The first episode was a bit slow… exposition and all that, but well done over all. The above has a preview of coming episodes… I especially like the boot camp speech by MOH winner John Basilone. Anyway… no sucker punches tonight and the word “yellow” and “Jap” are thrown about, but it seemed realistic to me and when you see a dead Marine who had been tied to a tree and mutilated — well — what would one expect? It’s worth the time. If you’ve got HBO make the time.
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I never saw the interview that created the stir, but Hanks may have been (clumsily) giving the context for the use of “yellow” and “jap”.
Mike… often times artist/actor types don’t even understand the content and themes of their own work. Listening to the cast of Lord of the Rings for example… Ian McKellen and Viggo Moretensen no more understood Tolkien’s themes than they understood quantum mechanics…. damn good movies nonetheless. I guess it’s always been that way.
Hanks’ heart is likely in the right place, let’s be honest, he has put a lot of time, effort and money into making sure these guys have their stories told, and recorded for posterity. But I think he thinks moral equivocating makes him seem more intelligent. It is true every Jap was not a jingoistic robot, programmed to do the Emperor’s will, and it is true that every American soldier was not a character in a Norman Rockwell painting. It’s a common mistake a lot of folks make. It’s immature. It’s like when a kid first realizes his parents are not perfect. He thinks he’s the first in the world to realize it, and his first reaction is to act as if they are not perfectly imperfect. Yes, it’s not black and white, and there are shades of grey, but the U.S. and Japan are not equal in murky greyness. All the U.S.’ actions were not 100% good, and all the actors were not 100% well intentioned, but it’s about 98%. Hanks thinks detecting that 2%, and letting the world know he’s figured that out, makes both sides even and him appear intelligent.
He has a very underdeveloped and immature view of our current conflict with Islamic extremists, but he is likely poorly informed on that topic.
But I’m not going to defend Hanks. He’s a big boy and he’s got a big podium every time he speaks. If he’s going to imply immoral motives to an entire group of people (the brave and honorable men and women keeping us safe from terrorists and fighting to free the citizens of Iraq and Afghanistan) he ought to do much, much more research before making a statement as ridiculous as he did.
Based on past actions, my guess is Hanks would figure it out if he spent more time studying current events and, as many here have already suggested, widening his circle of friends and being sure to include some active military leaders. But I don’t know that. I do know he said something defaming and rude about our current troops and those who defeated Japanese imperialism in World War Two. Very dumb.
Semper Fi Rufus! Right on brother!
I thought it was pretty solid but it seemed to jump into the war a bit too fast. Where Band of Brothers I thought really succeeded was in establishing the characters before the shots started flying. Right now I don’t know any of these characters names.
One thing I did notice was a name. The kid in Mobile who couldn’t make it for medical reasons name was Eugene Sledge. If my memory serves the Sledge family is also discussed in detail in Ken Burns documentary The War, I remember it because they interview the sister in there and because of her accent she tends to say “the wah-rah”.
Yeah… I wished they had followed one of them through boot. The narrative will be a bit more scattered since they’re working off three narratives instead of Ambrose’s book on one Company throughout the War. plus we’ll be tracking 3 years plus as opposed to 11 months.
+JMJ+
I write for my local TV guide, and they asked me to cover HBO Asia’s media launch of The Pacific on the island of Corregidor! =D
Wow! Talk about a tough assignment! Do you have a link to what you wrote?
Oh cool! Good job!
+JMJ+
Thanks, Stephanie! It’s one I’m really looking forward to. =)
Cool indeed and glad to see you un-lurking. Hope you enjoyed the Lady Gaga I posted the other day.
+JMJ+
It won’t happen for another few days! The Asian premiere is a little later than what you had in the US.
That’s odd, because they jumped the gun on the Yanks at the premiere.
/rimshot/
neat trailer, but I don’t remember artillery making bright flashes when they detonated. Lots of dirt and shrapnel…maybe I wasn’t paying attention.
Can’t wait to watch it this weekend!
Watching it.
Very good.
Just watched it. Very well done.
Floyd was right about it being confusing. Also, the ending just, well, ended. Too sudden.
Floyd was right. Very good.
Never got the whole “It portrays us as rascists”.