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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7948 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-10-08
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 133 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
World War I aviation action gets an impressive digital upgrade in Flyboys, a welcome addition to the "dogfight" sub-genre that includes such previous war-in-the-air films like Hell's Angels, Wings, and The Blue Max. While those earlier films had the advantage of real and genuinely dangerous flight scenes (resulting, in some cases, in fatal accidents during production), Flyboys takes full (and safe) advantage of the digital revolution, with intensely photo-realistic recreations of WWI aircraft, authentic period structures, and CGI environments requiring a total of 850 digital effects shots, resulting in an abundance of amazing images, many of them virtually indistinguishable from reality. Unfortunately, the film's technical achievement is more impressive than its screenplay, which conventionally and predictably tells the fact-based story, set in France in 1916, of the daring young pilots of the Lafayette Escadrille, a pioneering French air-combat unit that welcomed American enlistees prior to the United States' entry into the war.

There's a familiar cliché to match every thrilling scene of aerial combat, but director Tony Bill manages to keep it all interesting, from the romance between a young American maverick (James Franco) and a pretty French girl (newcomer Jennifer Decker) to the exciting action in the air, which includes a stock variety of heroes (many of them composites of real-life WWI pilots) and an intimidating villain known only as "The Black Falcon," whose Fokker Dr-1 triplane (one of many in the film) recalls the exploits of German "ace of aces" Manfred von Richtofen, the dreaded "Red Baron" of legend. With impeccable production values that will impress even the most nit-picking aviation buffs, Flyboys (like Superman Returns and Apocalypto, also released in 2006) was also one of the first feature films to be shot with Panavision's state-of-the-art Genesis digital cameras, resulting in beautiful images that meet or exceed the visual nuance of film. Flyboys also benefits from painstaking attention to physical detail, making it easier to forgive its shortcomings as a generic and formulaic slice of romanticised history. So while some viewers may have wished for a more realistic and grown-up depiction of the Lafayette Escadrille, it's safe to say that Flyboys will be thrilling its target audience for many years to come. --Jeff Shannon

Synopsis
FLYBOYS is a good old-fashioned historical drama concerning the Lafayette Escadrille, a French regiment of American volunteer airmen serving the allied cause in WWI before the US became officially involved. James Franco plays Blaine, a Texas rancher; he bunks with Eugene (Abdul Salis), an African American boxer whose been living in Paris as an ex-patriate to get away from American racism. Other fighters include a pampered New York scion (Tyler Labine) and a lanky, lazy Kansan (David Ellison). They all train under the patient hand of the French commander, succinctly embodied by the wondrous Jean Reno (LEON). Martin Henderson (TORQUE) is good and brusque as a jaded flier with a bunch of kills under his belt and an obsession with an ace German fighter; he wont let the new kids drink in the officer's club until they’ve shot down their first planes. It all unfolds in a no-nonsense linear narrative that reminds one of early films like THE DAWN PATROL (1930) and WINGS (1927); and there's a comfortingly familiar orchestral score that's heavy with the cloud-invoking wooden flute. But the CGI-enhanced aerial dogfight scenes are the crux of the feature, and history fans should be frothing at the mouth with all the zeppelins, dogfights and enemy chivalry. There's plenty of well-researched period detail and even some romance in the form of a good girl gone semi-bad from a nearby brothel (the very charming Jennifer Decker).

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Customer Reviews

A "soft" introduction to WW1
If you take this film at face value it's watchable entertainment, The flying scenes were well made, but I'll agree the story line is a little thin and predictable...one scene in which our "hero" lands in the middle of no man's land is particularly ridiculous....as if !!!....but all in all if was a typical "Hollywood" view on War. The most important aspect for me, is it introduced the whole concept of WW1 to my children. The utter stupidity of the "War to end all wars", a subject often skirted over in our modern day world...If it inspires them to dig a little deeper into the subject That's worth 4 stars in itself...

Not a great movie, but very watchable
This is a story based on true events, about American volunteers who came to fight in France before their country entered the war and who became fighter pilots in the, now legendary, Escadrille Lafayette. I am a little surprised by the very poor reviews this movie is getting, because I rather liked it, although I am the first to recognise that it could be much, much better.
The strong point of this movie are the computer generated planes and air fights. WW I airfights were a great movie material, because of their short range, personal character - in fact, strangely enough, they are a little reminding me the STAR WARS fights between X-Wings and TIE fighters. Here the planes look really like real ones and the effect is great for any fan of aviation: Nieuport and Fokker fighters, Handley-Page and Gotha bombers and the gigantic L32 Zeppelin, they all give a great show. The movie is quite realistic and stresses well the incredibly idiotic decision of allied high command to NOT provide pilots with parachutes (Germans, Austrians, Bulgarians and even Turks had them, from the beginning of the war) on the incredible assumption, that pilots will jump from their planes at the first occasion!! That explains why the casualty rates in French, British, Italian and later American aviation were so high.
There are some very weak spots. Relations between pilots and especially all the conflicts are too pinky easy and sweet, which takes away most of the realism. The main hero accomplishes alone all the most incredible things, the rest of the unit being mostly his sidekicks. There is of course a lot of typically American references of sons trying to fit their fathers shoes... The ending is a little too previsible. The love story is going nowhere and we do not even know why. There is only one really bad guy in the movie and of course he is German, etc., etc.;
Jean Reno indeed is not very much used but this is a nice effort from Hollywood to hire a French to play a French officer, rather than just use an American and make him speak with a French accent... On this point, let's stress that this movie is a welcome pause in French bashing, which seems to be a kind of national sport in Hollywood this last years....
But instead of all those weak spots, I forgive to this movie a lot, for the scenes, when the Escadrille Lafayette takes off and is flying over the beautiful French landscapes, together with a flight of cranes... And then there is this unique scene, when a whole horde of red painted Fokkers emerges from the sunlight to butcher the unsuspecting American rookies, with the Black Falcon in the lead (yes, you guessed right, the Black Falcon is the plane of the BAD GUY).
There is also some good humour moments in this movie - a mascot lion named Whiskey, an American pilot who simply can not shoot straight no matters how much he tries, until.... well, no, no hints here, you will see by yourself. And the decorations of the planes, with my favourite being a seriously deranged woodpecker... This is a nice war movie, and a must if you are a fan of aviation and can simply not resist the sight of a flight of Fokkers going after some heavy Handley-Page bombers....

LIKE A TV MOVIE BUT WAIT ............
STRANGE FILM THIS COULD HAVE BEEN SO MUCH BETTER BUT THERE ARE MOMENTS OF
BRILLIANCE. I WOULD CALL THIS THE TV VERSION OF SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. I AGREE THAT IT DOES NOT GRAB YOU LIKE MOST FILMS DO BUT YOU STILL THINK ABOUT THE FILM AT THE END. WOULD I WATCH IT AGAIN ??? YES !!!!! A BIT CRINGY IN PLACES BUT I HAVE SEEN WORSE. I WOULD ADVISE WAITING UNTIL SOMEONE SELLS ONE FOR £5.00 OR UNDER THEN BUY IT. THIS WAS THE FIRST DVD
I BOUGHT ON THE DAY OF RELEASE EVER BUT I AM STILL GLAD I BOUGHT IT !