If Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg’s landmark HBO miniseries Band of Brothers taught us one thing about war, it is that it is brutal, tragic, and psychologically scarring to soldiers on both sides of the conflict. What Band of Brothers also taught us however, is that men who train together, fight together and die together will, out of necessity, form an unbreakable bond of friendship and brotherhood, and it is this bond that gives them the capacity to perform incredible feats of bravery.
With that in mind, let it be known now that The Pacific is NOT Band of Brothers, and in my opinion, nor should it be.
From the earliest moments of Part One of The Pacific, Hanks and Spielberg’s new HBO miniseries about World War II, you get a sense that, this time around, the terror of war will not be redeemed by moments of pure heroism and valor. That’s not to say that we will not see heroic acts of course, merely that the reality of fighting in the Pacific theater was different than fighting in Europe.
While the war in Europe was brutal, at least it was fought on familiar ground. Aside from the introduction of new weaponry and tactics, such as advanced tanks or the implementation of airborne troops, much of World War II in Europe was similar to World War I. Soldiers moved from Point A to Point B, dug in trenches, fought the enemy, and then moved from Point B to Point C. It is a narrative that we are familiar with, and one that is easy for the viewer to follow because it meshes with our expectation of war.
The reality of war in The Pacific however, is that there were no expectations. For United States Marines Robert Leckie (played by James Badge Dale), John Basilone (played by Jon Seda), and Eugene Sledge (played by Joe Mazzello), the names Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, and Peleliu mean nothing; they are simply distant specks in the ocean. It is only when they arrive that the men discover they are not simply fighting the Japanese, but also disease, exhaustion, and the dense jungle itself, in which suicide attacks and guerrilla warfare are the norm.
Speaking of Leckie, Basilone, and Sledge, it is important to note that these are the three main characters which we will be following over the course of the miniseries. In Part One, we meet each of them briefly (Sledge as he is told by his father that he cannot go to war because of a heart murmur, Basilone as he shares a farewell dinner with his large Italian family, and Leckie as he hits the shores of Guadalcanal) and we get a sense that, although they will not become friends, they will cross paths during the war, and in these intersections we will see how each of them carries the weight of the war on their shoulders.
Apart from establishing strong performances and important themes, Part One of The Pacific is an incredible technical achievement. Foregoing the muted tones and grainy quality of Band of Brothers, The Pacific uses lots of light and bright colors to depict Guadalcanal as the island paradise that it could be if it weren’t for the enemy lurking in the trees. The brightness of the daytime scenes contrasts magnificently with the night scenes, particularly the one and only battle of the episode; a standoff between American Marines and Japanese soldiers on opposite sides of a river.
The battle, which is the technical highlight of the episode, leaves nothing to the imagination, showing in frightening detail the white light of bullets whipping through trees and the sudden explosion of mortar shells. A painful scene the morning after the battle is the episode’s dramatic highlight, again using bright colors to give a focal point to the corpses of dozens of soldiers left floating in the river, as well as a last-ditch suicide attack by a wounded Japanese soldier and a tense showdown between an unarmed Japanese soldier and the American Marines who use the opportunity to take potshots at him. In killing the soldier, Leckie demonstrates in one stroke his humanity, as well as his increasing acceptance of the grim reality of war.
Ultimately, I think Part One, while somewhat uneven, is an unexpected and surprisingly effective introduction to a series that has the potential to become one of the most morally complex examinations of war in film or television history. As I said at the top of the review, The Pacific is not Band of Brothers. In this case, I think that’s a good thing and I’m eager to see how the rest of the series develops.
Discussion
Did you get a chance to watch last night’s premiere of The Pacific? (If you didn’t, you can watch the full episode at HBO’s website.) What did you think? How do you feel about the series in comparison to Band of Brothers?
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it all depends on how you look at it… i understand both parties in this minor conflict, and since i am a marine i would like to speak my OPINION. do keep in mind everyone has there own and weather you agree or not agree is completely ok with me. first off yes i would rather be called marine instead of soldier, but i wouldn't get upset if called one because in a way anyone in our armed forces is an American soldier ( even though id rather prefer just calling us troops so everyones happy, that way no one should complain, surly everyone can agree that every servicemen/woman is a troop) but then there's types of soldiers, like army soldiers, sailors, marines etc. now once again id rather just calling sailors, sailors. soldiers, soldiers and a marine is marine. but u cant expect kids or anyone who doesn't understand the military to know what or what not to call anything, in there mind, we r all soldiers, as long as they understand the pain we go through and appreciate what we have done, i wont ask of them anymore, hopefully you all agree, thanks . Semper Fi and good luck to all our troops
i agree, and semper fi
dont mind what i just wrote i forgot to load the whole page before placing my opinion, i assumed from the first thirty that everyone was still stuck on the name gig, though i still hope you all agree.
i meant the reply to u not to rob_keyes
Wow, what a fantastic and accurate comment. Thank you for taking the time to document your thoughts and feelings in such a temperate and thoughtful manner. I spent much time talking with my Dad who was a GySgt with the 4th Marine Division, and my hero. He described many horrors of that time in the Pacific.
