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Jan 26, 2024 · Like its forebear Band of Brothers, which starred then-up-and-comers Andrew Scott, Dominic Cooper, James McAvoy, and Tom Hardy, Masters of the Air casts a host of young British actors graduating ...
- Nick Hilton
- 2 min
- This long-awaited companion series to Band of Brothers flies high.
- Masters of the Air Episode Images
- What are your favourite WWII air combat movies?
- Verdict
By Luke Reilly
Updated: Jan 24, 2024 4:13 pm
Posted: Jan 24, 2024 2:00 pm
Masters of the Air premieres Friday, January 26 on Apple TV+ with the first two episodes. Subsequent episodes will arrive every Friday until March 15, 2024.
For TV viewers of a certain vintage, 2001’s Band of Brothers was prestige television before the bulk of us had a firm grasp of what that would really go on to mean. Executive produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks in the wake of 1998’s Saving Private Ryan, the widely acclaimed and hugely successful Band of Brothers was the most expensive TV miniseries ever made at the time of its broadcast (and one of the best-selling DVDs in the history of the format, to boot). In hindsight, it was vastly ahead of its time.
Like 2010’s The Pacific, Masters of the Air is a companion series to Band of Brothers, this time created by Band of Brothers writer John Orloff. Like Band of Brothers, this long-gestating, nine-part miniseries takes us back to the European theatre of World War II, but this time it’s from a new perspective – one that begins 25,000 feet above enemy territory in freezing, uninsulated, and unpressurised heavy bombers, delivering high explosives to the heart of Hitler’s Reich. Also like Band of Brothers, it is very, very good.
Masters of the Air wobbles a bit with its initial pacing, and it’s interesting that as a nine-part series it feels as if there could have been one more episode at the start that spent more time in the United States, perhaps highlighting flight training, or a little more of the backstories of the main players. (Band of Brothers and The Pacific, for reference, each have 10 episodes.) As it stands, it’s left up to the dialogue to fill the gaps. It’s done organically enough, but it does feel like it’s in an unnecessary hurry to get started.
What Masters of the Air does very well, however, is painting a nicely broad picture of the work it took to wage a daylight bombing campaign over Europe, both in the air and on the ground. The operations level, the work of the ground and medical crews, and the heroism of the airmen themselves is all illustrated. Masters of the Air also depicts the POW experience, which is an incredibly important aspect of the war to acknowledge considering just how many thousands of pilots and aircrew were shot down during WWII.
There is no doubt, however, that Masters of the Air is at its most thrilling in the skies.
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There is no doubt, however, that Masters of the Air is at its most thrilling in the skies, and the visual effects do a good job of translating both the violence and sheer velocity of WWII air combat to the screen. Viewed from the cockpits of the B-17s, watching the specks of dozens of enemy fighters manoeuvre at the American bombers is an intimidating sight – especially with the contrails they leave behind arcing out towards the formations like icy fingers. The over-the-shoulder viewpoints on the gunners, combined with the staggering head-on closing speeds of the fighters, makes the air-to-air action suitably quick and chaotic. Despite their immense overall size, things are clearly very cramped inside the B-17s. The horrible impact of enemy fire on the crews and planes themselves has a claustrophobic intensity reminiscent of 2014’s Fury. Masters of the Air effectively pendulates between periods of acute and sometimes catastrophic danger and the relative safety of the bomber base, with its hearty breakfasts and well-stocked bar, and the emotional effects that bouncing between the two extremes has on the crews are explored.
Is there anything here that can quite match the emotion conjured by the rousing and entirely practical sequence of real B-17s taking off in the 1990 film Memphis Belle? No, probably not – but it does get close. Certainly the excellent depictions of immensely damaged and mangled B-17s nursing their men back to England is pretty stirring stuff, and a fine salute to the folks who fabricated them, flew them, and fixed them.
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Ambitious, respectful, and assembled with meticulous care, Masters of the Air is a worthy follow-up to the trailblazing Band of Brothers. Buoyed by earnest performances from its main cast, sturdy visual effects that capture the scale, speed, and savagery of aerial combat, and impressive commitment to detail – from costume design to the cabins of th...
Jan 26, 2024 · Our review: Parents say ( 2 ): Kids say ( 3 ): History buffs who've seen Band of Brothers and The Pacific will immediately feel at home in the cockpit of this World War II drama. But that comfortable familiarity is by no means a bad thing, as Masters of the Air retains its predecessors' absolute best qualities, from sky-high production values ...
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Jan 26, 2024 · Masters of the Air captures the relentless grind, the jaw-clenching anxiety and the pant-wetting horror of those terrifying missions quite brilliantly. Full Review | Feb 1, 2024. Although much of ...
Jan 24, 2024 · At its best, Masters Of The Air functions like the epic war movies Hollywood used to produce: a vast canvas, a sweeping starry ensemble, a sobering, involving reminder of history’s bloodiest ...
Jan 26, 2024 · Austin Butler’s World War II Drama ‘Masters of the Air’ Is Riveting When It Looks Beyond Combat: TV Review. In the final chapter of Apple TV+ ‘s “ Masters of the Air ,” a despondent ...
Jan 24, 2024 · Image via Apple TV+. The Big Picture. Masters of the Air is a gripping war series that explores the human condition and the horrors of World War II with realism and sharp attention to detail ...
