Load of rubbish!!

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Movie Review: "Flags Of Our Fathers" (2006)Film-makers Clint Eastwood and acting-producer Steven Spielberg take on a giant production for struggling label of DreamWorks Pictures LLC in season 2005/2006, nevertheless backed up by Warner Bros. Studios for first-hand distributions of this ultra-national U.S. American story on American boy soldiers, who raised a U.S. American flag on the south-bound Japanese island of "Iwo Jima" on February 23rd 1945, bringing home their tortured spirits in one of the deadliest battles in "The Pacific" most offensive efforts of the United States in World War II.Director Clint Eastwood, at age 75, coming out of his prime endeavor in directing actress Hilary Swank as female boxing champion in "Million Dollar Baby" (2004), travels onto location toward extraordinary landscapes of "Island" with fellow collaborators cinematographer Tom Stern and production designer Henry Bumstead, who are able to present some hyper-realistic, even gripping war-action scenes, which then get intercepted by editor Joel Cox's effort in post-production to make emotional sense with further leading, yet behind-expectation-character performance by actor Ryan Philippe, whose portrayal of real-life book-of-experience writing John Bradley is missing the heart-breaking edge of a splintered war-scared human spirit, when the 130-Minute-Editorial of back and forth cutting endeavors between endless "Saving Private Ryan" recalling D-day opening scene, here mainly painted grey to black, to hyped public relations in an war-victories-celebrating United States, where further media-stroke heroes, struggle throughout, as the character of Ira Hayes, performed by one-strong-scene-sharing hotelroom cry-out of getting fired actor Adam Beach, known for the more suitable portrayal of Ben Yahzee alongside Nicolas Cage in the emotionally forthcoming as fulfilling "Windtalkers" (2002) directed by John Woo."Flags Of Our Fathers" presents itself with conflicting scene work, which are skillfully capture, but at times integrate staggering computer-generated-imagery (CGI), when the picture, even with its sublime supporting cast from Barry Pepper over John Slattery, Jamie Bell and Paul Walker (1973-2013) does not want to come together to one whole war-movie-experience. But then again the two months later released brother-film "Letters From Iwo Jima" on December 20th 2006 seems to be like a silent gem in the pool of "World War II" films due to newly-receivable points of views in the South Pacific warfare of the 1940s, when the effort must have been to combine "Flags Of Our Fathers" and "Letters Of Iwo Jima" into one motion picture of a 200 Minutes including classic orchestral overture, an Intermission plus "Entr'acte" as worldwide event movie experience.© 2018 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)

The first of director Clint Eastwood's two films detailing the battle for Iwo Jima from the perspective of both armies, FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS is a watchable but hardly life-changing movie. The problem is that it follows too closely the pattern of other recent war epics like WE WERE SOLDIERS and SAVING PRIVATE RYAN; the battle scenes are filmed in the same washed-out ways with earth exploding over the camera and soldiers getting shot all over the place. The problem is that it's all been done before, and better, so the film loses some of its impact that would have resulted from alternative ways of shooting or different ways of showing the battle. Saying that, the film is far more interesting when it details the effects of the battle on three survivors who end up touring the USA in a bid to drum up some fund-raising for the war effort. I've never liked Ryan Phillippe very much but the other actors are very good, especially Adam Beach who steals the show as the Native American conscript who ends up becoming a drunk, unable to deal with what he's been through in the name of war.The film is well directed, with a good script and music and excellent photography. The story is wide-ranging and the only thing that seems a little hokey is the quality of the CGI effects which is questionable in places. It tells an interesting story, but the familiarity of that story works against it and, aside from Beach's character, Eastwood fails to drum up any sympathy for his protagonists. They're pretty much interchangeable, they could be anybody out there fighting, and even though the likes of Barry Pepper, Jamie Bell, Paul Walker, Robert Patrick, and Neal McDonough all put in more than adequate turns, there's definitely something missing here. An interesting piece, a serious one with a story that should be told, but not one I plan to come back to.

In 1945, the picture of the flag raising on Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima becomes an immediate icon. The six soldiers in the picture become instant celebrity heroes. Three of them are brought back to the states to sell Bonds. Corpsman John 'Doc' Bradley (Ryan Phillippe) continues to be haunted for the rest of his life. He and others Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford), Hank Hansen (Paul Walker), Mike Strank (Barry Pepper), Ira Hayes (Adam Beach) and Franklin Sousley (Joseph Cross) train together and sent into Iwo Jima. They are led by Captain Severance (Neal McDonough). Rene Gagnon tells the brass that Ira Hayes was one of the flag raiser which truly angers him and which he denies. Keyes Beech (John Benjamin Hickey) and Bud Gerber (John Slattery) push the tour selling the picture and War Bonds. There is confusion about the two flags and controversy over who the true people in the picture. It's a darker compelling telling of the battle and its aftermath. It starts moody and even the battle isn't as heroic as expected. A man falls overboard and no ship stops to save him. The battle is ugly and bloody. There is a greyness to the battle that makes it almost black and white. The confusion adds depth to the characters and the reactions add substance. The fascinating thing about this is that their odyssey doesn't end after the battle. This is also a movie about the human condition. Adam Beach is especially good in a juicy role struggling with guilt and pride.

The movie really nicely serves the story, the real story, about the USMC famous flag photo of Iwo Jima. The story reveals the less known fact about the photo, the persons in it and the story about it. I was amazed to see that it was actually the second flag raised on the peak. The war bond tour inter-weaved plot also make the dramatization even better. Moreover, with the other side's story also being covered by Eastwood in Letters Fro Iwo Jima, it feels like a great complete story about that critical point of the Pacific theater of the war. With the same coloration choice and even sharing some of the same footage, it makes the two movies a real worthy back to back screening material. The acting overall is quite a good one. Ryan Phillippe acted out just enough for his character. Adam Beach did very well in depicting all those post traumatic stresses.