The adventures of the Lafayette Escadrille, young Americans who volunteered for the French military before the U.S. entered World War I, and became the country's first fighter pilots.
Mark Franco Fay McConkey Rupert Porter Ellen Walder Peter Chiang Charlie Noble John Lockwood Steve Street
Jack Stew Andy Kennedy Jed Loughran Jon Olive Mark Paterson Mike Prestwood Smith David Evans Stefan Henrix
Flyboys: Héroes del Aire, Sky Busters - Die Himmelsstürmer, פרחי טייס, Flyboys - Helden der Lüfte, Giovani aquile, Эскадрилья «Лафайет», Kahraman Pilotlar, Flyboys - Nascidos para Voar, 空战英豪, Flyboys: Héroes Del Aire, Flyboys - Égi lovagok, Rytíři nebes, Flyboys - bohaterska eskadra, 라파예트, מלחמה בשירות זר, Flyboys - Nascidos para voar, Flyboys - Lentäjä-ässät, Ескадрилата, Flyboys: Herois de l'aire, 空戰英豪, Ескадрилья "Лафаєт", フライボーイズ, Pirmoji eskadrilė, ესკადრილია "ლაფაიეტი", Flyboys: Caballeros del Aire, L'Escadrille Lafayette, คนบินประจัญบาน
USAPG-13
LithuaniaN-13
Brazil14
UK12A
Germany12
Italy
France
Norway15
Brazil
France
Germany
Italy
Lithuania
Norway
UK
USA
Bland characters, an unremarkable plot and overlong runtime all make “Flyboys” largely inferior to the war films it was clearly inspired by. James Franco makes for a solid lead and the aerial combat sequences are pretty great but this needed a far better director at the helm to really set itself apart from the countless other war films of its kind and the script features some unbelievably cheesy dialogue. Sadly this is nothing more than a boring and hokey war film that we seem to get far too often these days. I remember seeing this heavily advertised in 2006 and then it just faded into obscurity, I can definitely understand why now. At least I can better appreciate that prop gun joke from “This is the End”.
James Franco's character's name in Flyboys is Blaine Rawlings. If this isn't the most stereotypical "guy" name in a Hollywood war film, then I don't know what is. The real man's name was Frank Luke. So why was it changed to Blaine Rawlkings, of all names?
Much of the setup of Flyboys involves random people hyping up Blaine Rawlings to make him seem more like a myth and legend than a human, and it's incredibly laughable. James Franco has the charm and essence of a 1910s war hero, but his charm is ultimately wasted when director Tony Bill has no idea what to do with it. The score sounds like a carbon copy of every '90s period piece and war…
Flyboys might be the hokiest movie I've ever seen. It goes beyond the film score that constantly evokes a sense of "this is a film score for a film." It goes beyond the mawkish depiction of brothers-in-arms sticking together, razzing each other, having each other's back, avenging each other's deaths, etc. It goes beyond the "I was racist but now I'm not" subplot, beyond the blossoming romance between Franco and a former French prostitute who he barely knows and whose language he doesn't understand, beyond the repeatedly lenient Jean Reno who rewards lying and dereliction of duty cause darn it these are his men! In order to preemptively understand just how hokey it is, you only need to know one…
Quickie Review
I shouldn't enjoy "Flyboys" the way I did. The movie has every war movie cliché in the book and James Franco can act a little stiff at times but I enjoy it for the same reason why I enjoyed "Pearl Harbor": the aerial dogfight scenes are awesome and this movie has a lot of them. The visual effects in the scenes holds up surprisingly well and they're real exciting to watch. "Flyboys" is an enjoyable but flawed wartime adventure with some spectacular aerial battle action.
