Starring Ryan Phillippe, Adam Beach, Jesse Bradford, Jamie Bell, Paul Walker, Barry Pepper, Robert Patrick, Neal McDonough
Written By: Paul Haggis, William Broyles, Jr.
Directed By: Clint Eastwood
Studio: Paramount
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Clint Eastwood has been a busy man! He directed two WWII films from both spectrums of the war, and this is from the American side of things. The other film is Letters From Iwo Jima and its being regarded as the better of the two films. I haven’t seen that film yet but looking forward to seeing how things were perceived from the other side. Flags of our Fathers isn’t what I expected to be but it was still a strong war movie.

Flags of our Fathers tells the true story of the men who raised the flags of Iwo Jima, and how the men dealt with the infamous raising of the flag photo. The photograph was taken during the early stages of the battle of Iwo Jima, where six men raised the flag on top of Mount Suribachi. They didn’t know that photograph would be so powerful among the American people but the photo was something everyone was looking for because it symbolized hope and victory. The surviving men of the flag raising are brought back to America, and are pretty much forced into doing a long publicity tour. The main goal of the tour is to promote the war effort and get people to buy war bonds since they are running out of money. As the men go on the tour, they have to deal with personal problems and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. They remember what they went through to get where they are, but more importantly, their friends who have fallen from the war.

I didn’t know what to think of Flags of our Father. I was actually looking forward to seeing a big war movie again, and this just wasn’t that. I was more interested in seeing all the battles than all the stuff back in the U.S. While that stuff was interesting in the beginning, it just slowed down things after awhile. I know you can’t base a whole movie around just the raising of the flag, but I still would have liked to see more of the war scenes. I think it would have been a little bit better if the war scenes were all put together, and not sporadically placed around the movie. Then after the war scenes, have all the things after that. But I can see why it was edited that way, I just don’t particular care for it. With that said, I still think this movie was pretty good. I thought the war scenes were excellent, and the acting of Adam Beach was great as well. His performance of Ira Hayes was definitely a stand-out performance, and he really showed that he had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and suffered from alcoholism. I thought I recognized his name before, I knew Johnny Cash sings a cover of a “Ballad of Ira Hayes” just didn’t put two and two together. Guess I have to listen to the song more closely huh? As far as the other actors, they did a find job as well. I think Clint Eastwood went on and got every single actor that’s ever been in a war movie or Tv show like Barry Pepper (Saving Private Ryan, We Were Soliders), Neal McDonough (Band of Brothers), Robert Patrick (The Unit) and others. The overall cast was really good.

If you like to know what went on for the men who raised the flag of Iwo Jima, then this is the movie to see. If you are interested in seeing a movie where it’s nonstop war battles like Saving Private Ryan, this isn’t the movie for you. I felt the movie was good, but could have used more action scenes and picked up the pace towards the end.

Features:
none

Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital Stereo
FRENCH: Dolby Digital 5.1

Video:
Widescreen 2.35:1 Color (Anamorphic)

Subtitles:
English, Spanish

Favorite Scenes: All the battle scenes were great, especially when they first got the battleships and stormed Iwo Jima
Rating: R
Running Time: 132 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: