If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

How sad is this?

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

One of the worst films I have ever seen. The script is terrible and the visual effects, as many has noticed, is not realistic at all. Stay away from this one!

Flyboys seems to divide the audience. One party couldn´t care less about historical details and is happily entertained. The other party cares a lot about authenticity and is appalled by the filmmakers´ apparent ignorance. My point is that I´m glad the film was made at all and that it could have been far worse. As non-French and non-American I appreciate a lot that these early volunteer heroes - heroes they were - of air war are remembered at all, and my understanding is that they are largely forgotten in the U.S.A. In France, Escadrille Lafayette on the contrary still exists, operating it´s Mirage nuclear strike fighters even today from Istres AFB near Marseille. Each plane still carries on it´s tail the Sitting Bull emblem of the original American volunteer pilots. It is a heritage squadron very proud of it´s origins. The point of the film is not what they got wrong, but the many things the makers got right. OK so German planes are all wrong, but the Americans fly the correct Nieuport fighters, for a brief example. The film makes a maximum effort to convince you how unpleasant and extremely unprotected it feels to fly in a wood and canvas crate at little more than 100 mph while someone shoots at you with a very good German machine gun, to make a far more important point. For the excellent dogfights´ sake you will need to suffer a truly weak romantic subplot and a lot of conversations of little consequence. The script, the directing and the acting leave a lot to be desired, and of course the film is only inspired by and not based on true events. But until the day someone conjures up the financing to make a really great WWI aviation film, and that´ll be the day, this well-meaning but flawed effort is what we have.

It's difficult to say what is worse in this movie: the plot, the acting or the 'flying' scenes. Someone already mentioned that the plot is stuffed with clichés, so let's skip this. The acting is mediocre, but not much worse than in other war movies and the unhappy cast does its best. What really irks me are the aerial shots. I'm an aviation buff and I fly myself. I find them so utterly fake as to be truly painful. The combat tactics, the types of aircraft, the real conditions of WWI aerial engagements are completely ignored. As for the 'special effects', aviation movies produced in the thirties using model aircraft were more realistic. Go read 'The First of the Few' by Denis Winter or 'Sagittarius Rising' by Cecil Lewis to understand why I find this movie atrocious...

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 .