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Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this action drama is set during World War I, so the combat on the ground is awkward and somewhat brutal (though only briefly seen), while the newfangled "flying machine" combat is romanticized. Battles tend to include slow motion sequences and grand music, characters are shot in their cockpits and slump over, bleeding, and a couple of planes crash. One character is shot down by airplanes after he has crash-landed. Another suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, drinking too much and behaving erratically, worrying his fellow flyers. A central character is shot (not fatally) while escaping the Germans. A brief scene following a pilot's crash shows him in a French bordello, where the prostitutes appear in their underwear and he undresses to his own underwear in order to have his injury dressed (he's embarrassed by this). Characters drink liquor, smoke cigarettes and cigars, and use occasional mild profanity.
Families can discuss the history of World War I, which introduced planes as weapons and vehicles of warfare. How do the American flyers help the French cause before the United States enters the war? Why did the United States finally decide to get involved in the war? How has warfare changed since WWI? What is the movie's ultimate message about war?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Cynthia Fuchs
A romantic paean to World War I -- the so-called "Last Gentleman's War" -- FLYBOYS features plenty of midair action in small, open-cockpit biplanes. Set in 1916, before the United States entered the war, Tony Bill's movie focuses on young American men who go to France to join the Lafayette Escadrille.
Flyboys begins by introducing its squad members one by one, establishing their good (and not-so-good) reasons for signing up. Robust and naïve, Texas rancher Blaine Rawlings (James Franco) strides into view with his eyes squinting against the sun, frustrated at the loss of his parents' land to the bank. He heads to Europe so he can put his flair for cowboying and earnest energy to use piloting one of the brand new "flying machines."
Blaine's fellow trainees include Briggs (Tyler Labine), who enlists in order to prove his worth to his wealthy snob of a father; William (Philip Winchester), a cavalry officer's son who wants to continue his family's military tradition; and Eugene (Abdul Salis), a black expatriate boxer who wants to defend France, where the people actually treat him like an equal. All are instructed by the very patient Capt. Georges Thenault (Jean Reno).
The newbie pilots' adventures include training montages, some competition within the group, and Blaine's briefly diverting romance with a local girl, Lucienne (Jennifer Decker), who is valiantly looking after her dead sister's children.
Though life expectancy for these dogfighters is short (three to six weeks), they dedicate themselves to their missions because they believe in their cause -- or at least in their charismatic role model, Reed Cassidy (Martin Henderson), who holds a legendary record of enemy shoot-downs and keeps a fully grown lion in his room. Reed warns the youngsters about the costs of war and the fact that there will always be another one as long as young men are willing to fight. When Blaine asks why he goes on so many missions if he thinks the war is "meaningless," Reed answers "You gotta find your own meaning in this war." As the flyboys become men, movie-made and heroic, they duly exalt their beloved Cassidy ... just as he wouldn't want them to do.
Fans of Flyboys might also enjoy Hell's Angels (1930), The Dawn Patrol (1930), the brilliant Paths of Glory, or the ever-popular Top Gun.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentWhen Blaine crashes, he's tended to in a brothel, where he sees women in lacy underwear; Blaine appears undressed as Lucienne dresses his leg wound; later, they kiss. |
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ViolenceAction includes a brief boxing scene, several dog-fighting scenes (shooting at and from planes, mildly bloody injuries, a couple of deaths, crashes); some tense scenes involve shooting at planes from the ground (and narrow escapes), as well as shooting in trench warfare; a main character is shot in the shoulder (minor blood visible). |
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LanguageInfrequent mild language ("hell," "damn"); white flyers make racist remarks to the black pilot when he enters a bar. |
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Social BehaviorBrave young men learn to work as a team (in the air and on the ground). |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoCigarette smoking and some drinking (at bars and in tribute to military missions). |
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