PREMIERE.COM'S REVIEW (posted 10/18/06)

Clint Eastwood's World War II drama Flags of our Fathers arrives under the weight of enormous expectations. It features an American screen icon taking on one of the most famous battles of that iconic war, the fight for Iwo Jima. It was produced by WWII-movie authority Steven Spielberg and co-written by current Hollywood It Boy Paul Haggis. It's also the first of two Iwo Jima projects Eastwood has up his sleeve. The second, Letters from Iwo Jima — due out in February — will present the Japanese side of the bloody battle. With all these factors working in its favor, it's no wonder Flags has been considered an Oscar shoo-in for months already.

DreamWorks and Warner Bros., the studios that bankrolled both films, probably wish it were that simple. Unfortunately, they still have to go through the pesky process of actually releasing Flags. The good news is that, as with all of Eastwood's recent directorial efforts, Flags is a stately, sober picture that boasts excellent production values, especially in its battle sequences. The bad news is that it's not particularly interesting or involving. There's a stilted air to the film that causes it to resemble one of those dry History Channel documentaries, only with more elaborate re-enactments.

The root of the film's problems lies in its basic structure, as Eastwood and scribes Haggis and William Broyles, Jr. (Jarhead) unsuccessfully attempt to weave together three distinct storylines. The first is the battle of Iwo Jima itself, which we see largely through the eyes of a group of grunts, including Rene Gagnon (Jesse Bradford), Ira Hayes (Adam Beach) and medic Doc Bradley (Ryan Phillippe). These three men also happen to be among the six soldiers that are photographed hoisting an American flag atop the island's highest peak.

That photo — one of the most memorable images of the 20th century — instantly becomes a gold mine for the cash-strapped U.S. war effort. To capitalize on the image, Gagnon, Hayes and Bradley are shipped back stateside and dispatched on a cross-country tour honoring their fellow soldiers... and selling war bonds. While the Gagnon has little trouble playing the role of war hero, both Hayes and Bradley find themselves wrestling with anger towards a government that's exploiting them and guilt over the memories of their fallen friends. Finally, a third plot thread set many years later involves Bradley's son James, who is in the process of interviewing his dad's old army buddies for a book he's writing (which, of course, is the book the movie is based on).

Of the film's sizeable ensemble, only Beach's turn as Ira Hayes seems fully fleshed-out, mainly because he's the one actor that gets the opportunity to play big dramatic moments, like the scene where he breaks down in front of the mother of one of his dead friends. His co-stars aren't given anything nearly as meaty to do; Bradford is largely wasted in an underwritten role, while the charisma-free Phillippe barely registers as the noble doctor.

Flags of our Fathers really loses its way in the final half-hour, when the point-of-view abruptly shifts to James Bradley (played here by Tom McCarthy), who takes on the role of narrator, informing us of what happened to each of these men after the war ended and their names became yesterday's news. It's a jarring switch, particularly since James has only been glimpsed in a handful of scenes up until this point. Worse still, Eastwood abandons the compelling cynicism of the first two acts in favor of a goopy sentimental finale a la Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan. Here's hoping that Letters from Iwo Jima turns out to be a better example of the director's strengths.

—Ethan Alter