The Pacific on HBO

[The Original BJ]

Sometimes I think you went to college with everyone, BJ.

Maybe I just know how to name-drop. :p

[dws1982]

Sometimes I think you went to college with everyone, BJ. Actors, actresses, NFL players. Mazzello is, indeed excellent in The Pacific. I know that other than The Social Network he doesn't have anything lined up, but this should be a big springboard for him (and for James Badge Dale, and maybe Rami Malek if he doesn't end up typecast). Not surprised to find out that he's a nice person. On his facebook fan page he spends what I would assume is a lot of time personally responding to questions and comments.



Edited By dws1982 on 1274072069

[The Original BJ]

I went to college with Joe Mazzello, and was pretty good friends with his girlfriend at the time, so I knew him a little. Really nice guy. I am glad to see him getting a good role again in his adulthood. Some of us wondered at the time if Timmy from Jurassic Park would be the height of his claim to fame as an actor, so it's nice to see him re-emerge here in what appears to be a great performance. (I haven't had much time to even see movies lately, so I certainly have not had the energy to commit to a miniseries, though I loved Band of Brothers and will hopefully check this out on DVD when it's released.)

[dws1982]

That said, given your love of The Wire, Friday Night Lights, and Generation Kill, that's some high praise.

Yeah it is, and that episode is absolutely right up there with the best war films ever made in its depiction of hell on earth. That's not a knock on the other combat episodes, which were excellent (and I wouldn't want to do without any of these episodes), but with that episode, in its singular focus on those hellish days of Okinawa, it really got under my skin and stayed there.

I'm definitely not on board with the disappointment that so many had in The Pacific. A lot of people seemed to want (expect) a repeat of Band of Brothers in the Pacific Theater, but to tell the story more comprehensively, they had to come up with a new approach, and I think it worked very well overall. They complement each other well, but they stand strong on their own. The only comparison I'll make with Band of Brothers is to say that while the weakest parts of The Pacific were probably weaker than anything in Band of Brothers, the best parts of The Pacific were better than anything in Band of Brothers. But beyond that, there's not much comparing to do.

I'll have some more thoughts about the whole miniseries in the days just ahead.



Edited By dws1982 on 1274068574

[Okri]

I'll probably wait until the end of the series to go into more detail, but tonight's episode, Part 9, was unquestionably the best hour of television I've seen in years. It's hard to even find the words to express how powerful this episode was. I will say that the scene between Sledge and the Japanese woman towards the end was just beautiful, and overwhelming as Sledge was able to, essentially, rediscover his humanity and step back from the abyss he had been hovering over.

If Rami Malek and Joe Mazzello can't get nominations at the Emmys after this episode (not to metnion the four before it), then the system is broken beyond repair.

I'll take "broken beyond repair."

That said, given your love of The Wire, Friday Night Lights, and Generation Kill, that's some high praise.

[dws1982]

I'll probably wait until the end of the series to go into more detail, but tonight's episode, Part 9, was unquestionably the best hour of television I've seen in years. It's hard to even find the words to express how powerful this episode was. I will say that the scene between Sledge and the Japanese woman towards the end was just beautiful, and overwhelming as Sledge was able to, essentially, rediscover his humanity and step back from the abyss he had been hovering over.

If Rami Malek and Joe Mazzello can't get nominations at the Emmys after this episode (not to metnion the four before it), then the system is broken beyond repair.

[Big Magilla]

Saw it, liked it, but saving my overall impression for the entire series.

I agree James Badge Dale is a revelation - he is the son of two Broadway legends. His father is actor/singer/choreographer Grover Dale, Anita Morris' widower whose own film career dates back to The Unsinkable Molly Brown.

Joseph (now Joe) Mazzello was one of the better child actors of the 1990s. Good to see he's getting major starring roles again. Jon Ceda I've seen before, but he's never really made an impression. Here he does. Ashton Holmes, who was so good in A History of Violence, is also impressive.



