Anyone catch Generation Kill on HBO last night?

Great book to begin with, but now they have brought it to life on screen. It had possibly the best opening episode of any HBO series and for sure beat Band of Brothers in my opinion.

-Mike

IMHO, I wouldn't say it beat Band of Brothers or that it was the best opener. What I liked was the script. It showed enlisted Marines pretty well and it showed a little of the command decisions made by LT Fick and his team leaders and how they made the best of a bad situation. The script was much less predictable than I expected. You didn't really know where the story was going to go, which has both good and bad traits.

However the script was lacking in context. The events of 2003 are near enough to the audience that they don't need to be explained. But a bit about how Recon works, and how the attitude of the Marines come into play would have been useful, how the aggression, machismo, type A personality plays into what they do. These guys also have tons of training and other than in the team leaders, the script does not make that evident, even for LT Fick. They showed it, but they didn't explain it, and to anyone who didn't read the book, who hasn't followed the series' production notes, or who has little military background could have been lost.

The direction was good, cinamatography was a little bland in my opinion (BoB and other productions had much better camera work) - though that opening sequence was really well done. FX was also good, but at times seemed like it was constrained. Props were amazing, those humvees were perfect. Sound was also pretty good.

All in all, I thought it was a pretty good first show and hopefully the next six will continue to let it grow into something great. I'm so happy to finally see a production about the Iraq War. Hopefully this will let other directors pick up scripts that are much less politically charged, and much more military oriented.

Jeff.

I liked it a lot. It's refreshing to see a show based on real incidents and real troops -- that's a big part of what made Black Hawk Down and Band of Brothers so good. Heck, some of the actors are the real Marines who were in the unit, playing themselves. Many of the actors have obviously gotten to know the Marines they portray.

Check out the official website -- it's a trove of information and clips. http://www.hbo.com/generationkill/

It has a very real feel to it, as well. And about the only stereotypical character in the whole thing is the 1st Recon's sergeant major. The guy is obsessed with grooming standards and mispronounces about half the words he uses. He's a hoot! (And I've know plenty like him.)

Don't have HBO but I really want to see the portrayal of the "Captain America" individual. Great book.

Paul

At this point they haven't spent much time on him. There are about three scenes with him, one in person and the rest over the radio. In each, he is, as Brad Colbert puts it, "belt-fed." He is somewhat hysterical, yelling how they are all going to die from tanks.

I'm sure it'll be out to DVD in no time. I was suprised by how quick John Adams released so hopefully it'll be the same.

The second episode showed quite a bit more of Captain America's antics. He takes an AK, then uses it on an SUV during a stop "to deny it from being used by the enemy" then later shoots an unarmed Iraqi civilian in the back.

Brad "Iceman" Colbert's character is definitely the main focus. Lt. Fick also seems to be a good guy, trying to meet the needs of his platoon while dealing with his CO, Capt. "Encino Man," who can't seem to take any straight info back to his unit from the meetings at battalion. The sergeant major is still stressing over the "moostashes" -- I haven't read the book yet, but somehow I think the lip hair issue will blow up at some point.

The Nasiriyah segment was interesting ... when they pass by the bloody humvee from the 507th Maintenance Company, well, it was kind of chilling. The Marines later discuss what they think happened to the captured women and men.

I love the radio traffic. Folks who have never been in the military are missing a whole lot of dialogue if they can't understand the radio transmissions.

Agreed. The screenwriters are treading a fine line between realism and bringing in a wide audience. I really do love the radio transmissions, especially as part of the sound suite. They definitely help to add to the background as well as tell what is going to happen. But you are right, if you don't understand it, it sure takes a lot of concentration to understand the meanings behind it. They generally explain the important stuff though.

Jeff

I watched the first episode as my wife had offered to record it for a friend, otherwise I might have missed it. It was well made but not better than Band of Brothers (err... how do you beat that closing scene in ep 1??). I would also rate it lower than Rome for that matter. Honestly I was rather bored with the first one as not a lot happened in the opener. I will see how episode 2 hits me in a few days.

Jim

There is a whole lot of jargon, which is part of the military. I think they might need to put a "translation" up on the show's website. Other shows have done this, including the very nice "Saving Private Ryan" site, which does a better job of explaining D-Day than many history sites. http://www.sproe.com/

It reminds me of a discussion of the movie "Platoon" some time back. Somewhere in the movie, a character refers to calling in "snake and nape." Someone asked for a translation and I chuckled for a few days while non-military folks offered suggestions. Snake and nape, of course, refers to Cobra gunships and napalm bombs (from planes).

Correction.

Nape is napalm, yes, but when Rahmuchi refers to "Snake" he is referrirng to the Mk82 Snake Eye bomb, and not the Cobra gunship.

I love it! The best part about it, in my humble opinion, is that the series has not diverged from Wright's book.

It's funny how the same type of personalities could be found in my unit over 20 years ago....

Excellent series.

Anyone know if it will be shown in the uk?

All i know is i can not wait for sunday night for the final epi this has been a great series and gives us a better look into the lives of the men behind the rifles and how they act, live and feel and not just the flashy dress blue's styled enlistment commericals and posters. It is amazing how much of a shock some people get to see and hear that marines are not lock steping machines most of hollywood shows them as.

I like the show, although we don't get HBO in Canada here (unless you have a grey area US Sat dish and are getting the programming for free), but get the Eps from the torrents dept.

All in all it has been a great show. I don't know if it is as good as Band of Brothers....hard to top that, but it is something that once I have all the Eps, will burn and keep for future reference.

I just wish they had gone for more than 7 episodes....what is up with that??? A more normal 13 eps would have been nice. And after watching ep 6, I find it hard to believe that they are going to wrap everything up in the last episode.

The only thing about the show, and I realize that the US had a relatively easy time invading Iraq, but in the show, they keep saying that here is the US Marine Recon force, doing the duty of a mechanized force, but doing it in un-armored Humvees, but yet leading up to the invasion of Baghdad, they have yet to loose a member of their team to enemy fire. Is this really historically accurate?? I would have thought that they would have lost a few men along the way to enemy fire.

Either way, its a great series, just sad that it is over so soon!!