Interesting that there's so many negative comments about this film involving accuracy on all levels . The historical adviser is one Jack Livesey , a battle hardened veteran of the British Army who did several tours of Northern Ireland and won the coveted Military Medal during the 1982 Falklands conflict where he served with the 2nd Battalion of the Parachute Regiment . You name it Livesey has seen it , done it and written the book about it so it's only fitting the likes of Hollywood should employ a real warrior like Livesey if they're making a nihilistic film about the slaughter of millions and FLYBOYS is the result . The fact that it's a plane crash of a movie is mainly down to Livesey who made headlines of his own five years later when he found himself up in courtAs it transpired Livesey who claimed he was the military adviser on SAVING PRIVATE RYAN , BAND OF BROTHERS and a host of other Hollywood blockbusters was fraudulently claiming incapacity benefit in 2004 . He bigged himself that he was a traumatised war veteran who had seen so much death and destruction on countless battlefields in his military career of over 20 years the judge treated him kindly . The problem was it later came to light his military career was confined to the Catering Corps from the end of 1971 to the start of 1974 when he was discharged under services no longer required . The lies he told in court led to him being charged for perverting the course of justice and in 2011 Livesey was sentenced to three years in jail Watching FLYBOYS the only film that employed Livesey as a historical adviser - and no before you ask SPR and BOB had Dale Dyer as historical adviser not Livesey - you wonder how stupid the producers were to employ him . I'm pretty sure the average schoolboy is better informed about the first world war than anyone who worked on this big budget flop such as the Germans not having spiked helmets or significant amounts of tanks in 1917 It's the laws of physics being continually broken that rankle more than anything . The planes seen here resemble the spaceships seen in STAR WARS rather than the ones seen in WW1 They can fly in a straight dive then suddenly manage to pull out of the dive five feet from the ground . A shell exploding mere inches from the aircraft causes no damage whatsoever and ditto being shot by several hundred bullets Even from a narrative point of view supposedly inspired by true events FLYBOYS gives way to cloying cliché similar to that in PEARL HARBOR . When neutral Americans cross the Atlantic to join democratic Europe in the fight against aggression and shout " Get me in to a goddamn plane . I think world war one has just started " you know what's coming next . Nice to know that FLYBOYS cost $60 million and recouped $13 million at the US box office . Maybe the should have used the accountant as historical adviser and put Jack Livesey in charge of production costs . It would have made for a more realistic and better film

This film's opening prologue states:"By the start of 1916, World War I had wreaked havoc across Europe. Over nine million people would eventually die. Although the airplane had only recently been invented, it was quickly adapted into a war machine. The young men who flew them became the first fighter pilots and a new kind of hero was born." The adventures of the Lafayette Escadrille, young Americans who volunteered for the French military before the U.S. entered World War I, and became the country's first fighter pilots. Among them , Blaine Rawlings (James Franco) , Eugene Skinner (Abdul Salis) , William Jensen (Philip Winchester), Beagle (David Ellison) and Reed Cassidy (Martin Henderson , Reed was mainly inspired by Raoul Lufbery whose personal insignia is an eagle's head surrounded by the words "Je Vois Tout" meaning "I see all") , the leading flying ace of the Escadrille Squadron (similarly to film , the real Lafayette Escadrille actually had a pair of lion cubs as mascots).Spectacular dogfighting , colorful scenario , all-star cast and memorable acting . Big-budget extended adventures produced by Dean Devlin about a maverick pilot and his partners undergoing risked feats on air and bombing on earth . Based on a story by Blake Evans and being well adapted by Phil Sears and David S Ward . Very good aerial actioner plenty action , steamy romance , drama , fantastic cloudy scenes and spectacular dogfighting . James Franco shows professionalism as a crack fighter pilot , he plays an ambitious youth assigned to dangerous missions , Franco even earned his pilot's license in preparation for this film . Top-notch support cast gives excellent performances as Jean Reno as a stiff officer , Philip Winchester , Tim Pigott Smith , David Ellison and a gorgeous Jennifer Decker . Special mention to Abdul Salis whose character of Skinner is based on the Escadrille-pilot Eugene Bullard, an American who has gone to France and worked as a boxer there, he was also a son of a slave, just like Skinner .Rousing aerial scenes spectacularly staged , though in excessive use of digital effects , being the first movie to motion capture planes. Filmmakers attempted to use lightweight reproductions of WWI aircraft, but grounded them after an accident. Wonderfully photographed by Henry Braham and marvelous musical score by Trevor Ravin are the chief assets of this spectacular film . As no studios would back the film, a group of filmmakers and investors including producer 'Dean Devlin ' and according to press-releases "ace pilot" David Ellison, son of Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison, spent more than $60 million of their own money to make and market this film. This lavish airplane movie was professionally directed by Tony Bill . 'Flyboys' is a rehash of the former airplane movie clichés in which the splendid casting stands out . Rating : Good and entertaining , it's a fairly watchable and breathtaking film and results to be a good treatment of WWI flying aces .

