Pretty Good

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

I did not view this movie for it's historical accuracy or lack thereof. I simply enjoy WWI and WWII fighter airplane scenes and this movie was full of themThere must have been a good deal of CGI in this movie but it was done so well it didn't distract from the movie at all. I wasn't specifically watching for CGI as I was simply enjoying the movie too much.These old bi-wing and tri-wing aircraft was real combat in the air. The pilots could see each other, the action was close up and, as much as possible in the air, hand-to-hand. From the time I started watching The Red Baron I knew it was going to be good. The direction, including camera work, was very enticing. All of the sets and locations were wonderful, and the views of the airplanes in combat from all angles were very well done. It isn't often I give a director full credit but in this case I do.Yes the dialog was a bit juvenile but I thought it fit the movie, especially given it was depicting an era of almost 100 years ago.The story may not be accurate as far as how it portrays The Red Baron's humanity, but it made a decent story. Overall I thought the story was the weakest part of the movie.One complaint was sometimes the dialog was so quiet I had to have the volume up to 100% on my computer (for most movies I have it about 30% of max), then the loud scenes of airplanes flying, or bombs going off were so very loud. I finally put my earphones on so as not to wake the sleeping child in the next room.If you love air to air combat give this one a watch. It's worth it.

A nice movie, not completely faithful to Manfred Von Richthofen's life I'm told, but very pleasant to watch. A fantastic production with beautiful scenes, great battlefields and very good actors: Matthias Schweighöfer over all.How could you become a hero without killing anyone? How can you win fear but not be able to cope with the death of those you love? How can you grow up as a Prussian gentleman and yet despise militaristic societies? These are the universal themes the movie deals with and I found it very interesting.The man himself really was and still is a legend by all means.

I don't understand why this film hasn't reached a wider audience. It's quite well done. It has action, a bit of romance, character development, a nice fat budget and splendid special effects. What's really left over amounts to minor points and nit picking. (Von Richthofen had dark hair; Matthias Schweighofer, who plays him here, is a blond Aryan.) Schweighofer is nearly perfect in the role. He projects an aristocrat's disdain for rules, which comes across as a mixture of elitism and trickery. But he's boyishly handsome and has a high voice, as if he'd just graduated from some fancy prep school and wowed the babes. He rarely loses his temper or shouts. He's never ruffled. He has an ingratiating smile. It's hard to resist, but behind it lies determination and a certain gnarly obsessive quality. In his early pursuit of celebrity, aiming at dreamy heights that no human being can achieve, he reminds me a little of Jay Gatsby or maybe Bernie Madoff.I admire the way in which the script treats the audience as reasonably perceptive adults. It doesn't spell everything out, as in a kindergarten class. In one scene Schweighofer has a chat with his best friend, who is busy installing a British engine in his airplane. Later, Schweighofer visits the Fokker plants where the manager complains that German pilots have been substituting British engines in their triplanes. The deviation was discovered because a modified Fokker had just been shot down by the British and the pilot killed. Schweighofer realizes that the dead German pilot must have been his best friend. He simply looks stricken. There is no dashing around, shouting demands, and no weeping. The next shot has him staring expressionless into the distance, holding the report in his hand. A less trusting movie would have shown us everything -- best friend goes down in flames uttering hoarse cries of agony. Then the crash. Then the rush to the site of the crash. Then the turning over of the body, face up. Then -- well, and so on.One more example. At the start, all the airplanes of all sides are the color of mud, camouflaged. The Baron decides to paint his a bright red all over, partly out of vanity, partly out of defiance of the rules, partly out of the realization that camouflage doesn't work anyway at ten thousand feet. During the remainder of the movie, the Germans fly airplanes of increasingly ornate and lurid designs, in imitation. Nothing is made of it but it's a symbol of Richthofen's celebrity.Oh, and one exception -- the gloomy atmosphere of the departure of Von Richthofen's final mission, the ominous score, the solemn good-byes. It goes on. If he weren't killed we'd feel cheated. The ending itself, though it skips the expected clichés, is sentimentalized.All of these biographical movies must be to some extent fictionalized. Who knows what Manfred and his nurse talked about in bed? Years ago I read "The Red Knight of Germany" and there was little of romance in it, and much of boar hunting while the Baron was on leave. (I reviewed the book, or rather my memory of the book, on Amazon.com.) He never seemed to be anti-war, although the movie has him advising surrender. It's a requirement that one we're intended to admire not be a war-monger, which is why Rommel so often is described as complicit in the plot against Hitler, which he was not.At any rate, Manfred von Richthofen, in life or in the movies, was quite a remarkable guy.

Perhaps it's unfair to write this brief critique because it is one of just three movies I have failed to watch the whole way through. I simply couldn't stomach any more of it. The overall impression was of a bunch of amateurs at work, and that includes both cast and crew. Tacky, unconvincing, shallow, etc., etc. The screenplay was written by someone who doesn't understand dialogue. The editing (the shot sequences) was poor and seemed to have been done by someone who lacked a basic understanding of the rules. The music was all wrong... it simple didn't work, it didn't belong. The acting was poor and unconvincing. The story-line (what story-line?) was disjointed and all over the place. The aerial dog fights were a waste of time - again, totally unconvincing. Who directed this mess? I really should check that out, I'll make a point of avoiding anything else he/she might have been involved in. If you have something else that needs doing, such as counting flies or chasing sardines, do it! Do not waste a second of your life with this utter rubbish.