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Derek Malcolm's rating
Beware flying clichés
By
Derek Malcolm
31 May 2007
Tony Bill's long epic is about the young Americans who joined the Lafayette Escadrille, the foreign fighterpilot squadron led by the French that was the first to see action during the First World War - some time before the US joined the conflict.
The squadron lost at least half of its men - the average lifespan of the pilots in their flimsy flying machines was around six weeks.
The best parts of Flyboys are the fearsome dog fights, featuring a fleet of real period biplanes and some excellent special effects. The attack on a German Zeppelin is particularly spectacular.
These sequences remind us of Wings, Hell's Angels and The Red Baron, but those were all better films with less one-dimensional characters and sharper screenplays.
Based on a true story, Flyboys has some fine production detail through which Jean Reno, James Franco, Martin Henderson and Abdul Salis bravely march as they dispense their clichés.
What a shame that, despite such visual values, it is almost impossible not to giggle at the script and storyline.
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