This movie was highly entertaining and James Franco gives what might be the best performance yet in his career. Newcomer Philip Winchester also does a great job as the young fighter pilot who is not sure he can live up to what is expected of him. Each pilot has his own story and this includes a young black man joining up in France and even a minister who sings “Onward Christian Soldier” while fighting in the skies. It should be noted that the black man has to endure some racism. The dogfights are realistic and the battles a bit gruesome at times.
The problem in approving this film for families ages twelve and above is that there is one “GD” in the film, and the violence hits a three on our content chart, which means we can’t approve it for families. This one came close to making it. If the one word had not been in the film, and the violence had been slightly less graphic, this one would have made the cut. We are sorry it didn’t as it is a near-miss but we cannot approve this film for family viewing.