Masters of the Air - opinions?

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

A few episodes in so no spoilers please, but what do you all think of this?

CGI is pretty well done, but I think the fighters move too fast in the combat sequences. Too much like Star Wars.

I do NOT like the casting of Austin Butler in the lead role. What a dud. His Clint Eastwood man of few words approach just doesn’t work for me.

Thoughts?

 

[Hoosierhawkeye]

It was decent. Not on band of brothers level but it was worth the 1 watch through.

 

[Hawki97]

A few episodes in so no spoilers please, but what do you all think of this?

CGI is pretty well done, but I think the fighters move too fast in the combat sequences. Too much like Star Wars.

I do NOT like the casting of Austin Butler in the lead role. What a dud. His Clint Eastwood man of few words approach just doesn’t work for me.

Thoughts?

I enjoyed it for what it was. The episode where they end up N. Africa is the best of the series IMHO.

Don't go in expecting another BoB is the key to enjoying it.

 

[BioHawk]

Very good. I thought it was on par with Band of Brothers for the first half but then it slows down once something big happens and it slowed down after that. I liked it more than Pacific though.

 

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

I enjoyed it for what it was. The episode where they end up N. Africa is the best of the series IMHO.

Don't go in expecting another BoB is the key to enjoying it.

I just finished that episode last night - that was a good one

 

[B1GDeal]

It was solid. Learned that they trained in Sioux City and most of them married girls from there. Was so damn cold that they couldn't fly so they spent time at the local hotel bars or the USO brought buses of girls to the base. They should have had the 1st episode show them stepping off the bus in SC, training flights, learning the planes and meeting/marrying girls before they went off the war. This would have developed the characters more before they started dying. Not BoB, but was solid.

 

[TheCainer]

I thoroughly enjoyed it, but my dad served in the AF in WWII, so there is a lot I can relate with. I grew up watching movies like 12 O'Clock High with Gregory Peck, so I really enjoy the aerial combat in the mini-series. All they had when they made the older movies was actual combat footage which was kind of grainy and not the most thrilling. In this series they do actually depict the way the Germans attacked the formations; usually in head-on frontal attacks which had a rate of closure of about 600 mph. The fighters only had a few seconds to aim before they fired so I think that's pretty realistic. The story also follows the book very closely although there are some liberties taken in a few cases. I would suggest that you listen to the narrator very closely as he fills in some of the missing details that were explained in the book.

 

[Herky T Hawk]

I said this in a prior thread. The show needed a bit more time to establish itself before jumping in. Glad I watched it, but I don’t know I’ll rewatch it like I have done with BoB, The Pacific, and Generation Kill.

 

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

I thoroughly enjoyed it, but my dad served in the AF in WWII, so there is a lot I can relate with. I grew up watching movies like 12 O'Clock High with Gregory Peck, so I really enjoy the aerial combat in the mini-series. All they had when they made the older movies was actual combat footage which was kind of grainy and not the most thrilling. In this series they do actually depict the way the Germans attacked the formations; usually in head-on frontal attacks which had a rate of closure of about 600 mph. The fighters only had a few seconds to aim before they fired so I think that's pretty realistic. The story also follows the book very closely although there are some liberties taken in a few cases. I would suggest that you listen to the narrator very closely as he fills in some of the missing details that were explained in the book.

I don’t have a problem with the head on speed, but CGI never seems to get the turns right after the initial attack run. Planes don’t just loop around like TIE fighters.

 

[binsfeldcyhawk2]

A few episodes in so no spoilers please, but what do you all think of this?

CGI is pretty well done, but I think the fighters move too fast in the combat sequences. Too much like Star Wars.

I do NOT like the casting of Austin Butler in the lead role. What a dud. His Clint Eastwood man of few words approach just doesn’t work for me.

Thoughts?

That’s always the problem with CGI. Watched the Midway remake and the dauntless dive bombers were flying x-wing style

 

[DropitlikeitsHawk]

I had low expectations that Austin Butler dude is weird. I found myself loving it. Pointless to compare anything to BoB but this did a great job showing the war above Europe.

 

[TheCainer]

I said this in a prior thread. The show needed a bit more time to establish itself before jumping in. Glad I watched it, but I don’t know I’ll rewatch it like I have done with BoB, The Pacific, and Generation Kill.

One thing that they didn't show in the movie was that the 100th BG had a reputation of being undisciplined hotshots. In their last practice mission they were supposed to fly from their base on the plains to San Francisco, to show they could navigate properly over long distances and stay in formation. What actually happened is that several of the planes flew to other cities to visit their girlfriends or family members.

Their undisciplined flying techniques cost them dearly in some of their early missions once they got to England.

 

[TennNole17]

I didn't love it.
Part of that might be my fault- BoB, Pacific- kind had the "feel" that these guys were heroic and thats how they overcame challenges. While MoA felt like these guys - while obviously brave and heroic- were put in positions to fail miserably.

That, and I didn't love the casting.

 

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

I didn't love it.
Part of that might be my fault- BoB, Pacific- kind had the "feel" that these guys were heroic and thats how they overcame challenges. While MoA felt like these guys - while obviously brave and heroic- were put in positions to fail miserably.

That, and I didn't love the casting.

Interesting point.

 

[B1GDeal]

One thing that they didn't show in the movie was that the 100th BG had a reputation of being undisciplined hotshots. In their last practice mission they were supposed to fly from their base on the plains to San Francisco, to show they could navigate properly over long distances and stay in formation. What actually happened is that several of the planes flew to other cities to visit their girlfriends or family members.

Their undisciplined flying techniques cost them dearly in some of their early missions once they got to England.

This would have been good to have in Ep 1 with them in Sioux City. BoB set the table with them training in at Camp Tocca at Currahee and the friction between the men and Capt. Sobel. Felt like MoA needed this sort of character development/set up before arriving in England.

 

[ConvenientParking]

I wonder if they were more conscious of not taking too many dramatic liberties with the personal details in Masters of the Air like they did in BoB to avoid catching a little heat for portraying real people who served honorably as inept or cowardly based on one sided accounts? Because like people have mentioned, the formula was there for making it a little better TV drama.

 

[TheCainer]

This would have been good to have in Ep 1 with them in Sioux City. BoB set the table with them training in at Camp Tocca at Currahee and the friction between the men and Capt. Sobel. Felt like MoA needed this sort of character development/set up before arriving in England.

Yeah it would have helped. They trained at, I believe, 4 bases including Kearney, NB and Wendover, UT. I think they also trained at a base in California.

 

[95Hawk]

It was solid. Learned that they trained in Sioux City and most of them married girls from there. Was so damn cold that they couldn't fly so they spent time at the local hotel bars or the USO brought buses of girls to the base. They should have had the 1st episode show them stepping off the bus in SC, training flights, learning the planes and meeting/marrying girls before they went off the war. This would have developed the characters more before they started dying. Not BoB, but was solid.

We sent these young men off to fight (and die) and the best we could offer them was women in NW Iowa?

Makes me sad to be an American.