yerwan1

I loved the book with its beautiful writing, fascinating main characters, and imaginative storyline. The scenes in this episode with the girl and her father are well-acted and are reminiscent of the book. The rest of this opening episode is well done but focuses on the dark and desperate situation in the French coastal town, Saint Malo. I would have liked more early on of the past (pre-war flashbacks) and less of the present (1944 post D-Day) to pull us into the characters and their histories more at the start. I'm reminded by the tone of this episode of the 1960s American TV show "Combat" where American GIs and Nazi soldiers would frequently find themselves spending an entire one-hour episode in a dangerous stalemate fighting over one farmhouse or town building. Anyway, it's off to a good start and I hope that it picks up the pace a bit in the next episodes and fully realizes the wonderful storytelling of the book.

Yes, it might not get all the history right, and much of the non-combat time looks like a Hallmark movie, but the war scenes are amazing, and it seems to get the chaos, terror, mayhem, and human cost right. And, the videography and editing are amazing. I would like to know what WWII vets think of the movie, but this boomer thinks that for capturing the period, the horror, and the courage of that time I think it does an excellent job and is well worth watching. Kate Beckinsale is great, and Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett do fine. The script isn't the greatest but the actors give life to their characters. Jon Voigt does a decent job as President Franklin Roosevelt. The music can be cloying and syrupy but it also mostly does a good job of setting each scene's mood. Overall, it may get some historical detail wrong, but the sets and costumes are excellent about bringing the era to life for current generations, the characters and their stories and relationships are good enough, and the war scenes do a good job of bringing us into that history.