The Pacific – Complete HBO Series – Amazon Exclusive (Includes: Inside The Battle Of Peleliu) [Blu-ray]
The Pacific - Complete HBO Series - Amazon Exclusive Tin Box Edition (Includes: Inside The Battle Of Peleliu) [Blu-ray]
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If you are reading this you are likely to want to know one answer first of all- is this as good as band of brothers? The simple answer is yes and what I’d like to immediately add is it’s also different enough to stand up on its own 2 feet.
With Band we had a fairly military centric view of things. With the Pacific the nature of the conflict allows substantial time away from the front. Indeed episode 3 plays out entirely in Australia where the marines regroup and replenish for later battles. It’s only here you see a bit of retraining there is no “boot camp” episode where you slowly get to meet the men. This allows us to see them not covered in mud and blood shooting at the Japanese in the distance but actually having some fun. This is where you start to care more for the men rather than just being in fear of the carnage.
However when the battles happen they erupt with the viciousness and realism you have seen in recent big budget war films. Bodies rip apart, guns roar and the scenes are very visceral. It’s heart racing stuff and always impeccably well directed.
Realism is the goal here and at times that is hard to watch, America was sneak attacked by an Asian country and subsequently phrases like “yellow monkeys” and “dirty Japs” were regularly used and genuinely meant this is uncomfortable for the modern viewer. There’s also an episode that focuses on the fact war takes its toll on young men’s minds as well as their bodies and I am glad these areas were given proper attention because the series does a very good job of showing “heroes” as real and flawed human beings.
So this is pretty much a “must see” for those who want to see high quality war drama.
Rating
The Pacific is based on the memoirs of a group of U.S. Marines who fought in the war against the Empire of Japan.
The 10 episodes series features battles involving the 1st Marine Division, such as Guadalcanal, Cape Gloucester, Peleliu, Battle of Iwo Jima , Okinawa and the Japanese surrender.
It had a lavish budget of US 150 M it was produced by Produced by Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and Gary Goetzman and was mainly shot in Australia. The producers took every step to make the series as realistic as money will allow and they certainly did it well.
There are many interesting characters and you can find the familiar tales of the cynical intellectual reverting to his books between battles, the naive recruit learning the of the horrors of war, the noble and non-noble officers who orchestrate the chaos and the flawed hero.
It’s to this miniseries great credit that it doesn’t turn away from the reality of what these men endured. If you watch this entire series, you will wonder how they resumed their civilian lives after the war. It’s astounding that so many did so well later in life, given the visible and invisible scars they must have carried forever.
The Pacific illustrates how little information the soldiers had about the larger context in which he was operating. Due to the necessity to keep military strategy secret as well as the challenges in conveying information on the front, marines exist on a diet of rumor and speculation as to what will next occur.
The only problem is that Ambrose’s style can be rather dry and stiff at times, feeling as though we are getting a recitation of facts instead of a narrative that is weaving the facts together.
5 stars.
Rating
Having just watched the credits roll on the last episode of the Tom Hanks/Speilburg production, ‘The Pacific’ I have come away feeling deeply interested in the men that we were introduced to (they were’nt ‘characters’ – they were real people!) and horrified at what war can do to a man and how difficult it was to settle back down into normal civilian life. That they did is a tribute to each of them as people and as marines.
Yes, it was visually dark in places but this was REAL war – Hanks and co made no attempt to dress it up or attempt to make it anything else than what it was – bloody battle after bloody battle mainly fought at night – as the japenese tended to do. If people found that irratating then so be it – at least it is the truth, and if I could’nt hear anything I just turned my TV up – no problem.
To me, this miniseries showed us the best and the very worst of the war in the pacific – it was great to see them enjoying themselves in Melbourne and at base camp and even better to hear the soldiers salty language. Don’t forget that we brits have used a similar type of prose when discussing ‘the dirty hun’ – ie Germans, and that we seriously thought we could win WW1 in six months. Our arrogance knew no bounds – so if the Americans thought they were the greatest thing since sliced bread then so be it. They soon learned their lesson.
Ide love to see this on a decent TV with surround sound – I had none of that and still enjoyed it to the max (if ‘enjoyed’ is the right word). When the DVD comes out I plan to have a LCD TV in time to watch this brilliant, jaw droppingly good series again.
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Amazing.. This was one area of the WWII that I didn’t know much about. I have never been so moved by a TV series. I cried every week, particularly Episode 9, when we got a glimpse of the effect on the civilians in okanowa….. heartbreaking.
A must see series.
5 Big Stars
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I am not a fan of war films as such and less so of mini series that go on for months but this is absolutely brilliant! I have watched every minute of the 10 episodes and I was totally hooked and will be buying the DVD as soon as it comes out.
All of the actors are amazing but a special mention has to be given to James Badge Dale who plays PFC Robert Leckie – he is exceptional, absolutely outstanding and a sure-fire Oscar winner of the future. If there is a catch-up of this series you have to watch it.
Brilliant!
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If you want to see the Pacific version of HBO’s critically acclaimed “Band of Brothers”, change the channel,
“The Pacific” differs from “Band of Brothers” whereas the “The Pacific” focuses on the war itself and “Band of Brothers” focused on the characters. Both miniseries are championed by Hollywood heavy-hitters Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg who were contributing writers and producers of both miniseries.
Perhaps the greatest distinction between the two mini-series was intentional. It is clear that the soldiers in the Pacific theater fought a different kind of war than those fighting in Europe. “The Pacific” is a gritty if not gory depiction of a war against not just the Japanese, but also the elements. The cast is made-up of some brilliant actors we are sure to see again in future projects. What makes “The Pacific” so good is the intense realism which brings the viewer into the battle from the safety of your couch. If there is hell on earth, you will find it here.
