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HBO and Hanks Birth a Turkey in “The Pacific”

By Larry Johnson on April 6, 2010 at 7:17 PM in Current Affairs

Even though I remain miffed at Tom Hanks for his shallow, historically inaccurate commentary on the U.S. motives for the war in the Pacific, I still secretly hoped that the new HBO mini-series, The Pacific, would follow in the steps of Band of Brothers and truly honor the men and women who fought for our country and the freedom of all people in World War Two.

So how did Hanks and Spielberg do? They have expelled a big stinking turd of a series. Awful. Boring. Shallow. Cartoonish. Should I explain?

I am a big fan of Band of Brothers. I bought the DVD set and will buy the BluRay version. I have watched the series repeatedly and will continue to do so. It tells a gritty story, based on real people and helps teach our generation about what was at stake in World War II.

So what about the Pacific (note, I refuse to link to it)?

The characters, though also based on real people, come across as cartoons from a soap opera. The writing on this series is awful. The Marines in the Pacific are portrayed more often than not as a bedraggled group of itinerant Hell’s Angels drop outs or psychological basket cases.

I have watched the first four episodes. The story of John Basilone, who received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroic actions on Guadalcanal, is pretty good (Episode two) and worth watching. However, episodes three and four should be chucked into a trashbin and never taken out. No real story. They are the equivalent of a lame attempt at impressionist painting by someone with Parkinson’s disease. This appears to be a classic case of Hollywood telling itself that they have a winner because they are doing similar things to what they did on a previous success (in this case, Band of Brothers as the predecessor). Yet, when you look objectively at the story and the execution you discover that a fraud has been perpetrated.

A friend of mine (she and her husband attended the Nats/Phillies ballgame with us yesterday) is an Obama supporter. She does not share my feelings about the Golden Child. I raise this because, as we chatted while walking away from National’s stadium, she brough up The Pacific and had the same reaction as me to the latest HBO offering. She too, like her husband, is a huge Band of Brothers fan. So this is not a reaction of someone who is anti-Obama.

Stated succinctly, The Pacific is dreadful. If you don’t watch you will not miss anything of value.

  • HC123

    So sorry to hear it, I loved Band of Brothers. Thanks for the heads up.

  • PssttCmere

    I am trying to stick it out til the end in hopes that it gets better…

  • TeakWoodKite

    BluRay version…. Is a must.

  • Tricia

    OK–I am not going to watch.  I loved Band of Brothers and will let it go at that.

  • Peggy Sue

    I agree, Larry.  I’ve been watching the new series based on what I thought was a terrific production in Band of Brothers.  I think it’s a characterization weakness.  In BoB, you felt a personal, very human connection to the main characters; they were carefully drawn, dimensional–the good, bad and ugly–and seemed absolutely authentic.

    This series?  Not so much.  Too bad.  The Pacific Theater is a hell of a story.  It’s where my father and father-in-law both served and fortunately returned from, somewhat beat up but still kicking.  Fortunate turn of events.  Otherwise my husband and I wouldn’t be here.  :)

  • Jackie S

    Tragic to hear.  The men & women who fought and endured the war with Japan have incredible stories.  I know my grandfather is among them.

    I have listened intently over the years so much so when I close my eyes I can see Bataan.

    Hanks & company got too much inlove with their idea of reality instead of being humble like they were with Band of Brothers. 

    We all owe the men & women of WWII.  We should feel honored to be in their presence most days.

  • I’m a Linda too

    And fittingly….. I cancelled HBO a long time ago.  After no more Soprano;s, Sex and the City…and Bill Maher flipped on and out to calling Hillary racist, I had no reason to keep it.  It seems not much has changed to make me want it again, either.

  • Patience

    I’m also a huge BofB fan.  The final episode, when it’s revealed that the elderly men who bear witness before the beginning of each episode are the actual characters who’ve been portrayed all along tears me up every time.  I simply cannot maintain composure while watching it.

    So I had very high hopes for The Pacific, but it literally lulls me to sleep!  I agree with Larry that there’s a soap opera-like aspect to this series, and it diminishes the larger story of the absolutely gruesome grind to succeed and survive in the PTO.

    It just goes to show that the lavish production values Spielberg and Hanks bankrolled in BofB, and apparently employed again in the new series, aren’t what’s most compelling.  No amount of special effects can make up for bad writing.  

    Too bad for veterans of the PTO. 
       

  • Patience

    I’m also a huge BofB fan.  The final episode, when it’s revealed that the elderly men who bear witness before the beginning of each episode are the actual characters who’ve been portrayed all along tears me up every time.  I simply cannot maintain composure while watching it.  
     
    So I had very high hopes for The Pacific, but it literally lulls me to sleep!  I agree with Larry that there’s a soap opera-like aspect to this series, and it diminishes the larger story of the absolutely gruesome grind to succeed and survive in the PTO.  
     
    It just goes to show that the lavish production values Spielberg and Hanks bankrolled in BofB, and apparently employed again in the new series, aren’t what’s most compelling.  No amount of special effects can make up for poor writing and adaptation.    
     
