From the same people that gave you "Saving Private Ryan" and "Band of Brothers" (Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks) "The Pacific", a 10 part miniseries starting tonight on HBO at 9:00 PM (EST), 11:00 PM (PST). From what we saw in SPR and BOB, the equipment should be pretty authentic looking.
Well, I saw it - it's a good looking thing like you'd expect. It's no Band of Brothers, but for one very simple reason - the episodes are only one hour long. Not nearly enough time to set something up, build up the tension and end it on a cliffhanger. In comparison, the first episode of BoB ended with the launching of the Great Crusade. Ep 1 of "The Pacific" ended with "Happy Birthday to Me". And things were just getting good. To show you how the business has changed - I read that BoB cost $125 mil for 20 hours back in
2000 and The Pacific weighs in around $150 mil for 10 hours today.I saw nothing too controversial. Only one real modern intrusion into the world of the WWII vet was Leckie, our chief protagonist in Ep 1. He displays all the modern sensitivity, compassion and sensibilities towards war (and the enemy) we would recognize today. And this on the heels of a night of brutal banzai charges. The hardened vets we knew as kids that summed up their experiences as "kill or be killed" and showed no remorse or were unapologetic for the things they did were largely mute; except for a disturbing scene in which the Japanese barbarism towards POWs is matched by some debauchery from the GIs. Fair enough. Afterwards though, speaking for the modern 2010 conscience the Leckie character predictably gives a speech and preachs about his thoughts on American barbarism in a letter home at the end of the episode. Maybe he really did - the real Leckie wrote of his experiences on Guadalcanal. His sermon just strikes of being far removed from the battle he just survived and his immediate reality. I like the BoB approach - nobody apologized for anything (meted out to the Germans) that I recall.
The end of Ep 1 was a little too Terrence Malick and "Thin Red Line" for my taste. What is it about the jungle that every writer thinks Jospeh Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" is the bible from which they must psychologically mine their characters.
Otherwise, as Cookie would say - Recommended. ;-)
WmB
Forgot to mention, that if you're on Direct TV and don't subscribe to HBO, they're showing The Pacific - Part 1 on their freebie preview T101 channel.
WmB
i wonder if dish is doing something similar?
PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.