I applaud Mr. Hanks and Mr. Spielberg in their attempts to document and honor those veterans and also to help us remember and honor them also. I anxiously await each weeks episode.
This past weeks episode dealing with the 1st Marine Division “Down Under” made me wonder how many “war babies” were born during that time period.
I am anxiously awaiting tomorrow nights episode.
Well, Mr. Guest. That's a great attitude to take. Read the reviews then decide whether to watch or not.
Don't bother to watch and form your own opinion, just go ahead and believe the opinions of the wingnut right about Mr. Hanks comment. Why not do a search and actually read what Mr. Hanks had to say.
I have yet to see any “left wing talking points” expressed in this production, but I don't watch Fox News, so I guess I'll have to make up my own mind regarding talking points.
Disagree:
Bad cliched one liners, poor acting at times, the addition of an annoying philosophical character.
What it does have going for it is a realistic depiction of events and a grasp of the shortage of supplies around the period.
Shame about some of the script though.
not really enjoying the series so far too much drama not enough action dont know who the characters are in terms of remembering their names etc or there relationships between each other this leads to me not really caring about there wellbeing and therefore the storyline. would have been better to see the characters grow from the beginning thats not really happening just machine gun fire and sex in austrailia so far (im upto episode 2)
pacific is playing tomorrow night , billboards around the city say “it's the fight for Australia” although the documentary last night WW2 in lost color, I think in the US is called WW2 in HD, says the pacific war was to protect America, after the Pearl Harbor threat. With the Japanese objective to get oil from the Dutch Indies, there is no real point for the overstretched IJA to invade Australia, it was always safe and reeks of historical revisionism and war/fear mongering.
Recommended book RE Tenaru/Ilu and S. Pacific battles (there is a substantial difference between '42-43 S. Pacific campaigns [Solomons, New Guinea, etc.] and later in N Pacific: “Touched with Fire” E. Bergerud.
I read the companion book before the first episode and I found it …. fragmented. The book didn't seem cohesive and neither did episode 1. In BOB, you formed a bond with the soldiers as you were with them from what seemed to be day 1. In the pacific, you we're just thrown here and there and I was left feeling somewhat confused. I agree with your review that the ETO was quite different from the Pacific because of the way the Japanese fought and where they did the fighting and that how I expected WWII to be was not met. I hope everything ties in together later on as I almost turned the tv off before the show was over.
The Pacific is boring, hollywood centric, innaccurate crap and Tom Hanks and SS should be embarrassed of what they have produced here.
There was so much opportunity with this story, developing it on the back of BoB. We were all expecting something special.
But this is well below par and has silly character development, not enough focus on the actual battles (not to say the terrible dismissal of accuracy); and too much focus on irrelevant side stories, such as the pointless sex scenes, Lekie's time in the mental hospital etc…
Very dissapointing.
Australia may have been safe ( in hindsight) but we certainly did'nt feel that way! After the fall of singaopre we were freaked out! I have spoken to my grandparents about this and they definitely felt scared that the japs were coming. My grandmother remembers hearing the artillery fired at the jap subs that penetrated sydney harbour. This shook the nation
Marines are part of the Department of the Navy, not the Army. They can be legally used in incidents like John Brown's raid at Harper's Ferry when the Army could not be used, and in putting down an inmate revolt at Alcatraz. They have always been called “Marines,” not soldiers. Soldiers are in the Army. The reviewer called them “Marines.”
John Basilone was virtually alone when holding his position, which is what made his achievement so noteworthy as to receive the Medal of Honor. Displacing the .30 caliber Browning machine guns in the Guadalcanal fight was puzzling as they are water cooled and not made for displacement like the air cooled .30s. A small water circulating tank would have to be moved with it, and in that battle, the barrels would have to have cirulcating water to cool them or the barrels would warp. The guns MIGHT have been moved, but they were not actually designed to be mobile, but were designed to hold fixed positions. Not being there, I don't know if they were moved or not, it is just an anomaly.
Eugene Sledge got his “Sledgehammer” nickname at Parris Island, but they could not show much of Parris Island in the series, so they changed that part of the real story. Hollywood always has to change things, which means there will always be some of these stories that are fictional. The real stories are more interesting and informative, so if the series inspires anyone to read them, that will be a positive, especially with E.B. Sledge's story in WITH THE OLD BREED. It was hard to put down.
I saw episode 3 last night – set in Melbourne, Australia. I was very disappointed with the script. First, when the ship arrived in Melbourne, all the marines were standing on deck clutching their rifles, looking dirty and unshaven and as dazed as if they had stepped off the beach at Guadalcanal just two minutes before. The trip would have taken three-four days by ship – probably more. Those marines would have been dying to get ashore. Instead, they stood there as if stoned, as if they had no idea where they were. Melbourne itself was carefully shot so we only saw old buildings, but to do this they had to use weird angles and rapidly edited shots. It just didn't work. Bad directing. All the extras wore clean, perfect clothes and their hair made them look as if everybody in Melbourne had just visited the hair-stylist at the same time. None of the girls wore face-powder or that bright lipstick which was de riguer back then…. Then Leckie picks up a Greek girl and goes to stay with her family. The girl comes into his room, strips and jumps into bed and they have fairly noisy sex. Her parents are in the same small house, probably right in the next room! And they're first generation Greeks! I mean, c'mon. We're talking 1942, when there was no contraceptive pill and young men nor women knew next to nothing about sex, yet these two people are first-date shagging as if it's 2010. I mean, why go to all the trouble of carefully recreating 1942 for the battle scenes and then do such a sloppy job for the R&R scenes? Very disappointing. I hope things improve when they get back to the warzone.
I did some homework on Guadalcanal after making last night's post and found out that the Marines DID displace the water-cooled .30 caliber Browning machine guns during those battles. Marines “improvise, adapt, and overcome,” and this was another example of it, along with evidence of the effectiveness of their training. The crews were efficient with their guns under fire, and the fact that this was the first engagement for most of them speaks even more highly of their training. Making a fixed position gun mobile, and doing it with dispatch, like they've been doing it for years, is testimony to the superiority of Marine Corps training.
John Basilone was down to two men at the position to which he moved one of the machine guns, and did fire it from a “temporary postion,” which meant not fixed to the tripod. He also had to move through jungle that had Japanese troops in it after a few managed to get through the lines. He had to use his .45 pistol on them. What Basilone did at Iwo Jima was even more impressive than this, if that is possible. I hope they show it accurately in the series. If they hadn't sent Basilone home to drum up bond sales, there might not have been a Japanese soldier left alive anywhere he landed.
I have watched 2 episodes of this show and so far it comes off kind of like propaganda. The show does not give justice to the lives lost. The American characters rarely die and the Japanese are not portrayed, only shot down. If portrayals of war are to be accurate, I believe the story needs to be told of both sides, including the human.
I am not impressed with this mini series. The war scenes are under done and the social stuff is sloppy to say the least. The Americans played a huge role in the Pacific and we tahnk them for it. The Melbourne scene was shocking – bad choice of actors. My American friend who has just watched Part 8 about Iwa Jima said that not even the USA flag raising was depicted- what a shame. But to all the veterans of World War 2- we thank you with our lives. If it hadný have been for guys/gals we could have all been under Japanese occupation- YUCK!!!!
I loved the show, and I’m a bit disappointed with lots of people bashing it. But regardless, are you seriously saying they should have done the flag raising when it’s been seen so many times before and it’s been done well? The series focuses on 3 people, based on the memoirs of Eugene Sledge and Robert Leckie, and the story of John Basilone. None of the three were on Iwo Jima past day 1.
Being an aussie, whos really passionate about history, I was SO excited for this series.
I downloaded the first 5 episodes and got all comfy on the couch for a marathon. By 1/2way through ep 3 I had switched off & quickly recovered space on my HD by clicking ‘delete’
Why are we supposed to care about any of the characters when they are not properly developed? It jumps around characters & locations without really ever pulling u in, and the whole portrayal of ‘the marines are SO much cooler than the army’ to me was just lame. So its ok for someone in the marines to go through the armies luggage & steal the army leitenants shoes? Whatever…
If you like machine guns firing for 5mins, if you like 50 japanese being shot for every 1 american (reality?), and if you like cheesy one-liners then this series might be for you.
I was really disappointed in this series!
Hey whats so bad about The Pacific, it has a lot of action and it is mainly at where the war was at wats so bad about it ?
