Movie Review: Flyboys

Flyboys (2006) 

Directed by Tony Bill 

Written by David S. Ward 

Starring James Franco, Martin Henderson, Jean Reno, Jennifer Decker, Tyler Labine

Release Date September 22nd, 2006 

Published September 23rd, 2006 

The story of the Lafayette Escadrille was a passion project for producer Dean Devlin. But, even the man whose resume includes Independence Day and The Patriot could not get a major studio interested in spending the money necessary to make a movie about American pilots who fought for the French in World War 1. Enter David Ellison; the scion of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, who had a few million dollars burning a hole in his pocket and a love of flying.

Together with director Tony Bill, Devlin and Ellison raised 60 million dollars, mostly their own money, and made Flyboys. The investment was not a great one. There is a reason studios did not commit to this picture and it involves a script that is lightweight, a romance that is far from grand and a lack of the star power necessary to make Flyboys a sell to mass audiences.

On the bright side, the flying scenes turned out really cool.

With Europe in chaos and Germany preparing to take the whole of France a call went out for pilots to join the French army in fighting back. It was 1916, more than a year before the United States officially declared war on the Austro-Hungarian alliance, and though their country was not part of the war, a few American boys were offered the chance to go to France and become fighter pilots.

Known as the Lafayette Esquadrille; these American flyboys arrived with all of the cock and swagger of your typical American and found a war lilke none had ever seen before. In the film Flyboys, a fictional depiction of the Lafayette squadron, James Franco takes the lead role of Blaine Rawlings a texan on the run from debts that have taken his family ranch.

After seeing a newsreel advertising the chance to become a pilot and fight the Germans, Rawlings jumped aboard a steam ship to France, just ahead of the cops on his tail. Arriving in the outskirts of France, far from the glamour of Paris, Rawlings is joined by several fresh faced americans with similar hopes of becoming pilots and of escaping difficult pasts.

There is Beagle (David Ellison) a cocky but secretive wannabe pilot whose past is even more complicated than Rawlings'. Briggs (Tyler Labine) would seem to have the easiest life as a son of privilege however, it was his pushy and unrelenting father (Timothy Pigott Smith) who pushed him to this fight against his will. Eugene Skinner (Abdul Salis) was a successful boxer in France who left America in hopes of finding a society more accepting of African Americans, now he hopes becoming a pilot can find him acceptance back home.

There is, of course, the obligaory romantic subplot and this is where Flyboys crashes into cliche. The romance between James Franco's Rawlings and a girl from the French countryside played by Jennifer Decker is truly insipid, beginning with a meet cute where Rawlings mistakes Decker's Lucienne for a prostitute. What follows is a dull, passionless courtship, further complicated by the couple's inability to speak each others language.

The language barrier reminded me of the terrifically funny movie Better Off Dead in which the mother of the nerdy kid who took in the beautiful french exchange student told everyone that her son and her guest spoke 'the international language'. If Franco and Decker's characters in Flyboys were speaking 'the international language' they were not communicating it very well, the romance is just awful; worse yet it's an anchor that drags out the films runtime, achingly over two hours, and keeps the film out of the skies.

When Flyboys is in the air, indulging the action that inspired it, the film often soars. The dogfights with German pilots in cool looking tri-planes, greatly augmented with CGI but often making use of real period aircrafts, are well shot, compelling, even exciting at times. Director Tony Bill, best known for the Emmy nominated TV movie Harlan County War, does a spectacular job combining digital effects with real period aircrafts and delivers some really exciting moments. If only he had had the guts to cut the romance and stick to the action, we would be talking about a much better, and thankfully; much shorter film.

So many directors, studios, and producers have tried to turn James Franco into a star that it is starting to become a sad joke. With his James Dean eyes, pout and brood; Franco has the tools for teen idol-dom but seems to lack either the will or the talent to make the move to real stardom. I enjoyed Franco's performance in the period romance Tristan & Isolde earlier this year but his dour brooding persona, the one he has carried from his supporting roles in Spider-Man to 2005's The Great Raid and the abysmal boxing picture Annapolis, is getting really tired. Someone find this guy a lighthearted romantic comedy before his face freezes in that sad puppy pout.

The most interesting member of the cast is one the films financiers, or atleast a financiers son. David Ellison, the son of Larry Ellison the owner of Oracle who sunk a good chunk into the making of Flyboys, plays Eddie Beagle the jovial but secretive member of the squad who is suspected of spying because he just can't seem to hit anything during fire fights.

Now, before you say nepotism landed David this role keep in mind; this is not his first acting gig. He played student number 1 in the indie flick Chumscrubber and produced, directed and starred in his own indie short called When All Else Fails , unseen and thus unjudged by me. Ellison brings some lovable charm to his role in Flyboys and the fact that he is, in reality, a trained pilot doesn't hurt either.

The supporting cast might actually have made better leads. Jean Reno does as well as he possibly can with the limited role as the French captain in charge of training the Flyboys. Martin Henderson, another actor Hollywood seems intent on turning into a star based on cheekbones alone, registers better than Franco in the role of the cocky veteran flyer who you just know will clash with the equally cocky Franco character before coming to respect him and maybe even fly with him as his wingman.

Poor Jennifer Decker. This lovely young French actress is made to look quite the fool in Flyboys. The scenes of Decker and Franco attempting to communicate but not understanding each other make her look as if she is mentally challenged. And while she is nice looking, the film needs her to be the kind of beauty that a man would be willing to give his life for; a face that would launch a thousand dogfights if you don't mind the illiteration.

Sadly Decker is not quite as attractive as the film wants you to believe. She needs to be supermodel gorgeous because the time that the couple spends together does not establish the kind of emotional or intellectual bonds needed for the kind of commitment that is asked for here. Young lust is really the only thing that could drive this relationship and Decker is not the type to inspire a lust one might give his life for.

When it's flying Flyboys is a pretty good action picture. On the ground however, Flyboys is awash in cliches, predictibility and a couple of truly dreadful performances. James Franco has the looks of a matinee idol but he had better find himself a role that consists of more than just brooding and dimples if he really wants to become a star.

Director Tony Bill aquits himself well as an action director but he needed more discipline and nerve in the editing room. Had he the guts to gut the romance and focus on the Flyboys we would be talking about an entirely different and far more entertaining picture.