's what I thought. Movies about this subject especially American films tend to go way over the top if you know what I mean. Too much sis boom bah let's go win the war all by our selves sort of thing. This wasn't like that at all and I liked that very much. The music was not good. Too bad. I liked the fact that they were in North Africa, probably Tunisia. That was nice for a change. I thought the CGI looked very good especially the German 109s. The camouflage, markings and dimensions were right on. They looked like BF 109 G10s from JG 52. So many war films don't give two cents about what enemy aircraft look like but in this film they did. I know all of this because I've been researching WWII aeroplanes for about thirty years.

Pearl Harbor was made to make big bucks and is one of the worse WWII movies ever. This little film was better.

With the advent of CGI, the story of the 8th Air Force in Europe during WWII is begging to be told. The visual effects in this film were very good--I just wish they had shown the B-17s over Germany instead. Over a hundred thousand young men were killed in B-17s and B-24s over the skies of the Third Reich. Spielberg needs to make this film.

"Fortress" is a great first step, and I thank the producers for doing what big-time Hollywood could not. They made a much better film than "Memphis Belle", which was so badly Hollywoodized that the story it told about a real airplane and its crew was in no way the real story.

In "Memphis Belle", six actual B-17s were used, along with large radio-controlled models. One B-17 was lost during the production.

With CGI, hundreds of 17s and 24s can fill the skies, and the look is incredibly realistic. "Fortress" is definitely worth seeing.

If you like flying movies or World War II movies, I don't think you can go wrong with Fortress.

The movie is about the crew of a B-17 Flying Fortress flying out of North Africa during World War II, during a time of very high casualties. It centered on the crew of one plane, as they fought and as many of them died.

It was generally quite good. On the up side, they had a credible, real story and a pretty good set of actors. The special effects were generally pretty good. They didn't make any historical errors I spotted either.

It wasn't perfect. Some parts were predictable and there were lapses in special effects. But it was good and I definitely enjoyed it. Give it a try and I think you'll enjoy it too.