HBO's "The Pacific" is disappointing...

[zinfamous]

Anyway, I will be blind buying this on BD as soon as it's out. I don't foresee having issues with it.

It can't remotely compare to the disappointment that was Generation Kill.

 

[pyonir]

Personally I don't care for the book as it is too philosophical for my tastes when it comes to an autobiography on combat

I think this is the main reason why many are not liking it and it comes up short when compared to BoB. "The Pacific" is more about the philosophical and psychological effects of this type of war on the soldiers. I think that's why they focus so much on Lucky (especially in this last episode) and his psychological state. At least that's my feeling on it. Maybe there will be more fighting and action to come, who knows.

I enjoy the series. Is it BoB? Nope, but I highly doubt anything will compare to that.

 

[TheWart]

Anyway, I will be blind buying this on BD as soon as it's out. I don't foresee having issues with it.

It can't remotely compare to the disappointment that was Generation Kill.

haha but it is coming close lol

 

[zinfamous]

haha but it is coming close lol

Well, not having seen The Pacific (I don't have HBO, and I'm not a thief), I don't see how they can possibly compare.

The Pacific campaign had a very real, very established strategy, with highly a competent command structure, as part of a war that remains rather uncontroversial.

GK depicts a group of useless, incompetent soldiers, helpless to the terrifyingly greater incompetence of their clueless commanding officers.

From the few things I've heard, The Pacific sounds similar to The Thin Red Line, which was utterly brilliant (more cerebral; whereas BoB is similar to SPR as action/honor, etc).

GK was a bunch of bored soldiers doing donuts in the desert, trying to stay awake. :\

 

[DangerAardvark]

What was so great about BoB? Just seems like an extended version of Saving Private Ryan.

THE CHARACTERS. The Pacific lacks the strong characters BoB had. Winters, Spears, Drunky McDrunkface, Babe, Bull, Gonorrhea, Sarcastic McSarcasterman, Ross from Friends... Jimmy Fallon. You fucking get the point.

 

[techs]

THE CHARACTERS. The Pacific lacks the strong characters BoB had. Winters, Spears, Drunky McDrunkface, Babe, Bull, Gonorrhea, Sarcastic McSarcasterman, Ross from Friends... Jimmy Fallon. You fucking get the point.

Well, the point I get is you cared so much about them you don't remember the characters names........

 

[DangerAardvark]

Well, the point I get is you cared so much about them you don't remember the characters names........

Well, I've watched 3 episodes of The Pacific and I can only recognize maybe 3 of the Marines and only remember the name of one.

 

[Excelsior]

Well, I've watched 3 episodes of The Pacific and I can only recognize maybe 3 of the Marines and only remember the name of one.

Gee, imagine that. They based the miniseries around 3 particular marines and you can only recognize 3. Remembering the name of one is partly your own fault though.

 

[DangerAardvark]

Gee, imagine that. They based the miniseries around 3 particular marines and you can only recognize 3. Remembering the name of one is partly your own fault though.

Maybe when one of them grows a personality I'll remember their name.

 

[Excelsior]

Maybe when one of them grows a personality I'll remember their name.

k.

 

[TheWart]

Gee, imagine that. They based the miniseries around 3 particular marines and you can only recognize 3. Remembering the name of one is partly your own fault though.

I think that most would agree character development has been pretty poor in this series. It is up to the viewer to remember the character's names, but it is up to the director to give the viewers a reason to do so.

 

[techs]

Gee, imagine that. They based the miniseries around 3 particular marines and you can only recognize 3. Remembering the name of one is partly your own fault though.

I only remember Basilone and Leckie. Can't remember the name of the young kid who is now in boot camp.

 

[0roo0roo]

yup the disappoint continues, you are way better off watching spartacus or breaking bad.

 

[fatpat268]

I only remember Basilone and Leckie. Can't remember the name of the young kid who is now in boot camp.

Isn't it Eugene Sledge?

Just a guess though... since the series is based off of Leckie's and Sledge's books.

 

[techs]

Isn't it Eugene Sledge?

Just a guess though... since the series is based off of Leckie's and Sledge's books.

Yeah, that sounds right.

 

[darkxshade]

Comparing The Pacific to BoB is like comparing The Thin Red Line to Saving Private Ryan imo

 

[Fingolfin269]

Comparing The Pacific to BoB is like comparing The Thin Red Line to Saving Private Ryan imo

Said that in a conversation earlier as well. I do think it's different though because BoB > SPR and thus far TTRL > The Pacific. However things should get going very soon in the Pacific...

BTW, the main reason people don't remember Eugene is because he hasn't really been in the series yet. I think it's apparent by the end of Ep. 4 that his time is upcoming.

 

[TheWart]

Comparing The Pacific to BoB is like comparing The Thin Red Line to Saving Private Ryan imo

Fair enough, but I don't think it is as if everyone is like 'durr...more explosions!!!' here. At least in the TRL you could empathize with the characters and the psychological aspect was fairly powerful. In the Pacific it just feels like a rudderless ship that sort of aimlessly wanders...

It is all the more disappointing because I had such high hopes....oh well, maybe it will get dramatically better in the last 6 episodes.

 

[Gothgar]

yeah, I agree....

I will continue watching probably, but meh.

It's been really boring for the most part, I don't remember ever being bored while wathcing BoB

 

[Cheeseplug]

I'm hoping that once it has finished airing that it becomes much better when re-watching, more cohesive.

