Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
The adventures of the Lafayette Escadrille, young Americans who volunteered for the French military before the U.S. entered World War I, and became the country's first fighter pilots.
Flyboys delivers decent aerial combat visuals and an underexplored historical setting (Lafayette Escadrille), which gives it some novelty points and reasonable cinematography for its dogfight sequences. However, the plot relies heavily on clichéd war-movie archetypes and a predictable romantic subplot, while the acting is largely serviceable but unremarkable. The ending follows a formulaic wartime resolution without particular emotional payoff, keeping it well below average in that regard.