I was so eagerly awaiting to view this movie and finally had the chance yesterday. I really disappointed and with great sadness I see another opportunity go by to finally produce a quality movie about a German hero reaching a big audience.
Historical correctness is a virtue of German movies, so sets, costumes, planes and such were as I imagined them. But how can you tell a story about Manfred von Richthofen and his fellow pilot without putting Hermann Goering into the picture? Duh.
The story is told too quickly, it jumps from scene to scene, sometimes you don't even realize it does. You lose track quickly and you are basically looking at loosely appended scenes.
I wanted to see amazing plane dog fighting. This is one thing you can expect from a Red Baron movie made in 2008. CGI has no limits in that regards. Well, this Red Baron movie is more one bla bla scene after the other filled with a few CGI plane fights. Most depressed, yes totally crashed I was when Richthofens last flight was up - it was not shown at all!!! Nothing, nada! And this last flight and the shooting down of the Baron is the most controversial discussed event in his legend. And it was not Mr. Brown from Canada who shot him down, as was lately convincingly explained. But hey, why bother to put a single bit of film into this. He landed his plane clean and without a scratch even though deadly wounded. No, we're not showing any of that. He was buried with highest military honors by the French army - the enemy who had the highest respect for him. No, we're not showing any of that. Duh.
And what the heck are Lena Headey and Joseph Fiennes doing there. Joseph was probably hired for a few minutes of appearance just to borrow a know name to the movie. Shame on you. Lena, to me extremely attractive (so don't misunderwstand me), is totally misplaced as the nurse Richthofen was dating. Heck, Richthofen was 20 years old and with Matthias Schweighoefer playing the role of the Baron she was more looking like his mother. Great beauty does not automatically fit in every movie.
What I expected was the storytelling and effects mix of the movie Flyboys mixed with the true story of Manfred von Richthofen, specifically including the important persons and events. This movie here fails badly. Let the German historians go to Hollywood and try aagin please...
Historical correctness is a virtue of German movies, so sets, costumes, planes and such were as I imagined them. But how can you tell a story about Manfred von Richthofen and his fellow pilot without putting Hermann Goering into the picture? Duh.
The story is told too quickly, it jumps from scene to scene, sometimes you don't even realize it does. You lose track quickly and you are basically looking at loosely appended scenes.
I wanted to see amazing plane dog fighting. This is one thing you can expect from a Red Baron movie made in 2008. CGI has no limits in that regards. Well, this Red Baron movie is more one bla bla scene after the other filled with a few CGI plane fights. Most depressed, yes totally crashed I was when Richthofens last flight was up - it was not shown at all!!! Nothing, nada! And this last flight and the shooting down of the Baron is the most controversial discussed event in his legend. And it was not Mr. Brown from Canada who shot him down, as was lately convincingly explained. But hey, why bother to put a single bit of film into this. He landed his plane clean and without a scratch even though deadly wounded. No, we're not showing any of that. He was buried with highest military honors by the French army - the enemy who had the highest respect for him. No, we're not showing any of that. Duh.
And what the heck are Lena Headey and Joseph Fiennes doing there. Joseph was probably hired for a few minutes of appearance just to borrow a know name to the movie. Shame on you. Lena, to me extremely attractive (so don't misunderwstand me), is totally misplaced as the nurse Richthofen was dating. Heck, Richthofen was 20 years old and with Matthias Schweighoefer playing the role of the Baron she was more looking like his mother. Great beauty does not automatically fit in every movie.
What I expected was the storytelling and effects mix of the movie Flyboys mixed with the true story of Manfred von Richthofen, specifically including the important persons and events. This movie here fails badly. Let the German historians go to Hollywood and try aagin please...