Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Infamousta brilliant actors, brilliant editing

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

jdonalds-5 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.

Robert J. Maxwell 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.

elomusic I read several of the comments and reviews and found them to be unfair. Some talk about the lack of historical facts, which to a point I agree with. When Tarantino did like he did in Inglorious Basterds (by changing history), he's considered a genius, yet these guys are hammered for doing the exact same thing. No doubt some facts were wrong in movies like Apollo 13 and many other movies.I watched the movie for the pure enjoyment of entertainment for a couple of hours. I wasn't obsessed with the fact the Red Baron talked to Brown, or anything else.I love the fact that there can be some sort of chivalry during war. This is shown in movies like Gods and Generals, The Battle of Britain, Flyboys, and other movies. I would rather see scenes like this versus Americans raping young girls in Platoon, Americans kidnapping a girl in Casualties of War, or Americans shooting Germans who are surrendering in Saving Private Ryan.I found it ironic that some made negative comments of the possibility of dropping a wreath in the grave early in the movie, however when James Bond does his impossible things, we clap and yell for him.Is this movie of the Germans apologizing for their history during the first half of the 1900's? Probably, but that's OK. It also showed a Jewish pilot in a very favorable light fighting for Germany.When I want to read history, I will find a time and place to do so. When I want to be entertained, I will find a time and place to do so. When I watched this movie, I wanted to be entertained, and the movie was very entertaining.

dunsuls-1 I have a couple of thoughts on this film both positive and negative.The positives first reason.WW1 has been largely forgotten or remembered as being in the far distant past with little relevance.We are but 2 years from the 100 anniversary of the start of that war and many issue of that day remain now and plague us still.Any thing to remind us of that terrible war and the little that it resolved, is sorely needed and should be seen. The positive second reason is anything about "The Red Baron"The only hero of a enemy this country celebrates thanks to the "Peanuts" comic strip character of Snoopy as the Red Baron and a Christmas song commemorating that. Now the negatives.First,Matthias Schweighöfer as Manfred von Richthofen don't have the gravitas to carry out such historical character.he's badly overshadowed in the scenes with Lena Headey as Käte Otersdorf and even Joseph Fiennes as Capt. Roy Brown who would have been a better choice to play the baron. Now considering this is a movie and NOT a documentary,its not really important if there was a real romance between Kate and Manfred.It's enough that they knew each other and a dog was there and a character named Doring which I assume is meant to be Goring,the future Nazi leader of the German airfare in WW11,who historically later replaced him and the fact he was killed in the last German offensive of the war,the "Michael".History is told by the winners and facts get "tweaked"all the time.I see no bad tweaks when compared to the facts of depicted of the terrible war. Just judging it on its merits,the old planes and dog fights are great.The few ground battle scenes are horrific and the illusion of gallantry in the air is maintained as if there were two separate wars being fought. Sadly the casting of Matthias Schweighöfer as Manfred von Richthofen is the major downer for me.