Flags of Our Fathers

[lurkerwithout]

Not as strong a movie as "Letters" is. Part of this is that, while good actors, none of the main roles have the presence of Watanabe or some of the other Japanese actors. The other part is that that movie seems unsure of just what kind of message to tell or how to tell it. About 3/4 of the way in, it switches from following the Bond tour with Iwo Jima flashbacks to being the son of one of the flag-raisers interviewing people to learn about the event and the lives of the survivors. And at the end where Eastwood makes it a They Died For Their Buddies message, and fairly heavily handed at that...

Still, this is a good movie and well worth seeing. But it doesn't measure up too well against Letters to Iwo Jima or Saving Private Ryan...