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Chock · 20 October 2009, 01:52 AM

Okay, so I watched this today, having bought it on DVD, and I wondered what you guys (and girls) think of it?

Personally I thought it was okay. It takes a lot of liberties with the chronology of events, compressing them into a shorter timeframe for dramatic purposes, so Boelcke is dead right from the off, and there are some fictional elements necessary to stitch that all together and make it work, but it's still reasonably close to the truth in a lot of respects.

There are some glaring inaccuracies for all that though, such as

Lanoe Hawker flying an SE5 in 1916, and Hawker himself, for the brief time he is in the movie, is a ridiculous cardboard cutout character more like something out of Pirates of the Caribbean or Gladiator. But on the plus side, the prop aircraft on the airfield sets are nice and for the most part the aerial battle CGI is excellent too, with some very nice matting effects. The WW1 fighters appear to be suffering from the same illness that afflicted the Mitsubishi A6Ms in Micheal Bay's Pearl Harbor movie, in that they seem to have the roll rate of an TIE Fighter, but even so the fight sequences are very dramatic and enjoyable, with much of it indistinguishable from live action. Contrary to what I had heard, the Albatros features quite heavily in it too, with the Triplane making a late appearance, so it does make an attempt to avoid the cliche. Some of the land battle sequences are especially convincing too.

Notwithstanding the ridiculous portrayal of Lanoe Hawker, the acting is pretty good, as is the casting for the most part, and many of the snippets of famous dialogue sewn into the script come across reasonably well. There is of course the requisite love story tying it all together, and that has shades of Pearl Harbor and Titanic about it, but it serves as a plot device to compress the Baron's journey from avid hunter to disillusioned warrior tied to a sense of duty, so is not a completely redundant component.

Roy Brown is somewhat clumsily woven into the story though, and that would really be my only criticism of it, although even that is not as bad as it could have been. Fortunately, there is a distinct lack of cod German accents in there too, so there's none of that 'Ve Vill Vin Ze Vor' nonsense you sometimes get when German characters speak English dialogue in a movie.

From a cinematic point of view, it looks good, with nice direction, good lighting and good pacing. There are some costume anomalies of course, and some of the vehicles are more mid 20s than WW1 era, but things are mostly close enough to be tolerated. For the 9.99 it cost me I think I'd watch it a few times and enjoy it.

Have you seen it? What do you think of it?

Al

20 October 2009, 01:52 AM	#1 (permalink)
Chock Scout Pilot Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The grim north of England Posts: 405	The Red Baron movie Okay, so I watched this today, having bought it on DVD, and I wondered what you guys (and girls) think of it? Personally I thought it was okay. It takes a lot of liberties with the chronology of events, compressing them into a shorter timeframe for dramatic purposes, so Boelcke is dead right from the off, and there are some fictional elements necessary to stitch that all together and make it work, but it's still reasonably close to the truth in a lot of respects. There are some glaring inaccuracies for all that though, such as Lanoe Hawker flying an SE5 in 1916, and Hawker himself, for the brief time he is in the movie, is a ridiculous cardboard cutout character more like something out of Pirates of the Caribbean or Gladiator. But on the plus side, the prop aircraft on the airfield sets are nice and for the most part the aerial battle CGI is excellent too, with some very nice matting effects. The WW1 fighters appear to be suffering from the same illness that afflicted the Mitsubishi A6Ms in Micheal Bay's Pearl Harbor movie, in that they seem to have the roll rate of an TIE Fighter, but even so the fight sequences are very dramatic and enjoyable, with much of it indistinguishable from live action. Contrary to what I had heard, the Albatros features quite heavily in it too, with the Triplane making a late appearance, so it does make an attempt to avoid the cliche. Some of the land battle sequences are especially convincing too. Notwithstanding the ridiculous portrayal of Lanoe Hawker, the acting is pretty good, as is the casting for the most part, and many of the snippets of famous dialogue sewn into the script come across reasonably well. There is of course the requisite love story tying it all together, and that has shades of Pearl Harbor and Titanic about it, but it serves as a plot device to compress the Baron's journey from avid hunter to disillusioned warrior tied to a sense of duty, so is not a completely redundant component. Roy Brown is somewhat clumsily woven into the story though, and that would really be my only criticism of it, although even that is not as bad as it could have been. Fortunately, there is a distinct lack of cod German accents in there too, so there's none of that 'Ve Vill Vin Ze Vor' nonsense you sometimes get when German characters speak English dialogue in a movie. From a cinematic point of view, it looks good, with nice direction, good lighting and good pacing. There are some costume anomalies of course, and some of the vehicles are more mid 20s than WW1 era, but things are mostly close enough to be tolerated. For the 9.99 it cost me I think I'd watch it a few times and enjoy it. Have you seen it? What do you think of it? Al __________________ Wiseman: When you removed the book from the cradle, did you speak the words? Ash: Yeah, basically. Wiseman: Did you speak the exact words? Ash: Look, maybe I didn't say every single little tiny syllable, no. But basically I said them, yeah.