Flyboys Misses the Mark

The year is 1917. America has not yet entered World War I. A small squadron of American men have signed on to aide French forces against Germany. Their mission? To fly some of the first airplanes ever designed in a combat mission. This elite or unlucky force, depending upon your point of view, are called the Lafayette Escadrille.

We follow the story of Blaine Rawlings (James Franco) who joins the unit after losing his family ranch to bank foreclosure. Along the way we are briefly introduced to some of the other characters in his squadron. A background glimpse of each man, somewhat like a pictorial bio ensues that leads eventually back to Rawlings and his connection/friction with lone wolf veteran of the aerial maneuvers, Reed Cassidy (Jean Reno).

The relationship between the seasoned veteran and the confident upstart plays out predictably enough. Cassidy gives the youngster slack. Rawlings, irritated by this, strives and proves himself as a talent among his peers. Cassidy remains standoffish, but provides a tough-love form of mentoring. Eventually he extends approval and even pride in the upstart, writing his final communication to the world addressed to Rawlings personally.

What irritated me about watching this film was the tremendous potential that went unfulfilled. Filmmakers pieced together a palatable, formulaic, visual panorama. The writers had some great material to work with; there were a lot of directions this film could have taken given the varying backgrounds from which these men were coming from, and the intense dangers they were preparing to face. The exchanges between the flyboys scratched the surface but never actually cemented into meaningful dialogue or genuine friendships.

A deep bond was alluded at, but not formed convincingly for the audience to see. It's difficult to watch the sad parts of the film and feel very much for characters lost in battle that you haven't yet connected with. What's worse, I was hard put to believe in the grief displayed by his peers when a man went down, because the groundwork for such grief wasn't properly laid. When a man died, it felt exactly like what it was: A manipulative maneuver meant to extract an emotional response from the audience.

Despite these downfalls, the movie is not without a certain charm. The actors in this film seemed like a product of their production: There was tremendous potential, but director Tony Bill seemed either unable or unwilling to mine the depths and draw a gripping performance from any of the key players. The visuals are appealing, the characters are appealing; even the combat scenes are appealing. The movie isn't difficult to watch, it's just wildly ineffective on an emotional level. James Franco draws a very likable character, loping across the fields, falling in love, playing the earnest hero with an off-hand American drawl. Someone should have scared the cast members into believing, if only for a moment, that they weren't playing a fabulous game of pretend.

One member of the cast did stand out. She gave, to my mind, the only believable performance in the film, and this with ludicrous material to work with. Jennifer Decker who played Lucienne, Blaine Rawling's love interest, gives a wonderfully pure and expressive performance. Throughout the film, Lucienne appears in the most contrived and coincidental of places. She is 'visiting' the local brothel and happens to bandage Rawlings up when he and his flying mate crash during a training exercise. Rawlings is immediately twitterpated, protecting her from the unwelcome pawings of his fly-pal. It is only later that Rawlings is relieved to discover Lucienne is not one of the residents of the establishment.

When German force's invade locally, Rawlings defies his squad's rules and takes a plane out to save Lucienne, who's property lies (naturally) in the line of invasion. Cut to a shadowy scene where the innocent French girl lurks in the shadows, trying to evade evil Germans. It is a scene straight out of a melodrama, the handsome Rawlings rushing to his lover's aid, the evil Germans destroying property, shooting at anything that moves, and of course the damsel in distress.

Despite the maudlin situations written for her, somehow, every scene in which Jennifer Decker appears takes on a certain gravity. Her careful, broken English paired with wonderfully expressive gray eyes make her a luminous piece of poetry in a film rife with stumbling prose. French native Decker did not garner the attention an American actress would from playing such a part; even a Google search reveals relatively little about the actress. I think this may be due to the subtlety with which she approaches her character. Hers is a gentler technique that flickers in and out of the film. Decker does not command scenes but works inside of them. In the love scene, she looks shyly up, glowing in the arms of James Franco. For a moment her expression, her embrace, her look of gentle love into the soldier's face makes him the genuine hero he was meant to portray in the film.