Thanks for the very interesting comments Chock. I hadn't realised that the film only cost 18m, which puts some of its problems in context.
I got frustrated of waiting for the english language cut of Red Baron and got a copy from Germany. I was wondering whether it improved with translation, but will probably get it anyway. Unless the dialogue turns out to be sparkling, the CG and props will remain my favourite bits.
I must admit that I approached the CG sequences with some apprehension as the CG used in Flyboys only a year before was quite variable (although some of the genuine aircraft footage was lovely). Like that film, I think Red Baron misrepresented the way the planes behaved, although I'm not sure what the Red Baron CG people used as references. An extra on the flyboys DVD shows a modern aerobatics plane used as a template for a CG models to mimic.
On repeated viewing, once I compensated for the high-G manouevers I quite liked the look of the CG planes and was pleasantly surprised at the variety of planes they created. I hope that future productions don't go entirely CG though - there is still value in practical flying in these films, expensive and dangerous as that might be.
I think the film does deserve an honourable mention for some of the on-ground mockups (I really hope they found good homes - I heard that some of the Flyboys replicas now in a museum were saved from a post-production bonfire!). As someone with an interest in the period I like to see filmmakers trying to show the world that the characters lived in.Hopefully CG will make this easier and let filmmakers "paint in" historic backgrounds.
Here's hoping that there are filmakers out there with a passion for this subject and that before long they'll create something we can all agree on