 

[Train]

Well, not having seen The Pacific (I don't have HBO, and I'm not a thief), I don't see how they can possibly compare.

The Pacific campaign had a very real, very established strategy, with highly a competent command structure, as part of a war that remains rather uncontroversial.

GK depicts a group of useless, incompetent soldiers, helpless to the terrifyingly greater incompetence of their clueless commanding officers.

From the few things I've heard, The Pacific sounds similar to The Thin Red Line, which was utterly brilliant (more cerebral; whereas BoB is similar to SPR as action/honor, etc).

GK was a bunch of bored soldiers doing donuts in the desert, trying to stay awake. :\

Read the Book GK, its actually pretty good. The [MARINES not soldiers] are actually pretty smart and highly trained. I was severely disapointed with how HBO interpreted that one, ya Capt America was a dumbass, but most of the officers in the unit were pretty brilliant. The HBO series seemed like it was made by a bunch of anti-war types who wanted to make everyone out to be hillbillies.

 

[TehMac]

Read the Book GK, its actually pretty good. The [MARINES not soldiers] are actually pretty smart and highly trained. I was severely disapointed with how HBO interpreted that one, ya Capt America was a dumbass, but most of the officers in the unit were pretty brilliant. The HBO series seemed like it was made by a bunch of anti-war types who wanted to make everyone out to be hillbillies.

Most marines I know like it, if only because it has marines in it.


I guess it's kinda sad that we as an audience think it's good just because it isn't tremendously overtly leftist in its presentation. Still, you can't expect change overnight.

 

[Ika]

I hope the Pacific's gonna get much better with the continued episodes. So far it seems they've really only focused on psychological effects of the war (what with the camping and bombing at Guadalcanal and the Leckie episode). Now that they've covered that part, they can start moving deeper into Japanese territory, cover some more of the psychology of the japanese soldiers, kamikazes, etc. Remember, there've only been what, four episodes? This is a ten episode miniseries, and they'd be dumb not to focus on all parts of the pacific campaign. it's not as good as BoB, of course - it's hard to get much better than epic awesome, but it's should still be good.

 

[HendrixFan]

From the few things I've heard, The Pacific sounds similar to The Thin Red Line, which was utterly brilliant (more cerebral; whereas BoB is similar to SPR as action/honor, etc).

I was thinking the same thing, and The Thin Red Line is one of my top 10 all time movies.

I haven't watched The Pacific yet, I'm waiting for all the episodes to air so I can view them over the course of a weekend.

I watched Band of Brothers for the first time about a month ago and tore through them all in a weekend. Maybe everyone posting praise about BoB and dogging The Pacific has seen BoB many times? I can tell you from my one viewing of the series that I had a hard time keeping track of the characters and their stories, the guys looked all the same to me. That prevented their storylines from really digging in until I started to tell them apart. Randomly dropping in new characters, focusing on them for an episode and then moving on was kind of weird. Just as I started to get comfortable telling people apart they grew beards and hid in the snow and I couldn't make them out as easily.

It was a good series and I'm glad I watched it. It did focus on the individuals and their stories and WWII was kind of just a backdrop. There wasn't much sense of "the War" and how that was going, just their squad. If The Pacific takes a broader view, I could easily see myself enjoying it more than Band of Brothers.

 

[zinfamous]

I was thinking the same thing, and The Thin Red Line is one of my top 10 all time movies.

I haven't watched The Pacific yet, I'm waiting for all the episodes to air so I can view them over the course of a weekend.

I watched Band of Brothers for the first time about a month ago and tore through them all in a weekend. Maybe everyone posting praise about BoB and dogging The Pacific has seen BoB many times? I can tell you from my one viewing of the series that I had a hard time keeping track of the characters and their stories, the guys looked all the same to me. That prevented their storylines from really digging in until I started to tell them apart. Randomly dropping in new characters, focusing on them for an episode and then moving on was kind of weird. Just as I started to get comfortable telling people apart they grew beards and hid in the snow and I couldn't make them out as easily.

It was a good series and I'm glad I watched it. It did focus on the individuals and their stories and WWII was kind of just a backdrop. There wasn't much sense of "the War" and how that was going, just their squad. If The Pacific takes a broader view, I could easily see myself enjoying it more than Band of Brothers.

I was late to BoB as well, and it took me 2 or 3 view-threws to get all the characters down. I think everyone has had that problem (yes, they all look the same, sound the same, whatever), they just forgot this confusion because it was only during the first of many views. It really helps once you get to the final episode and they name the real vets, and you can then connect them to their characters in the series.

The Pacific campaign has always been the illegitimate child to Fortress Europe when it comes to WW2 history. One of the recent docs mentioned how the names themselves were just so foreign to the average American, thus it was always hard to relate. Of course, operations were proceeding years in advance of Europe, and those of the time began to adapt and learn, but once the war had passed, several years later, that familiarity to the average citizen faded. Not so for the veterans, of course, but the non-vets during that time had much more connection to Europe. And still do.

The depictions of the pacific campaigns in film have always been a bit different. Probably owing a bit to how differently the war was fought, the very strange terrain as compared to "normal" training, the then-unusual tactics of the Japanese, etc. Infantry can't be maneuvered in island hopping and limited land space as compared to what was expected in Europe. A very different type of war, different types of themes emerge. Tends to lead to very cerebral subject matter, I think.