Flyboys

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Flyboys ★★½ 2006 (PG-13)

Old-fashioned war flick based on the exploits of the Lafayette Escadrille—young Americans who volunteered for the French military during WWI, before the U.S. entered the war. Formulaic script has the new recruits, who had a life expectancy as biplane pilots of six weeks, training under the paternal eye of Capt. Thenault (Reno). Besides the heroics, there's a corny romance between laconic Texan Rawlings (Franco) and local beauty Lucienne (Decker). Extensive CGI is combined with actual footage for the dynamic air sequences. 139m/C DVD, Blu-ray Disc . James Franco, Martin Henderson, Jean Reno, Philip Winchester, David Ellison, Jennifer Decker, Tyler Labine, Abdul Salis, Christien Anholt; D: Tony Bill; W: Blake T. Evans, David S. Ward, Phil Sears; C: Henry Braham; M: Trevor Rabin.