Flyboys (2006)

This little "based on a true story" fails to live  up to the expectations

6/10 on the Qwaider scale

It would have been much better if they had stick to the melodramatic/romantic side of the movie and that's where the majority of the 6/10 come from. However, on the technical and the artistic levels, this movie has more cheese than a cheese lovers Pizza(with cheese stuffed crust)!

The story is about an American fighter plane squadron based in France during the World War I stalemate war. Following the stories of the young American pilots who fought and died in that war

All of that would have been a fantastic base for an amazing movie that would romantically, and dramatically captures the imagination. But Hollywood has to cast it's heavy shadow on every story. Big explosions, Impossible maneuvers (even by Jet Fighter standards of today, let alone biplanes and triplanes) and unrealistic fight scenes and Ahh, the grand finale! All has to line up in a block buster fashion

The movies starts off very well, with an amazing few seconds back story on the men who have left their countries and came over to "fly" or as they called it "fight". At any rate, they did a bunch of that. And guess what, the cowboy eventually won!

On the romantic side, the movie delivers on night who comes to swoop the girl off her feet after "thank god" he discovered that she's not "a brothel girl". And the impossible spark of love is kindled among the dropping bombs and the marching of the German army.

One of the interesting things that they show on the movie is the way a Black person is treated by the American upper class (of the Era), treating them as servants, while the more open minded French didn't actually mind.

A subtle hint at the end to the fate of the Black pilot when the American army refused to allow him to fly anymore after almost achieving an Ace status under the French command.

This movie is long and overstuffed with cheese, that it totally undermines the story, the melodrama and the romance it has, and is easily passable

To read more about the original squadron, check here: Lafayette Escadrille.