Looking for a specific film review? CLICK BELOW

0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z / Trailers / DVD Store


October 1, 2008
Flyboys (2006)
Should I see it?
No.


Short Review: Hint to filmmakers: When you make a movie about World War I, try to keep the running time of your movie shorter than it took for the war itself to play out.

Flyboys

I wanted to like this film, I did. The problem is that the filmmakers conspired to keep me from enjoying one single moment. A film about World War I flying aces with the planes and the flying and all of that very interesting content. What do you get? Two and a half hours of bad movie - two and a half life sucking hours. I would have wasted less time if I just stared at the clock and counted the passing of 5,400 seconds.

This film is so long that it bored me in shifts. First the “whimsical” character development scenes where all of the characters would say one or two lines to reaffirm who they were before they went back out to fight. The rich guy would say rich guy stuff. The Christian guy would say Christian guy stuff and so on, the African guy (at least I think he’s African, he starts the film with an accent and then sounds like he’s from America by the end,) received random insults from passing white guys and then punches said white guys. There is absolutely no depth to these people. They may as well have pull strings hanging out of their back that lead James Franco could pull when the plot was too thin. On the subject of the plot, it is dreadful. There isn’t a villain other than a series of faceless German pilots. I’ve said it a thousand times, no clear villain means no clear conflict, no clear conflict means no reason to see the film. At the heart of this whole disaster is James Franco mumbling his lines to some meek French girl. The two are supposed to be a romantic couple. There have been sock puppets being jabbed together by children in mock “kisses” that have sparked more romantic interest than these two pieces of cinematic deadwood.

This kind of film irritates me. It is certain this could have been a wonderful film if it were made by people who knew how to make movies. As it stands, not even the flight sequences are worth the price of the rental. The flight sequences are chaotic, confusing and, in the end, unimpressive. If for no other reason, when a guy was shot down I had to confer with those around me who it was that died. When I found out, I found myself responding with a shrug. My long-suffering wife complained that she could tell who the characters were wearing all of their World War I flying headgear (goggles, head cover, etc.) during the dogfighting sequences I responded “If you think its hard now, wait until their on the ground and talking.”

Don’t bother with this one folks, it will only waste your time and let you down.


Related Reviews:
War movies
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)


Other Critic's Reviews:
MovieBoy Review
CinemaBlend

Labels: , , ,


posted by Michelle Obama's Left Nut at 8:00 AM




Share






0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home