From Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Dreamworks and HBO comes 'The Pacific', a ten part $200 million mini series which follows the loosely intertwined stories of three US 1st Division Marines through each campaign that the division was engaged in during the Pacific War.
Episode one opens with archive newsreel footage of Pearl Harbor narrated over by Tom Hanks, giving a basic outline of the advance of Japan across the Pacific through 1942, interspersed with present day interviews with surviving veterans.
This leads into the opening credits, and from there to Dec. 1941, introducing us briefly to Robert Leckie, John Basilone and Eugene Sledge. We then jump abruptly to August 1942 off the coast of Guadalcanal, where the 1st Marine Division are preparing to engage the Japanese for the first time.
Coming as it does from the same creative team that brought us 'Band Of Brothers', and billed as a companion piece to that series, 'The Pacific' has an almost impossible act to follow. Having now watched the series twice in its entirety, my impressions of the opening episode remain largely unchanged. The historical background is quite useful, especially so for the casual viewer. The credits and music are suitably stylish and reverential. Everything production wise - cinematography, production design, special effects, sound design etc. - is beyond reproach, looking every bit like the big budget Hollywood war film that it basically is. The night time battle scenes are realistically chaotic and well orchestrated.
However, beyond this the episode has its problems. Many people, myself included, feel that for an opening to a series such as this it's far too short. The actual filmed drama accounts for only 45 minutes of the 55 minute running time. This leaves everything feeling rushed and rather choppy. No sooner are we introduced to the main characters than suddenly we're thrown straight into Guadalcanal, having had no time to become familiar with them or the supporting cast. The acting that we do witness is absolutely fine, as is the writing and direction. Some scenes have a real emotional punch, such as the discovery of the mutilated bodies of the Marine scouts in the jungle and the aftermath of the Battle of the Tenaru at Alligator creek. It's just that everything feels somewhat disjointed and unfocused due to the editing.
By the end of the episode we have no proper context or sense of scale to the events we have witnessed, and very little in the way of character development thus far.
Admittedly this all sounds rather negative, which is unfortunate. However, I must stress that the footage which has actually made it to the episode is very good. It would have been even better with an additional 20-30 minutes of material, which would have afforded some decent character development, perhaps more context, and generally a better flow and sense of the passage of time on Guadalcanal. By the end of the episode, when the 7th Marines arrive, Leckie's company have been on the island for over a month, but we get no sense of this. Even some title cards or narration would have helped in this respect (devices that were used to good effect in BoB), but we get nothing.
If you're reading this without yet having seen the series, don't let my criticisms put you off. There is still much here to admire and recommend. Despite its shortcomings in some aspects, what remains is fairly compelling viewing, and on balance is a promising start which whets the appetite for the rest of the series.
Episode one opens with archive newsreel footage of Pearl Harbor narrated over by Tom Hanks, giving a basic outline of the advance of Japan across the Pacific through 1942, interspersed with present day interviews with surviving veterans.
This leads into the opening credits, and from there to Dec. 1941, introducing us briefly to Robert Leckie, John Basilone and Eugene Sledge. We then jump abruptly to August 1942 off the coast of Guadalcanal, where the 1st Marine Division are preparing to engage the Japanese for the first time.
Coming as it does from the same creative team that brought us 'Band Of Brothers', and billed as a companion piece to that series, 'The Pacific' has an almost impossible act to follow. Having now watched the series twice in its entirety, my impressions of the opening episode remain largely unchanged. The historical background is quite useful, especially so for the casual viewer. The credits and music are suitably stylish and reverential. Everything production wise - cinematography, production design, special effects, sound design etc. - is beyond reproach, looking every bit like the big budget Hollywood war film that it basically is. The night time battle scenes are realistically chaotic and well orchestrated.
However, beyond this the episode has its problems. Many people, myself included, feel that for an opening to a series such as this it's far too short. The actual filmed drama accounts for only 45 minutes of the 55 minute running time. This leaves everything feeling rushed and rather choppy. No sooner are we introduced to the main characters than suddenly we're thrown straight into Guadalcanal, having had no time to become familiar with them or the supporting cast. The acting that we do witness is absolutely fine, as is the writing and direction. Some scenes have a real emotional punch, such as the discovery of the mutilated bodies of the Marine scouts in the jungle and the aftermath of the Battle of the Tenaru at Alligator creek. It's just that everything feels somewhat disjointed and unfocused due to the editing.
By the end of the episode we have no proper context or sense of scale to the events we have witnessed, and very little in the way of character development thus far.
Admittedly this all sounds rather negative, which is unfortunate. However, I must stress that the footage which has actually made it to the episode is very good. It would have been even better with an additional 20-30 minutes of material, which would have afforded some decent character development, perhaps more context, and generally a better flow and sense of the passage of time on Guadalcanal. By the end of the episode, when the 7th Marines arrive, Leckie's company have been on the island for over a month, but we get no sense of this. Even some title cards or narration would have helped in this respect (devices that were used to good effect in BoB), but we get nothing.
If you're reading this without yet having seen the series, don't let my criticisms put you off. There is still much here to admire and recommend. Despite its shortcomings in some aspects, what remains is fairly compelling viewing, and on balance is a promising start which whets the appetite for the rest of the series.
