'Flyboys'never quite takes wing

Last updated 10/17/2006 at Noon

"Flyboys" is an old-fashioned war movie. That's its weakness - but it also provides its charms.

The tale of American volunteers in the Lafayette Escadrille during World War I (1914-18) is a fascinating story. Many of the volunteers had never flown (after all, aviation was only a little over a decade old), and their motives were a mix of adventure-seeking and a sincere belief that in aiding France they were paying an American debt going back to the Revolutionary War - and saving civilization from the Huns.

The movie handles the story in solid, workman-like fashion, using many of the cliches of the classic American war movie. That's not a bad thing. There's something to be said for a movie on this subject that isn't drowning in trenchant irony.

The best way to enjoy "Flyboys" is not to expect too much out of it.

The characters are more types than real people: the Rugged Outsider Who Learns to Be a Leader; the Earnest Hero Who Questions His Courage; the Spoiled Rich Boy Who Learns the Value of Comradeship; the Mysterious Haunted Veteran, etc.

There is also a character who represents the American Negro in France and The Christian Soldier who represents the sense of Crusade that many Americans brought to the conflict. Both are treated with dignity.

It is a tribute to the actors that they manage to bring these characters to life, but they never quite break through enough to make us care deeply about them, to put us in the cockpit with them and make us grip the arms of the seat when they go into mortal combat.

The aerial combat scenes are well-done, with liberal use of CGI. While they don't match up to the Gold Standard live-action flying sequences of the World War I classic "The Blue Max" (nothing has in 30 years), the action is thrilling enough.

The movie is far less gory than "Saving Private Ryan" or "Band of Brothers," but it does not gloss over the gruesome violence of the air war.

An air of romance has clung to the dog fights over the trenches, right from the start. In a profoundly impersonal war where the majority of casualties were caused by distant artillery fire and machine guns; there was something noble about individual combat in the skies. It was a cleaner war in a literal sense than that fought in the muck and mud of he trenches (and squadrons really were often quartered in chateaus).

But the life expectancy of a pilot was measured in weeks, and they faced deaths every bit as horrible as those inflicted on the ground. Being shot in the cockpit was the cleanest way to go. Other options were to go down in flames with a burning aircraft or bail out and fall thousands of feet to your death. (Sorry, no parachutes).

"Flyboys" deals squarely with this grim reality, but it doesn't go too deeply into the ways a young man girds himself for combat day in and day out, knowing that he's a dead man walking.

The romantic subplot is pure Hollywood, with the lead pilot Rawlings (James Franco) meeting with a cute French country girl. History is bent around with a German offensive that didn't happen until a year later to accomodate some romantic derring-do. It's an old-fashioned war movie, remember.

The writers and director are painting by the numbers here, but we're left with a solid, sincere war picture. That's not a bad thing.

"Flyboys" is here through Thursday, October 26, at Sisters Movie House.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.