Flyboys review? (1 Viewer)

[ToddJ]

I was just wondering when there would be a "Flyboys" review....

 

[Citizen87645]

I was sent a disc, but it was a single layer DVD-R (in a paper sleeve) with an embedded Fox watermark "bug" and it's HTF's policy to review final product only (i.e. what you would expect to purchase at the store). I've been busy trying to get through the James Bond sets, otherwise I probably would have seen about getting an actual release copy instead of the screener I was sent.

 

[JimKr]

FWIW, for the aerial action alone, I loved "Flyboys". Of course I've always loved "Red Baron" type video games so I am a bit jaded. My Netflix rental of this will soon become a DVD purchase.

 

[Radioman970]

Last weekend I put a new tire on my bike and went out for a ride. Laying in the road was a copy of Flyboys in widescreen. It was an ex-rental but the DVD and case looks brand new. I can't wait to watch it! Free movie! Definately looks like my bag. I loved Independence Day the first time I saw it (not so much now). I expect this to be what Pearl Harbor wanted to be but ultimately failed. Fun popcorn flick. Jean Reno's awesome in anything. Even Godzilla 1998.

Btw, nearby was a recent release football movie (can't remember the title) but the case for it was torn to pieces and the DVD had a huge crack. No loss. I hate football. Still, would've been nice to view it anyway...for FREE.

There was also a DVD with no case laying in a nearby yard called Champion Sluts. It had scuff marks on it and needs quite a bit more testing before I can be sure it's okay for viewing.

 

[Qui-Gon John]

Liked this movie, disc quality very good too.

Yes Jean Reno is very good. Seeing him in that uniform, I couldn't help thinking how much better the Pink Panther remake would have been with him as Clouseau, playing it more straight, closer to how Peter Sellers was, than totally buffonish as Steve Martin played it. I like Steve, but he wasn't right for that role.

Now, after seeing this, it brings up something that has bugged me time and again. Maybe someone here has the answer, maybe JimKr, since he's into this. How, on all these older planes, can they shoot their machine guns, from directly behind the propeller, and no bullet ever hits the propeller. Sure, it is turning really fast. I get that. But the odds of never hitting it. I just can't conceive this.

 

[Citizen87645]

My understanding is the machine gun firing rate is calibrated for the propeller or vice versa.

 

[Michael Warner]

In early 1915 Roland Garros, a French ace, put metal plates on the edges of his propeller to deflect errant shots. Later that year Anthony Fokker's German Eindecker introduced the interrupter gear which synchronized the guns with the propeller so that the bullets would always travel through open space.

And not to thread crap but as much as I wanted to like "Flyboys" I thought it was fairly mediocre. They just cribbed many of the same aerial shots that were done as far back as "Hell's Angels" in 1930 except that that movie used real aircraft instead of CGI. Plus, none of the "pilots" ever acted like they were actually flying an airplane.

 

[Citizen87645]

I saw the movie in the theater (well, okay the $1.50 second run theater, but still), and also did not care for the film. If I had reviewed it I would have given the movie a 2/5.

 

[Stephen Orr]

We rented and watched both Flyboys and The Illusionist this past weekend. We really liked both of them, and will probably buy them both when we can get them for $10 or less....

 

[Gralen]

I saw it last weekend and thought it was ok. Nothing to write home about. Almost like Pearl Harbor with the love story. The bullets whizzing by in surround sound sounded weird.