STORYLINE:  After Pearl Harbor, four star college footballers join the Marines. Before facing Okinawa’s invasion, they participate in a historic game with legendary players – for many, their final match.  (IMDb)

  Flags of our Fathers (2006), and its companion film Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) depicted the events of the battle of Iwo Jima,  from both the Japanese and American perspective.   Steven Spielberg’s 1987 epic, Empire of the Sun, was an epic

tale of survival during the Second World War.  Emperor (2012) showed how the U.S. aided in rebuilding Japan after WWII ended. The Mosquito Bowl, the latest film to portray events in WWII,  has now made its way into cinemas.

  There is a history of telling a variety of stories in war movies. There are fiction features, while others are based on true events. There are more documentaries then I can count.  Truth be told, I don’t think I know where to begin in counting them anyways.  The Mosquito Bowl takes its story from reality, and puts it on the big screen.

  The Mosquito Bowl establishes the central sports figures, vital to the story within minutes.  There is no wasted time diving into the war effort that drives this motion picture.

  As a war movie, The Mosquito Bowl blends the over patriotic feeling that dominated the John Wayne era of the 1960’s, with the in your face since of realism of the 1990’s.  The match up creates a low level grade of intensity. Yes it is a violent movie, with some bit of graphic violence, in its betrayal of war.  However, it is a far cry from what was on screen in Saving Private Ryan (1998).

  This motion picture falls short of being a true epic.  The story is never fully developed.    It hits the bulletin points of the characters, and the events without going into any depth. It’s entertaining, but not engaging.

The Mosquito Bowl is a middle of the road war film, inspired by real events.

  Until next time, I will see you at the movies!