Flyboys, The Football Factory

New reviews from Nick at Nite

Flyboys

This movie is billed as being from the creators of Independence Day and The Patriot. That type of advertising usually means lots action, big explosions, thin plot, over emoting, and a victory for the good guys. Flyboys is actually much, much more. It has plenty of action and explosions, and the good guys do win, but it has much more. It tells the story of the Lafayette Escadrille. These brave Americans volunteered for service with the French before America entered World War I. They were mostly college graduates. They were drawn to battle out of a sense of personal obligation. It is an interesting, historically accurate telling of their time in battle. By the way, they really did have a lion as a mascot. There is a ton of flying in this movie, lots of air duels, lots of blood shed off camera, some dead bodies, and the horror of war. This movie was exciting, I learned something, and I had a good time for a few hours. I give it an "A."

The Football Factory

An alarming British film about the misguided lives of British soccer hooligans. In America we call it soccer. In Britain they call it football. Much like how Istanbul is actually Constantinople, we will never know why "football" was changed to "soccer." Apparently, there are a large numbers of British soccer fans who go around searching each other out and beating each other up. This movie is basically Gangs of New York without the period costumes, Daniel Day Lewis, Cameron Diaz, Liam Nesson, or Martin Scorsese. It is not clear to me what these hooligans do for a living, but it is appealing to me that they spend much of their time in pubs. Honestly, I was bored. I found it odd that this movie was about soccer, yet there was not one scene of anyone playing any soccer. Much pointless barbarism. Since it didn't involve zombies, I didn't really care for it. I give it a "C."