Flags of Our Fathers (HD DVD, 2007, 2-Disc Special Edition)

I wasn't quite as moved as some of the professional reviewers. Flags of Our Fathers is a moderately interesting war movie. It tells the story of the famous picture of the marines hoisting the flag at Iwo Jima. The film moves from present to past... from first person to third... all with relative ease. But the trick of doing that sort of story in my opinion is to make the audience care about the characters. I ended up not being emotionally invested in any of the three leads. And I think thats because after the initial storming of the beach (and some sporadic gun fights and flashbacks) there is not a lot of peril faced by the characters. The movie ends up being a sort of prose-y remembrance of a mans father... and a pseudo-documentary following the PR campaign launched by that photo. Im also not a hundred percent convinced that this photo saved the war effort.... I would have to believe it was slightly more complex than that. The film is acted well, directed well... its technically amazing... but the story is only so-so. And thats why I can only give it a mild recommendation.

I had heard great reviews about this one particular movie and since I didn't get to see it in the theaters I decided to buy it. At any retail store I had gone it was the same price and "too expensive." I decided to go on ebay looked up the item and found one at a great price and new for that matter. It was forth it.