The army they are fighting is alien; both mysterious and ferocious. They are looked at with both awe and disdain and the Americans want to kill them all. However, there is a palpable sense fear among the men that this enemy will never surrender and will fight beyond what they feel is humanly if not morally possible. When one character hears about the Kamikaze’s flying their planes into ships, he asks aloud “how can any man do that?” “The Pacific” is fast-paced and each episode leaves the viewer wanting more.
Rating
“I turned to go, and as I did, nearly stepped on someone’s hand. “Excuse me,” I began to say, but then I saw that it was an unattached hand, or rather a detached one. It lay there alone. Open, palm upwards, clean, capable, solitary. I could not tear my eyes from it. The hand is the artisan of the soul. It is the second member of the human trinity of head and hand and heart. A man has no faculty more human than his hand, none more beautiful nor expressive nor productive. To see this hand lying alone, as though contemptuously cast aside, no longer a part of a man, no longer his help, was to see war in all its wantonness; it was to see the especially brutal savagery of our own technique of rending, and it was to see men at their eternal worst, turning upon one another, tearing one another, clawing at their own innards with the maniacal fury of the pride-possessed.”
This is an excerpt from Leckie’s “Helmet for my pillow” about the fight on Peleliu.
The Pacific is different from Band of Brothers. It ought to be different. The latter is largely based on the work of a historian. The Pacific is based on the memoirs of the soldiers that fought in the Pacific. It is more tense, more violent, more frighting than Band of Brothers because its scope is different. It’s focus isn’t the characters with the war in the background as band of Brothers. The focus is the war as seen by the characters themselves. All the gory details left out from Band of Brothers is shown here because Pacific’s scope is not to speak for the war, it’s to speak about the horror of the war.
Imagine the analogy, Band of Brothers is like the “Platoon” while the Pacific is more like “Apocalypse Now”.
Rating
I write this review based on my experiences of watching the whole series on Sky HD in the UK. Although from the same stable (HBO, Spielberg and Hanks) as Band of Brothers, this is a rather different beast, covering the stories of three different US Marines (Eugene Sledge, Robert Leckie and John Basilone) across the battles of the Pacific from August 1942 to end of the war in 1945. Its structure is therefore determined and limited by historical fact and the source material. I won’t repeat too much of the background or general overview as that is clearly set out in the synopsis and in other reviews on this web page.
There is a great deal to be admired and appreciated with this truly epic production. The attention to historical details is stunning, although some events have been changed to help the narrative and to focus on the key themes that the writers wanted to develop. The performances by the cast are outstanding and I’m sure they will pick up a shed load of awards next year. This is also a no-holds barred production with easily the most brutal depiction of the horror of war you are likely to ever see depicted on screen.
That said, there some problems with parts of the series. The strongest elements are those taken from E B Sledge’s memoirs “With the Old Breed” – see my own review of this book – which have clear story and character arcs and require less historical knowledge to follow. The two and half episodes that cover the battle of Peleliu are simply outstanding and worth the price alone. The story of Gunnery Sgt. Basilone is less well developed and feels a bit like a bolt on most of the time. That said, the 10 minutes or so of Iwo Jima action is some of the best combat simulation you’ll see in the series.
The series weakest parts are the first three episodes, of which the two covering Guadalcanal are disappointing and confusing. The problem stems partly from the complex nature of that battle, of which the 1st US Marine Division was involved in from August to November 1942. More time and effort was needed to set up the characters and to explain what was happening, where, when and why. I accept this was a tough assignment but some simple changes like dates and location details on-screen would have helped. The third episode takes place in Melbourne as the Marines recover after their ordeal. Here the writers have invented a fictitious (i.e.non-historical) relationship for Bob Leckie with an Aussie/Greek girl which fills half the episode, time which could have been better spent expanding the Guadalcanal section.
For all the problems with these early episodes the rest of the series is excellent from Ep.4 onwards when it picks up the pace and doesn’t let go until the end when the final section sees the Marines return home to the US.
Perhaps the best recommendation I can give is from Eugene Sledge’s own family who are quoted as saying that they did not understand what he went through during the war until they saw this series.
Rating
No fancy technical reviews here, I loved the series on TV and will buy the DVD as soon as it is available.
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Firstly, let’s get one thing straight. This is no Band of Brothers and it never has proclaimed to be either. Having watched both series and owning Band of Brothers firstly on DVD and now on Blu-Ray i can safely say that they are both greats but in different ways. Hanks and Spielberg have stuck to the integrity of each of the different parts of WWII and it shows. Band of Brothers was set and created at the heart of WWII with the Nazi war machine raging at its hardest with bloodshed heavily across the whole of Europe. Therefore, it is likely that there will be alot of heavy gun fire action. The Pacific is set in totally different circumstances with the Western war having had its V-day. The Pacific focuses on the US forces against the stretched but resilient Japanese who had attacked Pearl Harbour years before invoking the US to act and finally join the war effort. The Pacific shows the fresh faced soldiers heading into a type of battle that they had never before encountered, the characters start confidently and almost arrogantly and they learn a harsh lesson in war. As the series progresses it shows the more human side to any war with the fragile psyche of man being tested to the limits and in some cases being vividly shown. I thought that both series are very emotionally powerful and encapture the realities of war in different but both very valid and brilliant ways. Both are worth buying on Blu-Ray and enjoying time and time again.