Band of Brothers
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Actor: Damian Lewis, Donnie Wahlberg, Frank John Hughes, Neal McDonough, Ron LivingstonBrand: HBO HOME VIDEO
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 705 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-11-05
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Model: 99205
Studio: HBO Home Video
Product features:
- Condition: New
- Format: DVD
- Anamorphic; Closed-captioned; Color; Dolby; Widescreen; NTSC
DVD Reviews of Band of Brothers
DVD Review: A 700 minute Following of the Men in Easy Company
Summary: 4 Stars
Brought by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg who gave us the war film classic Saving Private Ryan (and my personal favorite war movie ever made), Band of Brothers is perhaps one of the most ambitious WW2 related films ever made (well, not quite film, but motion picture related if that makes a lick of sense), given it's content and scope. Just how Downfall did the unthinkable (portraying Hitler's Downfall. How many people would have the guts to do that?), and how The Longest day tried (and actually succeeded) to portray D-Day by all sides. This 100 million dollar series was the most expensive Tv series ever produced to that time (of all time? Not sure), with an average of 12 million dollars per episode. All of that money goes into the end result, Band of Brothers, a 700 minute miniseries that follows Easy Company from the start (bootcamp) to the very end (Austria) of WW2, or at least their war at least.
At 700 minutes long, the size and scope of this movie lets the viewer do the ambitious: live the whole experience with these soldiers. Sure, it's not real time or anything like that, but the advantage (that is how TV should be used. But some people just don't get it) of having ten episodes to do so brings you a great WW2 experience like no other. Not since The Civil War by Ken Burns (though I find his documentaries to be kind of boring). Do I feel that the series is a little redundant? Kind of, if you mean there's lot's of battle scenes, lot's of explanations and backgrounds regarding the battle scenes, and on screen deaths/ But that doesn't matter much, because you enjoy every minute of it besides all of these things are pretty expendiable to the experience. And there's many subplots within the miniseries, such as somebody's haunting flashbacks, Lewis's battle with alcohol, the tireless duties of a medic, and one characters' harrowing attempt at getting over combat. They even come across a Nazi Concentration Camp in episode 9, which shows that this mini-series has quite a few twist, turns, and new things to get excited about with each episode.
Band of Brothers however, is not that perfect, although there is nothing that I consider bad about it, just not quite perfect. My least favorite part of the movie are the characters. There's way too many of them and they don't have as much personality as I would like them to. Given the fact that these are soldiers, it's even hard sometimes to tell them apart, and there's no central characters to each episode, which can get sometimes confusing. The good thing is that you generally care more about them because all of them were real people, and not just some cookie cutter GI that's entirely made up. All of these people existed, and the veterans even approved the episodes before they went on the air. It's obvious the actor is not the actual person who was in combat, but this large list of unknown actors (save from David Schwimer from ? and Ron Livingston from Office Space) portrays the characters rather well. And it helps that each episode has one character they focus on, which makes it a bit more focused. Just take notes in each episode if you want to remember who the hell is who as the series goes on.
The saving grace for the characters is just the whole situations these people are in. Personality doesn't matter that much when your dealing with war, as the people's situations are a lot more interesting. The feelings and situations of war deserve to be filmed a lot more than the feelings and situations of the latest romantic movie, and that alone does it for me. The back stories work the same way in my opinion, and they fit the overall story much better. It's true if this was not a war movie, I wouldn't care as much, but that's not that important anyway.
Oh, and here's one other thing I have to mention. The battle scenes aren't as good as the battle scenes you will see and hear in movies, given the budget of each episode. While they are exciting visually (filmed beautifully and everything), the sound is kind of a letdown. They are great, historical (all of them are made up and contribute to WW2) and each one is worth watching, but if you are expecting the same kind of sonic brilliance as Saving Private Ryan, don't even think about getting your hopes up. All of the gunfire in SPR were recreated on firing ranges using live ammunition fired from authentic period weapons, which explains why each gun sounds so awesome. Band of Brothers can't claim such a thing, as rifles sound a bit tinny, and machine guns sounds entirely similar to the rifle except a lot faster. It even feels that sometimesI guess I do like the sound of them, but maye I'm just forgivable. But they still aren't as good as movie battle scenes, so don't get your hopes up.
