Flags of Our Fathers

There has never a been a more suitable name for a movie ever. (ok at least not in the 267 movies I reviewed so far.) This film is about our generational fathers, (in my case grandfather) and how they fought so valiantly for an entire nation, nay for the whole world. It is after all a movie about World War II. This feature explores how the gallant solders of WW II gave their lives for our country. It focuses particularly on the posting of flags. One flag (actually two) comes into the forefront in this particular epic adventure and how arrogance and politics were constants in this horrific war. As per my critique, my analyses, or review of this movie. It was acceptable. I stomached the violence of war for 132 minutes. I swallowed the violence and took in the carnage that is inevitable with any war adventure. What I didn’t like however was the inconsistency in the pacing. It went from slow to fast, from violent to dull and from heavy character development to scantly and bereft of anything resembling a plot all within the aforementioned allotted time slot. I guess that is they ways of life, the perils of war, the very downsides of everyday living. I am a writer however I expect a movie to keep me gripped to the screen for the entire length of the picture. This movie just failed to do that. Don’t get me wrong the cinematography was breathtaking, the score was majestic and the acting superb. The writing wasn’t so bad either. It just the consistency of it all. I’m not maligning the screen writers just the opposite in fact I’m praising them. It is the editors who should have done a better job. I have a very short attention span. Most movie are and 1:30 to 1:45 in length. This movie just dragged on at time at 12 minutes over the allotted acceptable length of any good movie watched to avoid getting wet in the pouring rain. That length is hour hours even by the way. I had to make two phone calls perform several chores in the home and take 3 or 4 bathroom breaks all whilst keeping this overly drawn out Gone the Wind like feature presentation running. My review of the movie is over one page in length and that’s unacceptable. I pride myself on my brevity. I expect all my reviews to be one page verbatim. I’m anal retentive I expect sameness in every thing I do. That being said I’ll sum this drama up briefly. It was acceptable. Grade B-