Just finished the last episode this weekend.JamJar wrote: ↑Wed Feb 28, 2024 10:18 amI'm really disappointed with this and not a patch on Band of Brothers which I am now rewatching for the 4th or 5th time. The CGI is so bad it distracts from the story and they ripped off some scenes from Memphis Belle almost shot for shot.McNab wrote: ↑Mon Jan 29, 2024 11:44 am Masters of the Air just started on Apple TV.
It's the spiritual successor to Band of Brothers/Pacific but set around the US B-17 bomber division in based in the UK.
Seems quite good so far but still can't resist that Spielberg/Hanks quirk of having the English be twats.
TBH, I wanted to like it so much... I've got a minor obsession about WW2, and the flying part particularly, and Band of Brothers was so excellent.
I did enjoy Masters, but it wasn't anywhere near the standard of BoB. A lot of cheesy script, and a lot of cheesy characters... one of the two main characters (they had both the same name FFS) was like a masterclass in how to be a clichéd, yet thoroughly unconvincing brooding movie star, and yes, the CGI was just awful a lot of the time.
Plus, it sadly fell foul of that usual WW2 Hollywood trait of portraying the entire war as being goddamned American heroes vs all the baddies, and saving humanity from oppression. Despite the series being based in the UK during the war, literally the only 2 scenes in the full 9-odd hours that featured British servicemen were both of the 'What ho, chaps! There's some bally Yanks in the room. Golly, we're so superior to them!' followed by them being smacked down by the Americans, literally in one case during a one-punch fight that sees the Brits getting a goddamned can 'o whoopass opened on them. I appreciate the primary audience is presumably American and they probably love all that stuff, but it's childish nonsense that devalues it as a decent drama in my (admittedly biased) eyes. And that's before we get into all the usual sentimental stirring violins and clenched jaws every time a goddamned American hero returned from a mission.
There's an irony too, in the fact that as is standard these days, half the cast were British.
But anyway, I digress a bit. It was enjoyable enough and had a nicely epic feel, but if BoB was a 10/10, then Masters was, I guess a 6.