Edited By Big Magilla on 1271760101

[Big Magilla]

Or on the West Coast, 6 P.M. on HBO East and 9 P.M. on HBO West and HBO HD.



Edited By Big Magilla on 1271695270

[dws1982]

Just to clarify: When I put "tomorrow night" in my post below, I didn't realize that board time was after midnight, and it would be time-stamped as a Monday post, and I don't want anyone who might have been planning to watch to be confused. Parts 1-3 air Monday night--tonight--starting at 9:00 EST.

[Big Magilla]

Thanks for the heads up. I caught a few minutes of Part 5 the other night. It looked interesting.

[dws1982]

Anyone who wants to catch up can do so this week. HBO airs Parts 1-3 tomorrow at 9:00 PM, 10:00 PM, and 11:00 PM EST, respectively, and Parts 4-6 Wednesday at 8:00 PM, 9:00 PM, and 10:00 PM, respectively.

I may hold off on commenting on Parts 5-6 until I've seen Part 7. All three episodes deal with the fight for Pelelieu, which forms kind of a centerpiece of the series, so it might be best until that ends before discussing those episodes.



Edited By dws1982 on 1271653646

[dws1982]

I may be the only one watching this. This is, of course, HBO's WWII-set miniseries that covers the Pacific war in the way that their Band of Brothers covered American involvement in Europe. Band of Brothers was based on a book that was about one single company covering a pretty limited period of time--one episode dealt with their training up to their drop on D-Day, and the rest of the series covered the months from D-Day until the war ended. The Pacific has a much more expansive goal, showing the war primarily through the points of view of three real-life Marines--Robert Leckie, Eugene Sledge, and John Basilone. Rather than being based on one book, it takes material from three books, two written by Leckie and Sledge, and one written about Basilone.

They've shown four of ten episodes so far. Online the general line seems to "It's just not Band of Brothers", and they're right: It's not, and I think that's a good thing. I love Band of Brothers, but it had a different goal than The Pacific. The Pacific is a much darker piece. If Band of Brothers title suggests the bonds that the soldiers of Easy company formed, The Pacific could borrow the tagline from The Thin Red Line: "Every man fights his own war." They fight together, but they're all isolated and left to deal with what they witness in their own ways.

So far, in the first four episodes, there has really only been one lead character, and that's James Badge Dale's Robert Leckie. (Tee, Dale's mother was the late Anita Morris, who of course originated the role of Carla in the original Broadway production of Nine.) Dale is just incredible in this role. If there were any justice, based solely on these first four episodes, he would be the runaway frontrunner for the Lead Actor in a Movie/Miniseries Emmy. Al Pacino has an HBO movie coming later this month where he hams it up as Jack Kevorkian, so he'll no doubt win. But it doesn't matter: James Badge Dale's performance is a revelation. Over the first two episodes, he shows us how is character is visibly changed and hardened by his experiences, and in the the third episode he opens up a bit as he enters an affair with a girl in Melbourne. When that ends badly, he seems to spiral out of control over the last part of episode three and the first part of episode four, where he ended up in an off-the-lines mental hospital. What's great about the performance and the writing is that it recognizes that there isn't one single dramatic incident that explains why Leckie goes from the confident, poetic marine to the shell-shocked bedwetter. It's a culmination of things, gradually eroding away at his psyche until it was more than he could do to even get out of bed. Dale shows all of this without histrionics or silly mannerisms, saying more with a close-up than many actors do with a monologue. This is a great performance, and hopefully a career-building one.

The other two leads are Joe Mazzello as Eugene Sledge and Jon Seda as John Basilone. Seda is better than he's been anything else, but he hasn't had the screentime or narrative focus to truly impress. Joe Mazzello has had something like four or five scenes in the entire series so far. Next week his character actually enters combat, so he'll be a major presence for the last six episodes.

Overall, I'm definitely hooked, although as the grandson of two World War II veterans, one of whom was a machine gunner for the Wolfhounds (Army, 27th Infantry Regiment) in the Pacific, I suppose it was inevitible that I would be.