The Pacific (series)

[Neil]

I hope it's as good as "Band of Brothers"...

[Tricky]

Yeah MZ posted the link on his facebook the other day, it does look like it will be really good although some of what those soldiers say in the trailer sounds like the typical modern world war 2 film cliches that started with saving private ryan & have been used in all WW2 games & films since!

[3pidemiC]

This is going to be incredible. I've been waiting years for this! I'm going to get HBO just for this.

[ProfessorChaos]

I'm going to get HBO just for this. ditto. the usmc's pacific campaign has got to be one of the most epic military endeavors taken on by the united states, and to see it get a series such as this is beyond exciting for me. looking forward to this more than any film hitting theaters anytime soon. c'mon spring '10!!!

[Mike70]

i'm definitely looking forward to this. hell, even it's only half as good as "band of brothers", it'd still be better than 99% of the shit out there. i just looked this up on imdb and i'll admit that i have no clue who any of the main actors are. i also hope that imdb is wrong about the release date (as it so often is), because this is scheduled to be show in europe before the US and that would be total kak.

[AcesandEights]

Really looking forward to this. It's a bit overdue, in my opinion and I don't know if I could like it as much as I did Band of Brothers, but I hope it at least was handled well as a project.

[Craig]

Already expressed my interest in the 'Recent DVD Purchases' thread. I'll agree with Tricky some of the dialogue heard in the trailer seems a bit sickly. While he was certainly quite 'spiritual' about his experiences, I don't remember E.B. Sledge saying anything quite like that in his book, however, who knows what Marines in the middle of that sort of hell might talk about when they get a moment.

[MinionZombie]

Yep - I'm all kinds of up for this. It'll be cool to see how much improved CGI (since BoB was done) will further improve the scope of this. There was CGI used well in BoB, but not a lot really. This looks like it'll have far more wide scale to it ... but I hope that's just background stuff, and it's still as much about the soldiers themselves as it was before - but I've no reason to doubt that it won't be like that. Earlier showing on our side of the pond, eh? Selfishly speaking, I do hope that's true.

[shootemindehead]

Yeah MZ posted the link on his facebook the other day, it does look like it will be really good although some of what those soldiers say in the trailer sounds like the typical modern world war 2 film cliches that started with saving private ryan & have been used in all WW2 games & films since! "...Our cause is just...blah blah blah...." Got that far and had to stop. Simply because I knew it was coming. I'm sick to the back teeth of bull moralising nonsense in American war movies to be blunt. You never hear crap like this in 'A Bridge Too Far' or 'The Battle of Britain' or such like. For a simple reason...NOBODY talked like that. You're right about the 'Saving Private Ryan' effect on the modern war film and it turns everything into mush. My dad was in the Royal Engineers and he hates modern war movies with a passion, especially 'The Thin Red Line', which had 20 year old hicks from nowheresville waxing lyrical about how war was awful. He thought 'Band of Brothers' was rubbish too. Made it look like Easy Co. fought the war without any casualties. Still, I'll watch it anyway and make my mind up then. Either way, I'm happy it's finally made and I hope Speilberg and Hanks can keep the "greatest generation" gibberish to minimum.

[Tricky]

Thats exactly what im talking about shootemindehead!all war films & games since private ryan have been filled with that mush. Watch any video of real combat from the current wars in Afghanistan or Iraq, and you wont hear many soldiers being all poetic, mushy & philosophical, and I imagine it was exactly the same in world war 2! Nothing poetic in there,just lots of shouting,swearing,a hint of confusion & some brave lads doing a hell of a job. Maybe after the fight they reflect on it, but im betting they probably talk about girls,take the piss out of each other,bitch about other regiments & wonder what their mates/family back home are doing

[shootemindehead]

Of course. Soldiers are generally kds, around 20 and less. They take the piss, get foulmouthed and act like 20 year olds. They don't go on about "just causes" and "great evils". All that shite becomes meaningless when the bullets start to fly. In many ways the "realistic" modern war film is more UN-realistic than those of the late 60's and 70's. In any case, nobody's topped the Gerries for war movies. Straight faced, no nonsense, grim. 'Das Boot' or 'Der Untergang' are the benckmarks and they're rarely met IMO.

