Flags Of Our Fathers is a good film and I agree with much of what Chuck so eloquently said. I too have read the book and the film pretty much skims the surface. It retains the basic elemnts of the book, but unfortunately leaves out much that in my opinion, would have made the film much more powerful. I have said in the past that I hope that Eastwood doesn't shy away from the horrors perpetrated on that Island by the Japanese to the Americans, but in retrospect, I realize that really isn't the story he wanted to tell.
As it is, it is a very competent, extremely well made film, but it lacks the emotional punch that I was looking for. It is a bit disjointed and it's narrative flow is inconsistent. The performances are fine but none really stand out as exceptional. Adam Beach playing flag raiser Ira Hayes has the showiest role, but his performance somehow didn't reach the level that I believe was needed.
The battle scenes are impressive and relay the craziness of war but they too
seemed to lack the punch needed. Don't go in expecting SPR. There's a bit of violence but virtually nothing that was explained in great detail in the book.
The domestic scenes show well what these "heroes" went thru and it was interesting to see how these men were basically forced into serving their country a second time during the bond tour.
In the end, I liked it, but was hoping for more of an emotional experience. I wanted to really feel what it was like to be on that island, which would have made what the men go thru during and after much more moving than the film actually was. You get some of that for sure, but I think we as an audience deserved more.
