Just saw it tonight {9/30/06} Was entertaining, but the graphics were poor, for the state of the art... Star wars had better CG flight combat scenes, and that is some 30 years old.
You don't see bullets, leaving humongous smoke trails....even before smokeless powder of the 1860's
or cross controlled, left, diving turns with the rudder flapping full to both stops, as if saying HEY!!! LOOK AT ME!!!.... for no reason.
They drew one Fokker triplane, and cloned it....then changed/added the nose, er..... fuselage art(?)
Oh yeah, the top speed of the Fokker was 103mph, at 13,000 ft., not the mind boggling speeds of f-16's doing a mach 1 flyby....
(I had a cruising Bonanza (approx 177 kts), come out of the sun above me, as I climbed in a C-152 on take-off, (70 kts)
and had plenty of time to divert my flight path...)
Some other "tech" goof's were
... landing in "no mans land" (in mines, bomb craters, barbed wire, and under fire) to help his comrade, whose hand he chops cleanly off... with one swipr of an entrenching tool.
...the flak exploding close enough to bounce the Neuiports around badly, but not even the paint got singed, let alone the doped linen fabric, torn to shreds, or the wings blown off, as they were by mere bullets.
...comments about the "canvas" coverings not being received on time for repairs. [Weren't they linen?]
...As for the Fokker straffing scenes at the French town, and when the downed pilot gets it, I've seen slower "F-86 Sabers"....
I did get a kick out of the kid who couldn't hit the broad side of a barn...throughout the picture, when he shows up, near the end, with a "Captain Hook appendage", and a machine gun angled ten degrees to the left, cause he couldn't put enough right rudder ... [Wasn't he hitting too far to the left in training??] and wipes out a "Red" German tri-plane in a single, or so burst....
RATINGS: scale of 1 - 12
as an entertainment device; I'll give it a 7. Technically; a 2,
acting was fairly good, even down to the pompous french officer w/ moustache, and the James Dean "loner" character, Cassidy. The girl Lucienne, was stunningly beautiful, and her quick grasp of English taught to her by her nephew, was a nice touch.
Overall; an 8.
Go see it, if only for a laugh or two, and a night out.