[MinionZombie]

I've never really seen Band of Brothers to be all "moralising" or "poetic" at all ... plus you do see a bunch of them get killed, or get screwed in the head ... you see some get limbs blown off, and there's the whole bit at the end (two bits actually) where you see who has died. The bit on the baseball field is the second, the first is in the church while the choir sings - you see people fading away. With BoB - if the surviving men of Easy Company approve of it, then who are any of us to judge? Also, I don't think it's entirely fair to compare Afghanistan in the 21st century to WW2 in the 1940s. Society is completely different now, the way we talk is completely different and so on ... content wise perhaps not so much, but how you go about presenting it. Also - WW2 had normal men off the street thrown into this extraordinary situation, many men who would never be involved in combat these days now that it's professional soldiers - by which I mean, people who choose to become a soldier, rather than people who get drafted, or people who join up to fight in a far simpler type of war, but which is on a vastly superior scale, compared to today's wars. Plus, you do see - frequently - the men in BoB taking the piss out of each other, and enjoying it when they get welcomed by a town full of hot girls, and so on. You see them scream, and run and swear as the shells come falling down from the sky ... they're not mincing around saying "I wandered lonely as a cloud" while dodging bullets for crying out loud! Also, there's an element of story telling that has to be done, otherwise it'd just be a documentary when it's supposed to be a drama. They're two different genres. Also ... that's just a trailer, sheesh. I can understand why such lines would be put in, if you've got kids watching it that know sod all about WW2 and only know war to be the disastrously organised Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns since 9/11, then you've got to add some stuff in to contextualise it - and again, it's a drama, not a documentary. A drama based on truth of course - and like I said - if the surviving members involved approve of it, then who are any of us to judge it?

[Tricky]

I agree with you on BoB MZ definitely, there wasnt really any of the stuff im talking about on that, I really enjoyed it & it was convincing dialogue! But private ryan, the thin red line, & a whole host of lesser known WW2 films that followed has all that in, as well as games like brothers in arms, medal of honor etc. They're all good films & games, but they just all have similar presentation & sentimental poetic dialogue.

[MinionZombie]

I agree with you on BoB MZ definitely, there wasnt really any of the stuff im talking about on that, I really enjoyed it & it was convincing dialogue! But private ryan, the thin red line, & a whole host of lesser known WW2 films that followed has all that in, as well as games like brothers in arms, medal of honor etc. They're all good films & games, but they just all have similar presentation & sentimental poetic dialogue. Aye, I see what you mean. Saving Private Ryan was a good film, but the plot was a bit iffy, and certainly some of the dialogue was very "movie". What really makes it stand out though, is its presentation. The Thin Red Line ... I've never seen that as a "realistic depiction of war" type movie, more as a comment and lamentation of war. It's also quite an artistic sort of movie, and comes very much from a poetic place, so it is what it is and it makes no bones about it. It certainly is a beautiful film. I think the "poetic" thing you are talking about comes from reverance that the filmmakers/game makers have for WW2 and those who fought. They're probably too worried about insulting anyone, or getting the tone wrong or something, to just leave that moralising alone. But I think it's an element of many war movies/games/etc as they're often made by people who haven't been to war, or been in the war they're recreating. It is important though, in this day and age where Iraq and Afghanistan have become so controversial and oft-protested against, to clarify the difference between now and then. WW2 was a no-brainer of a conflict in a different era. Iraq and Afghanistan are in completely different contexts, and living within that context, it's important to set apart the likes of The Pacific for what they are on their own. Also - it's just a trailer and we've not heard such lines within the context of the entire shows and series itself.

[shootemindehead]

Yeh, I don't think myself and Tricky were really talking about BoB with regards to the moralising tone of modern war flicks. For a TV show, BoB wasn't bad at all, apart from a few silly bits and a duff episode here and there. My point on BoB, is the overall silly nature of the uber depiction of Easy Co. Sure, there are a few casualties here and there, but NOTHING reflecting actual losses. In fact, the only thing in BoB that illustrates the attrition in the Company is a footnote at the end of one of the episodes. But, I think Tricky's correct and he's certainly not the first to comment on it. But in the Likes of 'Saving Pvt Ryan', which I class as a good film (with flaws), the level of schmaltz gets in the way of the reality at times. The awful framing device of the old Ryan didn't work at all for. "Tell me I'm a good man"...fuck off. If my dad had said that to me I would have had a heart attack. I just prefer my war movies to be grittier, without the artificial sentimental yap, or flags waving in the wind etc. Or waxing lyrical about the nature of evil and all that crap. I don't think eliminating that nonsense would "reduce" a film to a documentary. It would just make for a realistic depiction. As I said, my dad was in the British Army (like a lot of Irish men) and my mother was an evacuee from Guernsey, so inevitably the Second World War became my main pastime and I've talked to many a veteran of that war, from a number of sides and the schmaltz doesn't sit right with any of them, even the Yanks.