Flyboys - heroes of the skies

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Movie
German title Flyboys - heroes of the skies
Original title Flyboys
Country of production United States
original language English , French
Publishing year 2006
length 140 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Tony Bill
script David S. Ward
production Dean Devlin ,
Marc Frydman
music Trevor Rabin
camera Henry Braham
cut Chris Blunden ,
Ron Rosen
occupation

Flyboys - Heroes of the Skies is an American war film from 2006 , which is based on the double-decker air battles of World War I and a love story. The German theatrical release was May 10, 2007.

action

1916: The First World War has been raging for more than two years. The USA has not yet taken part in the war, but some American pilots set out to fight the German Reich in Europe for the allies France and Great Britain. You join the Lafayette Escadrille , the American volunteer flight squadron. But the men quickly realize that they are only being burned there, as a squadron pilot usually only survives three to six weeks fighting the German pilots.

The fearless Blaine Rawlings plays a leading role in this and begins a romance with the French woman Lucienne. The season's best pilot, however, is the experienced Reed Cassidy, who is killed in the fight against the so-called "black falcon", his archenemy among German pilots.

Rawlings then sets out on his own to avenge his friend and, with the support of his colleagues, attacks the base of the "Black Falcon". Rawlings aircraft is damaged and his machine gun destroyed in an aerial battle. The "black hawk" continues to shoot Rawlings machine and injure him. Then he flies a parallel course, indicates the imminent end with a thumb movement over his throat, sits down behind Rawlings again and loads through. Rawlings then flies a barrel roll , in turn sits down next to the Germans, pulls out his revolver and kills the enemy with one shot in the head and two body hits.

The squadron, which in the meantime was able to shoot down the other German aircraft involved, then returned to its base. The film ends with a short narration of the fate of the survivors up to the end of the war and beyond.

Others

  • The film was shot in Hertfordshire , Great Britain, where previously the war film Saving Private Ryan and the miniseries Band of Brothers were made.
  • The American squadron uses the Nieuport 17 biplane in the film , while the Germans fly the legendary three - decker Fokker Dr.I. This type of aircraft, known primarily from Manfred von Richthofen , was not yet used at the time of the main part of the film plot (from 1916). Furthermore, only the planes of the Richthofen squadron were brightly painted, and only Richthofen's plane was occasionally completely red. Historically correct, the Germans would have had to fly the Albatros DI , D.II and D.III biplanes in the period in question for the film .
  • There has never been a German flying ace called "The Black Falcon" in a black Fokker triplane. Nevertheless, the figure of the "Black Falcon" could be derived from the German fighter pilot Eduard von Schleich , who became known as the "Black Knight" because of the black paint on his aircraft, but who, unlike the film character, survived the First World War.
  • The dogfights were created entirely through CGI and the motion capture process. This is particularly evident in the unrealistic representation of the flight behavior of the machines and the maneuvers flown, far removed from all laws of physics and aerodynamics.
  • Tchéky Karyo made a guest appearance as Lieutenant Colonel Valois. The scene was cut out and can only be seen on the bonus material on the DVD.

reception

Gross profit

In the US, the $ 60 million production flopped. The film opened there on September 22, 2006 and grossed only $ 13 million at the box office. The industry magazine Variety counted the film among the biggest flops of 2006.

Reviews

The film received mostly negative reviews. For Thomas Abeltshauser von der Welt , the battle sequences were "the only positive thing you can say about Tony Bill's action film about the Lafayette Esquadrille"; so none of the actors could “derive meaning from the lame script or its character credible depth”.

Kathrin Häger from film-dienst also complained about the characters who “dig their way deep into the mud of long-held masculinity and war pathos clichés with their airplane noses”. She denied any plausibility to the plot: “When in the eye of death the male sense of camaraderie and duty triumphs over paralyzing fear and the previously inoculated racial and class thinking is leveled, then sadly this pathetic overcoming of prejudices and fears draws the viewer in the embarrassing shallows of the film, which are not evened out by the illogical "story bridges" in thin air. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Entry on boxofficemojo.com , accessed on May 21, 2007
  2. ↑ 2006: Hollywood diagnosis ( Memento of the original from November 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Article on variety.com, accessed May 21, 2007 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.variety.com
  3. ^ Entry on rottentomatoes.com , accessed on May 21, 2007
  4. ↑ A boy band goes to war , article on welt.de, accessed on May 21, 2007
  5. ^ Criticism by Kathrin Häger on film-dienst.kim-info.de ( memento of the original from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed May 21, 2007 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / film-dienst.kim-info.de