Masters of the Air suffers from lack of coherent vision. They used five different scriptwriters and five directors. And it shows. It's like the series was penned by a commission, who were more concerned with ticking all the boxes, rather than give us a full fledged story where you actually feel something and care for any of the characters.
American pilots in harms way in the sky over nazi-occupied Europe? Check!
Episodes that show life in a Stalag POW camp? Check!
American downed pilot escaping through occupied France with the help of the resistance? Check!
Another downed pilot coming across an abandoned concentration camp to remind us of the horrors? Check!
A token british female who falls in love with an american pilot? Check!
Portraying british men as arrogant but russians as hospitable? Ehh... can't really get my head around that one.
There are A LOT of characters crammed in during the nine episodes, but only two reaccuring protagonists. And everyone gets along. Many character arcs, like the female agent, are left unresovled and there's no real conflict between any of the characters. There's no antagonist either, which is a big mistake, since the common enemy - the germans - are mostly faceless.
If you want to make a great war movie - or series - you have to have characters to root both for and against. Otherwise you are just left with a spectacle which quickly becomes repetitive, because you've seen it all before. Either in a Call of Duty cutscene, a documentary, another movie or the previous episode.
For future shows like this, can we have good old fashioned storytelling back, please?
American pilots in harms way in the sky over nazi-occupied Europe? Check!
Episodes that show life in a Stalag POW camp? Check!
American downed pilot escaping through occupied France with the help of the resistance? Check!
Another downed pilot coming across an abandoned concentration camp to remind us of the horrors? Check!
A token british female who falls in love with an american pilot? Check!
Portraying british men as arrogant but russians as hospitable? Ehh... can't really get my head around that one.
There are A LOT of characters crammed in during the nine episodes, but only two reaccuring protagonists. And everyone gets along. Many character arcs, like the female agent, are left unresovled and there's no real conflict between any of the characters. There's no antagonist either, which is a big mistake, since the common enemy - the germans - are mostly faceless.
If you want to make a great war movie - or series - you have to have characters to root both for and against. Otherwise you are just left with a spectacle which quickly becomes repetitive, because you've seen it all before. Either in a Call of Duty cutscene, a documentary, another movie or the previous episode.
For future shows like this, can we have good old fashioned storytelling back, please?