The Pacific......and Tom Hanks

[nickagneta]

I just got caught up last night watching the three episodes of HBO's miniseries, The Pacific. For those that do not know it is the sequel, I guess, to Band of Brothers, one of the best and most celebrated miniseries ever put together. It is, like Band of Brothers produced by DreamWorks and is spearheaded by Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Stephen Ambrose though Bruce McKenna and Hugh Ambrose were a huge part of this project.

The telling of the Battle of Guadalcanal was superb and the battle scenes appear scary realistic. The interviews with surviving members of the 1st Marine Corps and Hanks voice over telling of the war while playing actual war footage is excellent and sets up each episode with an eerie anticipation. Through three episodes, I have to say it is additive and I only want more and can't wait for Sunday.

Who would have though watching Bosom Buddies and the movie Bachelor Party that that skinny, curly haired, ball of goofiness would become Hollywood's preeminent storyteller of wartime history and it's best actor. I hope when Hanks is done telling stories about WWII that he starts to tell stories about WWI, the Civil War the current wars. His exceptional attention to detail would make such projects quite anticipated, in my mind.

[JSD]

I didn't like last episodes soft core po rn, but the Battle of Guadalcanal was excellent and I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.

Yeah, kudos to Tom Hanks and Spielberg for that matter. They both have done a wonderful job celebrating arguably the greatest generation in the history of our country.

[guava_wrench]

Band of Brothers was brilliant. I'll check out The Pacific eventually. I'm not a war buff in any way, but I am a fan of great storytelling.

[feckless]

Sorry but  i have to disagree and say the Pacific isn't even close to Band of Brothers--characters (with a couple of exceptions) are less strong and not as distinct, story is told in a less compelling fashion and at times is confusing and battle scenes are filmed too dark.

To me Band of Brothers came from a book with structured story to tell I just haven't felt the presence of a band of brothers who are to be the story in the Pacific.

[Andy Jick]

I really want to like this, but the character development isn't even close to B.O.B.  I realize it's a different style of war (and I must admit the shooting scenes are quite amazing) but it's been a slow start for this series.

I think we probably just need to drop the comparison to B.O.B., as there will probably never be a series that comes close to that one.

I'm hopeful, but I'm just not seeing this thing get to the depth of the individual stories as B.O.B. had...  But still worth the watch.