They are, however, tense and, like I said, all historical. They are exciting and range from snowy mountains to city battles. Speaking of the style, the somewhat smaller budget for each episode (being an hour each) kind of made them tone down the artistic razzle-dazzle, and the result in each episode is the feeling that this is a lot more real than your average war film. The film looks great too, effectively immersing you behind enemy lines and overall being in the war. It's not a very sentimental movie either, which is considered refreshing by lot's of people. There is music that plays, but it feels pretty strained and seldom used during lot's of the movie.
The DVD itself is kind of expensive, and because of that, I would not say that this is an impulse purchase, even if you like war films. Sure, it takes a certain type of taste in war movies to really get the most out of it. If you are into old junky war movies like They Were Expendible or heavy-handed crap like Braveheart and Troy, and the loathsome Pearl Harbor, then you probably won't like it. However, if you like down-to eart war films like Letters From Iwo Jima, and don't need cheap uses of slow motion and directing that a soap opera would be embarassed to use, then chances are you will really enjoy Band of Brothers. It's worth the price if you really like what you are seeing (this whole series holds up to repeated viewings, and the whole series is about 700 minutes when you take out the credits and the introductions, though I wouldn't skip the latter), given it's length and special features. Although if I were you I would try to find Band of Brothers either used or on sale. Patience is a virtue, and why not keep that in mind when completating the purchase of Band of Brothers? I'm glad I found mine used.
I can't give Band of Brothers a perfect Five Stars, considering that the series isn't, well perfect. However, the four star rating is still very high. Around 4.7 or something. This is really a great TV show, proving that television really can be a lot more than the usual (in my opinion, television can more than just the average sitcom, but those kinds of shows more often that not sadly either get canceled or become known to an extremely limited audience). True, this is a mini-series more than a regular TV show, but Band of Brothers is essential viewing, no matter what it is. It may not be as artistic as a full fledged war movie, but arguably, the kind of feel for something about war is fine, especially given the plot of the whole series. I'm done rambling, just get the bloody thing, especially if you like war related things.
Description of Band of Brothers
Based on the bestseller by Stephen E. Ambrose, the epic 10-part miniseries Band of Brothers tells the story of Easy Company, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, U.S. Army. Drawn from interviews with survivors of Easy Company, as well as soldiers' journals and letters, Band of Brothers chronicles the experiences of these men who knew extraordinary bravery and extraordinary fear. They were an elete rifle company parachuting into France early on D-Day morning, fighting in the Battle of the Bulge and capturing Hitler's Eagle's Nest at Berchtesgaden. They were also a unit that suffered 150 percent casualties, and whose lives became legend.An impressively rigorous, unsentimental, and harrowing look at combat during World War II, Band of Brothers follows a company of airborne infantry--Easy Company--from boot camp through the end of the war. The brutality of training takes the audience by increments to the even greater brutality of the war; Easy Company took part in some of the most difficult battles, including the D-Day invasion of Normandy, the failed invasion of Holland, and the Battle of the Bulge, as well as the liberation of a concentration camp and the capture of Hitler's Eagle's Nest. But what makes these episodes work is not their historical sweep but their emphasis on riveting details (such as the rattle of a plane as the paratroopers wait to leap, or a flower in the buttonhole of a German soldier) and procedures (from military tactics to the workings of bureaucratic hierarchies). The scope of this miniseries (10 episodes, plus an actual documentary filled with interviews with surviving veterans) allows not only a thoroughness impossible in a two-hour movie, but also captures the wide range of responses to the stress and trauma of war--fear, cynicism, cruelty, compassion, and all-encompassing confusion. The result is a realism that makes both simplistic judgments and jingoistic enthusiasm impossible; the things these soldiers had to do are both terrible and understandable, and the psychological price they paid is made clear. The writing, directing, and acting are superb throughout. The cast is largely unknown, emphasizing the team of actors as a whole unit, much like the regiment; Damian Lewis and Ron Livingston play the central roles of two officers with grit and intelligence. Band of Brothers turns a vast historical event into a series of potent personal experiences; it's a deeply engrossing and affecting accomplishment. --Bret Fetzer
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