Impailer wrote:
Check out it's reviews on Amazon. There are several soliloquies on it's inadequacies; historical, dramatical, and cinematographic.
I watched all the trailers, especially the ones with N17s and DrIs streaking through the air like F16s and Mig 29s.......
I have the regular DVD under a stack of papers. I'll get round to watching it at some point.
Impailer
I think it might be more fun to make a list of all the cliches and inaccuracies in the film as you watch rather than to actually pay attention to the plot.
I like that all of the Germans fly red Dr.1s except the leader who is evil. His is black (of course). We KNOW he is evil because of a scene earlier in the movie, which is a another tired cliche all to itself.
Then there's the scene where one of our heroes lands amidst the shell holes and explosions of No Man's Land to help a buddy. How he managed to find a place to make a smooth landing in the first place is nothing short of a miracle. No doubt it is a testament to his incredible flying skills. The rest of this tragically ludicrous scene is filled with several more cliches which I will leave unstated. At least they got the part right about the Germans shelling the hell out of his plane.
Then of course there's the scrape with the Zeppelin dirigible. No WWI flying movie worth its salt could be considered complete with such an encounter, right? The outcome of this fight was about as predictable as the fate of the ship in Titanic.
The whole love interest thing(a must in films)is extremely predictable too...complete with another daring nighttime rescue featuring a stolen two seater and several German soldiers who were all apparently hard of hearing.
Then there's the....(insert you own WWI flying movie cliche here)....that had me laughing out loud in the theater. 
Still, I'd watch it again. The graphics and combat scenes are worth seeing again, I think, even if the planes handle like modern jet fighters. (Just think to yourself that they are representing how it FELT at that time to be flying an open cockpit racecar with wings and guns rather then making a statement about the actual flying qualities of aircraft of that era.) Plus I can find even more things to bash the movie about. You always see things you missed the first time around, you know! Enjoy the show!! |