You’ve seen Band of Brothers, you’ve seen The Pacific, but what if the WWII air war got the same HBO treatment? And then, what if you took away HBO and replaced it with Apple+? And maybe made Tom Hanks’ and Stephen Spielberg’s names less prominent? You might end up with Masters of the Air.
This is going to be more “Memphis Belle” and “Catch-22” than “Red Tails” or “Dark Blue World”, I think: bombers galore. The special effects house that did the remarkable Kerbal Space Program 2 trailer worked on this, so I hope it’s as gorgeous and not as cartoony.
The trailers are good, though I find the young airmen read a bit too modern for my tastes. Then again, it’s probably a good thing to present them as what they were in that period, young hotshots full of piss and vinegar and all that. A one for one recreation would probably fall flat because the times are so different, so perhaps this approach captures the vibe more accurately. Looks good though overall.
Not quite as immediately hummable as I’d hoped for a musical theme. Band of Brothers’ theme was just so immediately hummable and poignant, I guess that’s what i was hoping for. This one goes on a bit too long.
Reviews are starting to come in and it’s kind of all over the place. Certainly looks worth watching, but doesn’t appear like it will be in the same ballpark of BOB and Pacific. I never finished Pacific and watched half of it yesterday. It’s way better than I remembered and I’m not sure why I gave up on it. Sure it’s not BOB, but it’s quite good.
I read those books after the fact, because I had enjoyed the series, even though it was less good than BoB. (which I also read the book for). I did a rewatch of “The Pacific” again, and I liked it even more the 2nd time. I think the issues with the show is that it lacks the cohesion a bit of the “easy company” storyline by following a few groups of men in the Pacific, as they clearly wanted to tell the stories of John Basilone, Robert Leckie and Eugene Sledge in the same show, even though they were in different divisions (though all marines).
The Pacific also suffers due to the nature of the war in the Pacific, so much less heroic and decisive as battles to retake occupied Europe. (Not to take away from the heroism of the soldiers themselves, the theater was just less “hollywood”) You got rocky islands and strategic hills instead of french and belgian hamlets happy to be rid of Nazi occupiers. They also thematically pushed a lot more of the mental toll that war put on soldiers, which is less glamorous but an equally important story to tell.
I would also heavily recommend Stephen Ambrose’s book “The Wild Blue” if you like WW2 nonfiction similar in style to Band of Brothers, but about B-24 pilots.
I would also recommend Donald Burgett’s series of 4 books on his experiences in the 101st Airborne (Band of Brothers) from Able Company. Stephen Ambrose wrote the forward for Curahee! (the first book)
Who knew that Steve Spielberg and Tom Hanks could possibly make a gripping intense show about WWII. /s The aerial sequences were grisly and passed my fairly demand standards of historical accuracy. The two leads Buck and Bucky are interesting. Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers probably set an impossibly high bar, but the first two episodes gets a thumbs up from me.
The reviews seem to be all over the place and I think it may be that they were expecting something like BOB and it’s not going to be that. I always have been fascinated with the bombers of WW2 since I was a kid so this is like my dream show. Will watch the 1st two tonight.
