Film review: Flyboys

Stars: 2.5/5

MGM Studios

Choosing cinematic beauty over a script with brains is an error too often made by film directors who are overly lovey-dovey with the subject material. Unless you're George Lucas with a fabricated empire under your belt, not even the latest visual effects will cut it if the dialogue is stilted and the characters even more so. Alas, the World War I flick Flyboys falls victim to this act of mutual love and neglect.

The movie follows maverick Blaine Rawlings (Spiderman's James Franco), an American volunteer for a French air squadron. The so-called "Lafayette Escadrille" is a hodgepodge of young and inexperienced American men with a taste for flight, each with his own set of personal demons, which will be promptly sorted out with endearing speeches and man hugs.

Franco is adequate but forgettable as leading man, not for lack of heartthrob charisma but because the film fails to establish a genuine relationship between him the other purely perfunctory characters (including the local French gal he falls for). And let's not forget the inclusion of Jean Reno, the obligatory French man in seemingly every film, whose character seems plucked straight from the Pink Panther set.

There's no question that the best parts of the film take place up in the great blue yonder. It's visually breathtaking to watch the original models of the modern jet fighter careen through the sky. It's also cinematically fulfilling to watch as the attached machine guns rip apart enemy crafts against the backdrop of soaring orchestral music.

But whether you're an avid jet fighter fan, WWI aficionado or James Franco enthusiast, there's just not enough content in Flyboys to survive in a high-tech world starving for quality writing. How unfortunate that a film that shows an evident love for the subject neglected to make the emotional investment needed for it to reach cruising altitude.