The Pacific on HBO

[flyersfan31]

Anyone watching this (I'm willing to bet a bunch of us are).

I was looking forward to it, based on strong reviews, and also because I have always found the Pacific Theater more interesting.

That said, I'm not really impressed by the saga. The battle recreations are amazing, no doubt, but the storyline just hasn't captivated me like Band of Brothers. The guy they have playing Eugene Sledge is good. I can't get past Jon Seda to see John Basilone. Frankly, I didn't watch that battle scene and say "Heck yeah that dude deserves an MOH!!" The Robert Leckie character is, well, kinda blah and not interesting. It is a shame, because they were all fascinating in life. Too much Hollywood, not enough grit.

I'm disappointed. Definitely not getting it when it comes to DVD. I bought Band of Brothers on day 1.

 

[Anthony]

Andrew,

I've been watching it and recording it on DVR. I feel EXACTLY the same way you do. Its OK, but nothing as good as BOB which I also have on DVD.

Hanks and Spielberg blew it IMHO.

I'd like to see someone do a series from the German perspective. Like a gound based "Das Boot" which was a mini series in Germany then condensed and released as a feature film.

 

[ApacheBob]

I have been wanting to check it out. It sounded good when they were planning it. I suspect it is hard to re-create the grittiness of the 1940s when our toughest challenge is deciding which Starbucks to buy coffee at.

 

[ScottM]

I agree with you too Andrew. There is something missing me that is just not helping me to be tied into the characters like in BoB. I think part of it is just the way the story is written. In BoB we had Lt(Capt) Sobel to hate with the men as they went through training to help us feel like part of their unit. There is nothing like that here. The first episode went straight from a couple of them joining into the battle of Guadalcanal. There was no chance to learn about these characters.

 

[painless]

Agree about the development of the characters.

That said, I must say that I still get rather choked up seeing the battle scenes and realizing what those men went through. We owe them so much.

God bless the Greatest Generation.

 

[Greebo]

Agreed. With BoB, you could have an entire episode focus on a character who, later, is no longer there. You get a real sense of what it was like to be in the company with BoB - including the feeling of loss.

With The Pacific - well the combat is amazing, yeah - but the characters...it's just 3 of them, and none of them are really all that interesting.

 

[Keith Lane]

Earlier this year, I went to the new U.S.M.C. museum near Quantico and saw references to Sledge's book With the Old Breed. I checked out a copy at the local library and enjoyed the book a lot. It was a no no nonsense account and I can see why the Marines keep it on their suggested reading list. I don't get HBO at home and have only seen a couple of episodes, but am in agreement on the comparisons to BoB, which was an excellent book also.

 

[Frank Browne]

The problem for me, seems to a disconnect between the portrayal of Eugene Sledge in the series, and the "Sledgehammer" I've seen interviews with on other shows. I'm thinking there may be some serious character development still to come.

 

[Obi Heed Kenobi]

Part of the problem, I think, is that Stephen Ambrose died after Band of Brothers. He was a good historian a good storyteller (the two don't always go together).

Another part of the problem is that I suspect it's really hard to make a movie out of the ground war in the Pacific. That's not to take anything away from it, but how it happened doesn't really lend itself to film.