Masters of the Air (2024)

 

            It has only taken eleven years, but we finally have the last part of the Spielberg / Hanks WWII trilogy.  It was 2012 when HBO first announced the project.  In 2019, HBO dropped and Apple + took over.  Filming began in 2021, but the Covid pandemic set the project back.  The series is based mainly on the book “Masters of the Air:  America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany” by Donald Miller.  It concentrates on the 100^th Bomber Group, which was known as the “Bloody Hundredth”.  First, that would have been a better title.  Second, don’t get too invested in any of the characters.  The first three episodes were directed by Cary Fukunaga (“Beasts of No Nation”).  The series cost about $250 million, which might explain the nine episodes, instead of ten.

            The series gets started by immediately explaining why the two main characters are named Buck (Austin Butler) and Bucky (Callum Turner).  This is our first clue that the teleplays will adhere to historical accuracy.  Major Gale “Buck” Cleven and Major John “Bucky” Egan are best friends in the 100^th Bomber Group.  It is headed for Great Britain.  Bucky goes on ahead so we can have a stricken bomber scene in the first episode.  This will not be “Band of Brothers” which introduced the characters by way of boot camp.  The group follows along via Greenland.  Buck has to make a landing in gale force winds, proving he is a very talented pilot who is perpetually cool.  The first mission is to bomb u-boat pens.  The mission is aborted.  Another clue that the series will be fact-based. 

            By the second episode, the group has a new commanding officer.  This episode gives props to the ground crews.  Our first successful mission is to Norway.  It completes the redemption arc for sad sack navigator Lt. Harry Crosby (Anthony Boyle).  The other focus is on the bomber piloted by Lt. Curtis Biddick (Barry Keoghan).  Bucky has to decide whether to slow the group down to protect Biddick’s ship.  We get our second crash landing.  It’s not the “Bloody Hundredth” yet, but is already apparent that getting to 25 missions will be very difficult. 

            The cast can be underwhelming, but so were the casts of BoB and The Pacific.  Austin Butler is the only major star and he is perfect as Buck.  Those who haven’t seen “Elvis” are going to be exposed to a heavy dose of his charisma and good looks.  If the project wanted to draw female viewers, he was an outstanding choice.  It is probable that years from now, the rest of the main actors will be familiar faces.  And Maj. Gale Cleven will be famous, like Dick Winters.  I have not read the book yet, so I cannot affirm whether the other characters are actual people.  As of now, only Harry Crosby (who wrote a book entitled “Wing and a Prayer”) and Harold Huglin (the first commanding officer) have Wikipedia pages.  That will be changing.  I double checked on Cleven and he is based on a real B-17 pilot, but I did not read when he died.  One of the suspenseful factors in the series will be seeing who will survive.  It could be brutal.  And should be brutal.  As the air war was.

            Truthfully, after Cleven, the biggest star in the movie is the B-17 Flying Fortress.  It was the third most produced bomber in history after the B-24 Liberator and the Ju-88 (which is mentioned as attacking the “Bloody Hundredth”).  I pray B-24 veterans can tap into the homage to all bomber crews.  The B-17 is the third most famous plane from WWII (first and second being the Spitfire and the Mustang), but I doubt most viewers are familiar with it.  Everyone that watches the series will learn that it carried 10 crewmen.  That makes doing the math (or maths) is easy.  60 downed bombers meant 600 Americans either killed or captured (I think one of the threads will be covering a captured crew).  And viewers will learn that the bomber could take a beating.  Despite this, many will be going down.  There is a scene where the Yanks get into a discussion with some Brits about daylight bombing versus night bombing.  The snooty Limeys warn that the losses will be untenable.  Our boys accuse the Brits of trading safety for terrible bombing results.  This discussion was much too brief.  Hopefully, the series will return to it after some of the characters have died flying in broad daylight to bomb heavily defended targets.  It’s an issue that needs discussion. 

            Besides the actors and their characters, the other big question is how good the special effects are.  It is clearly apparent from the first two episodes that a lot of the $250 million went into visual effects.  They are amazing.  So good, that you will wonder whether they used actual B-17s for some taxiing and flight scenes.  They did create three replicas, one oversized model for interior filming (which is authentic).  The CGI is flawless.  That includes the belly landing.  We no longer need to pay a very  brave stunt pilot (Paul Mantz did it for $4,500) to crash land a Flying Fortress, like in “Twelve O'Clock High”.   The flak effects stand out.  It is those scenes that will make you wonder how anyone survived those missions.  And then you add in the fighters, which realistically whiz by in a blur.  How the heck did they ever manage to shoot any down?  And how did the gunners avoid hitting other bombers?  

            It’s too early to compare the series to the others in the trilogy.  The first two episodes set the hook.  The effects don’t disappoint.  The cast looks comfortable in their roles.  They went through a two-week boot camp with Dale Dye.  The dialogue gets the banter right.  Although there are some cliches, like the redemption for the navigator, the drinking scenes, and countingthe bombers when they return,  the series looks like it will be grounded in reality.  I saw nothing that caused me to shake my head.  I just hope viewers don’t find the series boring because it sticks to what actually happened to men like Cleven and Egan.  And I hope the series does not sugar-coat the losses.  Only one of four bomber crews reached 25 missions in 1943.  The series should be as brutal as “The Pacific”.  Here’s hoping I shed some tears.

GRADE  =  B+