I really wish this one had been called Flyboyz and about the “In Living Color” male dancers. Then we might have seen something special, something a bit funny, and maybe something just a tad more realistic. I personally would have tuned in to see if any of the Flyboys hit on J-Lo, or if the Wayans brothers thought that maybe the fellas weren’t very fly at all. Instead we’ve got Flyboys, a by the book action / love story that accomplishes neither effectively.
Flyboys takes place during the first World War. America has not yet entered the war but five guys (each with their own diverse backstory of course) travel to France to join an elite foreign fighter pilot force. The airplane is a new invention to warfare and the boys just may hold the key to winning the whole darn shooting match. The story is based on a real foreign fighting unit in France, although I kept wondering where the heck the French pilots were. Perhaps they were vacationing in London.
The main problem here is how formulaic this one is. The five guys are meant to hit all the demographics, and oh yeah, I wonder if these guys who are all so different just might come together in the end like brothers? Yeesh. Anyway you’ve got:
The Cowboy – he doesn’t take orders from anyone! Also, his family (in the grand tradition of all Rebels’ families everywhere) is all dead.
The Rich Boy – He’s never done anything right according to his father but he’s also never had anything worth fighting for! Also, he considers our African American friends to be servants. Will this change by the end of the movie? Hmmm.
The Guy who comes from a long line of war heroes – I wonder, will he have problems with courage?
The Black Guy who has been discriminated against his whole life – He just wants a chance man! In the air he feels truly free.
The Guy who can’t shoot straight! Ha, his antics of not shooting straight will prove hilarious. Oh, by the way, will he learn how to shoot in a pivotal scene?
Finally, the topper, you’ve got the hard edged ace squadron leader. This guy is so bad to the bone he has a LION as a pet. Okay, so in real life the fighting force did have a Lion as a mascot, but I bet the thing didn’t respond to “stay” or “sit” commands and chase after the instructor’s plane when he took off. This bad ass ace is a fellow American, but he’s a loner because “all his friends died up there.” High Five!
There is also the requisite love story between the Cowboy and a beautiful French lass. Hmm.. will he have to save her from zeee Germans? Watch and find out!
Clearly I didn’t love this. James Franco is just short of horrible and the idea of fighter pilots exchanging menacing glares at each other in the air just seems stupid beyond belief. It might have happened, but were it me I would just concentrate on killing enemy pilots as quickly as possible and then heading on home for a beer. I like the fact that this was inspired by a true story, and a good movie is probably somewhere in this mess, but it all comes off as fundamentally idiotic. Avoid unless you’re desperate for ironic laughs or menacing glares.
