Mini-series - 10 episodes
Rent The Pacific on Amazon Video (paid link) // Buy With the Old Breed book by Eugene Sledge (paid link) // Buy Helmet for My Pillow book by Robert Leckie (paid link)
Created by: Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg
Starring: James Badge Dale, Joseph Mazzello, Jon Seda, Rami Malek, William Sadler
Rated: TV-MA
Watch the trailer
Plot
The Pacific Theatre of World War II, as seen through the eyes of several young Marines.
Verdict
This is a companion piece to Band of Brothers, and comparisons are inevitable. This is a great series that shows three view points on the war. Unfortunately Band of Brothers will always be better. This series is disjointed with three separate characters, so the narrative bounces around. Part of that is that this sources two different novels. You're never ready to leave the character when the perspective shifts. The imagery is great and often harrowing.
Watch It.
Review
Since we change characters, this series doesn't have a constant. We don't follow one unit, and we don't have a constant like Captain Winters.
This provides a contrast of before enlistment and then on a boat, skipping boot camp. Robert Leckie (James Badge Dale), confronts foes that never stop, never give up. The Japanese will endlessly charge to their death to win the battle.
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| James Badge Dale plays Leckie |
What I wish this did better is best illustrated in Band of Brothers. This lacks the intensity. We see Leckie at home before he enlists, and then in episode three he's on leave in Australia. This series isn't meant to be as intense, but it's likely you're watching this after Band of Brothers. Leckie finds and loses love due to the war. His Australian girlfriend doesn't want the torment of wondering if he'll survive. From Australia Leckie heads to Cape Gloucester. The constant rain wears everyone down, but it has to be a hit to Leckie's confidence when the conditions and war cause him to start wetting the bed. His visit to the hospital is the catalyst to change perspectives.
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| Jon Seda plays John Basilone |
Episode five jumps to John Basilone (Jon Seda). He's selling war bonds which is important, but he doesn't like being seen as a hero while his squad still fights and he's taking it easy. Basilone decides to head to the war zone. This series looks more at what soldiers leave behind.
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| Joseph Mazzello plays Sledge |
In episode seven we start following Sledge (Joseph Mazzello). The conditions of war are disheartneing, and we see how it breaks sledge, desensitizing and dehumanizing him. He begins to see the Japanese as less than human. As heartless as we see Sledge react, a moment with a civilian makes him question his previous actions.
This series provides a broader view of the war and how it affects people differently, but due to that it doesn't feel as cohesive as we keep changing main characters. Band of Brothers never relented, and this show by it's structure doesn't do the same. This show also doesn't give us a sense of hierarchy and how the unit works together. Band of Brothers followed a company and everyone in it. This follows a few different people with the leadership largely a non-factor.
The production values are the same, and this is a great companion that shows us the European and Pacific Theatre. The final episode is touching as guys head back home, but there's no way to match he impact of the final interviews of Band of Brothers. One of the final images we're left with is Sledge as a shell of himself. He was eager to go to war, but grew up too quickly and will never recover.
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