I had very, very, high hopes for “The Pacific” — having found BOB to be profoundly well-executed. However, after watching episode nine Sunday night, I venture that the final episode will have to be awfully good to make up for the previous nine. Frankly speaking it’s boring. WHO WROTE THE SCRIPT? It’s corny. Full of cliches and predictable come-backs. The Melbourne sex scene is really stupid (and I’m no prude.) What were Tommy and Stevie thinking? And did anyone see a Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) in any of the first nine episodes? My assessment: Band of Brothers = A+… Pacific = C- / D+
The Pacific Mini-Series will go down in history as one of the worst war time dramas. Its characterisation is pitiful- its sequence of events in portraying the US Marines and Army was an absolute disgrace. After BoB and Saving Private Ryan – this has been a huge let down. I would give it E+ at best. The Melbourne scene was the worst – better Australian and US actors needed for this type of mini-series.
can you guys add my msn globeworm@hotmail.com just tell me more about war because i am VERY interested in learning more and i am going to join the army so please add me
Disappointing to say the least. Suffered from 2 fatal flaws writing and casting. BoB casting was inspired. This cast unmemorable.
Very disappointing… No camparison to BOB IMHO. A bore to watch and I felt effectively 50% of the story detailed in BOB… No connection to the charactors whatsoever….
I saved the final episode to watch last night and it was a complete disappointment. As they were running the actor/actual person photos I kept repeating ‘oh, that was his name!’. The lack of character development is my #1 criticism with #2 being the inappropriate to the times sex scenes. There was also a not so subtle anti-American theme running through this series which was not surprising given that Spielberg and Hanks were involved. The series had great potential but never quite got there.
ben anlamıyorum.türkler meğer 1922 yılında izmir yakmışlar.tam tersi şerefsiz yunanlılar bize saldırdılar yunanlılar önce tarih okusun ondan sonra konuşsun.robert diyorki orası türklerin değilmi adam bile haklı
What let this series down (have watched it all now) when compared to BOB was character development. Until about episode 4 I was really confused as to who was who. Plus each episode seemed to have two contrasting parts – a relatively boring drama section, then a full on combat section at the end. Plus some episodes were just about all drama (Melbourne & mental hospital episodes). With BOB you felt that you were not watching it from your lounge room, but it was almost like you were there watching things happen. Not so with The Pacific. The combat scenes were done pretty well although like some others have said, I think we should have seen more of the Japanese.
Can’t help but feel this series never really lived up to it’s potential.
Now, we’ve seen a series on WWII in Western Europe (BOB) & one in The Pacific, but you would think that this was all there was to WWII by the way history has been taught and what the media has shown over the years.
It’s about time we saw more of the war on the Eastern Front, because in terms of lives lost and size of battles, nothing the western allies faced compares. If the Russians and Germans had not fought on the Eastern Front there is no way the western allies would have won the war. Yet we hear little of this side of the war, let alone see it.
One can only hope…
One of the funniest things in Woody Allen’s “Love and Death” is the black sergeant hollering at recruits – in the Russian Army fighting Napoleon! I liked “The Pacific” a lot, but I can’t figure out why they cast someone who has all the looks of a mestizo Hispanic as the Italian sergeant John Basilone, and someone who looks a lot more Italian (and a very good actor: I’ve seen Jon Bernthal in other productions before)as his friend Manuel Rodríguez, instead of doing it the other way around. Call me obsessive, but even though John Seda is a fine actor this kept bothering me until Seda’s character gets killed. That may be because I’m Mexican, but c’mon, with those eyes, that small nose, those cheeks, and I have to believe he’s Italian? Only if Julius Caesar had secretly been a Navaho.
I just need to speak about this sinse I can´t afford the membership at imbd(so I can smack those dumb haters). Anyways, I love love love The Pacific! But the problem for me was that I didn´t know who (example) Hoosier was before I read on tumblr that he “died” in the episode. All the time it was like, who are they?! I fell in love with ALL of the charactors though when I started to read on tumblr
But I don´t blame the show for being like that, I´m reading Leckies book and there´s not really much of the hoosier, runner and chuckler. But I´ll say, when you read the book, you´ll find out that the show´s got the exact feeling to it. In band of brothers there were soooo many charaters and I couldn´t keep track at them all, you only knew them by their faces and so it was easier to feel something for them and plus, they were all together and in The pacific they´re not. And I think if they made the show a bit longer then it would have been easier to get time to feel something for the characters too because the characters get like 5 episodes each and bob characters got like 10 so when Leckie has been on for a couple of episodes and then the show moves on to Basilone or Sledge, you loose track. But overall, I just LOVE the both shows to DEATH, PERIOD!!
ben bir türküm şunu söylemek istiyorum dizi çok çok beğendim dramı güzel yapmılar.ve artık diziden nefret ediyorum artık yunan kadını gelmiş türkler izmiri yakmışalar biz sizmiyiz bu arada türkiye bizimdi 1922 aralarında tam tersi yunanlılar egeyi yaktı yunanlılara sesleniyorum biraz tarih okuyun cahiller yenemiyorsunuz diye kıskanmayın
I thought part one gave an excellent backgroun of sledge, leckie and basilone
I thought the night battle was well made and very good. It gave me a feeling on how the battle of tenaru was. Five stars