A one-word summary is "entertaining" a bit too long (over 2 hours), but entertaining. While you have seen this many times before a group of people put under intensive training then thrown into real action this one has some unique features. The protagonists in "Dirty Dozen", for example, are criminals beyond redemption. Here, we have young Americans serving in the French air force (the movie is 99.9 percent in English). And these are not the Flying Aces in the Battle of Britain, but, winding back 3 decades, fighter pilots at a time when human beings flying in the air was a novelty, let along flying in the air and shooting machine guns at the same time.
After the establishing opening half hour, this becomes a very familiar guessing game (which you see in every horror movie like "Scream" or every disaster movie like "Poseidon"), of who is going to die and in what order. There are of course the usual ingredients a sweet romance (with a very attractive French girl), some laughs, heroism, sacrifices, and all the rest of them you get in an "entertaining" movie. The action sequences are exciting.
In the lead is James Franco, whom you probably remember best as Harry Osborn in the "Spider-man" sequence. But for an even more impressive perfromance of Franco, watch Sonny (2002), in which he plays a gigolo. Jean Reno plays a familiar fatherly figure, the captain of the Lafayette Escadrille.
One more point (additional spoiler warning) the final climax (a sort of duel in the air) turns out to be something hilarious, quite unintentionally. I don't know if it's just me with my weird sense of humour.
After the establishing opening half hour, this becomes a very familiar guessing game (which you see in every horror movie like "Scream" or every disaster movie like "Poseidon"), of who is going to die and in what order. There are of course the usual ingredients a sweet romance (with a very attractive French girl), some laughs, heroism, sacrifices, and all the rest of them you get in an "entertaining" movie. The action sequences are exciting.
In the lead is James Franco, whom you probably remember best as Harry Osborn in the "Spider-man" sequence. But for an even more impressive perfromance of Franco, watch Sonny (2002), in which he plays a gigolo. Jean Reno plays a familiar fatherly figure, the captain of the Lafayette Escadrille.
One more point (additional spoiler warning) the final climax (a sort of duel in the air) turns out to be something hilarious, quite unintentionally. I don't know if it's just me with my weird sense of humour.