    Too bad for veterans of the PTO.

  • Craig Della Penna

    I expected as much, sad to say. The reason BofB was so great was that the original book was written by the brilliant historian Stephen Ambrose and Ambrose was there throughout production to tamp down the mawkish sentimentality that Spielberg and Hanks bring to everything they do.
    Without his influence S&H apparently went straight back to the cheap tinsel and treacle they’re used to.
    Damn shame.

  • POdVet

    Larry, I respectfully have to disagree with you a bit. I don’t find it soapish or cartoonish. To me, it’s straight up revisionist. They have intentionally and blatantly removed the evil that was rampant in the Japanese military of WWII! With that critical element gone…they have to use longwinded BS to try and explain character development. That is where the soap opera feel comes from. If you don’t know that the Japanese Army had been decieving their soldiers and the civilians, claiming that American GI’s had been committing atrocities. You can’t properly understand why they committed suicide rather than be captured. The level of control that the Japanese military had over the press and the Japanese populace overall. Has never been matched in modern history. Though I’m sure the Obamatons would wish it otherwise.

    For example: After their defeat at Midway, the Japanese military placed their own press people who were there in detention so they could not report the defeat. The Japanese people were told they won at Midway! They admitted to losing 1 carrier only, so the Japanese people thought those other 3 carriers and all the sailors on them were still fighting for over a year after they were lost!If every word you ever hear is a lie…how are you supposed to know the truth?

  • Fudgefactor

    Me too. But I am not hopeful.

  • Cindy

    Thanks Larry—We don’t have HBO, but I was wondering if Pacific was good. We trust your critique.

    I think S. Spielberg and Tom Hanks have become so complacent, and fat & happy, that it’s made them lazy. That laziness has already affected Tom’s ability to be a critical thinker. Looks like it’s now affecting his ability to produce a well-crafted mini-series.

  • SoCalDem

    I don’t watch HBO ever.

  • No Longer Banned in Beantown

    I have not seen it yet. I am glad I did not waste any money adding HBO to the cable bill.

    My father and Grandfather served in the Pacific during WWII. Like everyone else, I hoped for the series to match “Band of Brothers”.

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  • AC

    testing

  • Vmorris

    Bill Maher also called Hillary a C_NT! He is an a-hole.

  • Kbentleyis

    Larry, great minds think a like.  I’ve put off watching the 4th because the series started to lose the basic core of the war.  I agree, more of a soap opera.

  • Retired

    Oddly, it would appear that Marines themselves are not big fans of The Pacific.  The screenwriters are neither former Marines nor historians with any particular specialty in the topic at hand.  Current and former fellow Marines that I have spoken to are not enthusiastic, at least off the record and in private to other Marines,
    Perhaps most telling, though, is the odd story of The Pacific”s Senior Military Advisor (at least for the first episode), Hollywood military staple retired Marine Captain Dale Dye.
    The “company commander” of the minibootcamp that The Pacific actors were required to go through pre-production in order to make their performances more realistic, Dye praised The Pacific in early HBO promos and reportedly advised some friends in the Corps that he was to be cast as legendary Marine officer Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller for the Guadalcanal episodes.  A combat vet who served a career in the Corps and is as salty as they come, besides being movie quality photogenic, it’s hard to imagine a better fit for the part of ”Chesty” than Dye, a veteran actor who played the part of the Army infantry company commander in “Platoon” and Colonel Bob Sink in “Band of Brothers.”  In some respects, I and other former Marines who are Dye fans (I knew of him while we were both still in the Corps) were watching The Pacific to see how Dye was going to do as Chesty.
    We should’ve expected something when Dye’s promo plugs stopped.  Ultimately, Dye not only didn’t wind up cast as Chesty, but appears only to have served as the technical advisor on the first episode, if IMDb is to be believed.  Why?  Well, perhaps he got a look at the script of Part Four, which was mostly dedicated to “Lucky’s” combat fatigue and decided that perhaps this wasn’t so representative of Marines in the Pacific theater that it rated an entire episode.
    Only Dye knows for sure, of course.  Semper Fi. 

  • ddjk154

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  • jlp

    I no longer will be a fan of anything that Tom Hanks is involved in.  My father and uncle fought in the Pacific. They did not start the war, but gave everything they had to win the war.  Tom Hanks calls them racist?

    My father passed away at age 86, at the end, he shared he still was having flashbacks.  “I wake up in a cold sweat from nightmares, and  I Have to set on the side of the bed until it passes.” 

    How dare Tom Hanks judge my father and uncle – how dare the bastard.
    The coward has no right. 

  • tiger tim

    PC franchise slum Hollywood’s latest moral alibi —for itself
    –even as they continue to make BILLIONS catering to history’s
    –MOST– awesomely genocidal regime -bar none! —-ACROSS
    the Pacific.

    MEANWHILE, the staggeringly relevant 60th Anniversary of
    the KOREAN WAR is, once again, ‘mysteriously overlooked’…

    ——-TOOOOOO funny!