What I Rented - Flyboys

Flyboys is a “gee willickers” war movie that feels like it was made by a group of 12 year old Boy Scouts stuck in a 1950’s time bubble. There’s a lot of heart, but not a lot of brains, and while the aerial combat scenes are thrilling, the melodrama in between is not.

Flyboys follows a group of American volunteers who join the French air force during World War 1. They are your typical group of stock war characters – the lone cowboy, the guy with the girl back home, the black guy, the religious guy, and the rich guy. Over the course of the war, and the movie, they will learn many life lessons (most of which you can predict from the first scene…such as…don’t be racist and everybody needs somebody). The main character Blaine Rawlings (James Franco) also gets a romantic subplot where he falls in love with a French girl living in the countryside. It feels like a subplot that could easily have been cut were the producers not trying to woo a female demographic.

My biggest problem with Flyboys is that there isn’t a whole lot of drama. The pilots are all decent people, so we essentially watch as they correct that one flaw in their personality that the screenplay has given them (racism, fear, ego). Each storyline is told with such emotion-on-your-sleeve earnestness that there is little doubt how everything will turn out. The only real conflict comes from the faceless horde of German soldiers and pilots. Alas, Flyboys doesn’t attempt to contextualize the war or explain the German strategy, so it’s hard to root for our heroes when there’s no real understanding of what they are fighting for.

Regardless, the movie does have some viscerally exciting aerial combat scenes and those moments are fun to watch. Sure there’s some clunky editing and it can be tough to follow the action, but the scope of the battle scenes is impressive and the special effects provide some much needed thrills.

In the end, the emotional thrust of Flyboys is too weak to carry the film, especially for its very long running time. It has its moments, but its clichés and on-the-nose script prevent it from being anything more than a B-movie with good special effects.

Star Rating - ** out of 4