I enjoyed this film because I am really into aeroplanes and like to get an aerial dogfight fix from time to time. BUT, this is your typical Hollywood blockbuster, full of cardboard characters, ridiculous looking CGI effects and ludicrous plot holes. This is loosely based on a real story. There was a real squadron of mostly US Pilots flying for France. There was a real black US Fighter pilot flying in France at that time (not in the actual squadron) and someone really DID have a Lion for a pet. But you basically get everything you expect of this type of film. Hackneyed, clichéd stereotype characters, ridiculous romantic subplot, silly implausible flying sequences, and of course, ridiculous amounts of historical inaccuracies. The Germans all flying Red Baron style Fokker Triplanes I think has been explained as making it readily easy to identify between the French and German planes, but I think that's the usual Hollywood trick of treating your audience like morons.A French Nieuport 17 and a German Albatros are sufficiently different in shape and standard colouring that most audience members NOT familiar with planes could still tell the difference. That is far from the only anachronistic thing in the film either. I own the DVD (paid £1) and the special features shows that the director actually filmed footage of real WWI Aircraft flying. Why he bothered is a mystery because he completely ignores all this for ridiculous physics defying flight characteristics in most flying sequences. While they are enjoyable and a non plane buff might not notice, they do come across more like a video game than anything approaching real life. The Romance is mired by the implausibility of how quickly the French woman learns English, and the fact the US Pilot seems to be able to use his plane to just go off on a whim for a tryst with his loved one but is otherwise believable. Other characters often do some really out of character and implausible things too, but the pilot landing his plane in the middle of No man's land to rescue his friend without first strafing the German trench from the air to minimise the amount of shooting in his direction and then cutting off his colleagues hand rather than just digging out enough dirt to free it is one of my favourites. Some of the acting is actually quite good, notably the ever reliable Jean Reno as the Captain and Martin Henderson as the veteran pilot. The Chivalrous German pilot is a nice contrast to the "evil" one and the racism stuff is dealt with well and succinctly. Implausible though the flying sequences are for the most part, there aren't TOO many actual explosions and they are enjoyable to watch, but they are interspersed with the slow dragging romance. Basically it isn't an awful film, but it's not really a good one either, and if done properly, could have been so much better. If you love Michael Bay Films, you'll probably like this, or if you are a plane junkie who wants his flying fix,or a bit of a laugh, or both, then it's worth watching, otherwise, probably best to stay clear.

I've seen some grousing about the fact that the characters in the film are all composites of several of the real American airmen. They tell us in the very beginning that the film is BASED ON facts, not that it's actually totally factual. I found the film to be an excellent quasi- historical film. The training of the pilots, their quarters, the aerial combat sequences were all very realistic, I thought. Yes, some of the aircraft were computer generated, but it's difficult to gather many actual aircraft of that era together to use in the film - there simply aren't that many flying anymore. The only thing that really hit me as not being true was the fact that nearly all the German aircraft shown in the film were the triple winged ones. They were never the only aircraft in the Luftwaffe and only about 300 were built. It was much slower than many other fighters of it's day, but more agile. I'm sure the filmmakers chose to use them because they're somewhat "iconic" of WW1 German fighter aircraft. In fact, most German aircraft were biplanes. But that's my only complaint. I found the acting, direction and cinematography were very good, editing was very good also. So the execution of the film was very good. There are some great films about WW1 out there and I think this film belongs with them