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This review was made possible by screeners for Masters of the Air. Masters of the Air premieres on Apple TV+ on January 26, 2024 at 3am EST/12am PST. New episodes are released on Fridays.
Apple TV+ has become a premier destination for high quality TV series. Ted Lasso, Severance, Silo, The Morning Show, For All Mankind to name a few and now Masters of the Air. Brought to you by the award-winning team of Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman who also gave us Band of Brothers and The Pacific. The series is based on Donald L. Miller’s book of the same name, and retells the true story of the men of 100th Bomb Group. An American bomber group active in World War II.
The series centers around Austin Butler (Elvis) as Major Gale “Buck” Cleven, Callum Turner (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald) as Major John “Bucky” Egan and Anthony Boyle (Tetris) as Lieutenant Harry Crosby. As the series progresses we get the additions of Barry Keoghan (Saltburn) as Lieutenant Curtis Biddick, Nate Mann as Major Robert “Rosie” Rosenthal, Branden Cook as 2nd Lieutenant Alexander Jefferson and Josiah Cross as 2nd Lieutenant Richard Macon. Yeah, it sounds like a lot of characters to follow and it is, but we will get to that later.
ACTION THAT SOARS
The series wastes no time in showing the instant friendship of Cleven and Egan and their pride in fighting for their country. Butler and Turner in these respective roles are the heart of the show, with Butler delivering a quiet yet strong performance and Turner brings a powerful breakthrough showing proving he belongs in the same company as his numerous Academy nominated co-stars.
Probably the most impressive aspect of this series is when the crew takes flight. The visuals are extremely cinematic and realistic. The 100th embarks on bombing missions in broad daylight, which other militaries call suicide missions. 25,000 feet in the air flying in basically giant tin cans with guns attached to them in frigid weather and low oxygen levels. Every time the 100th takes the air on another mission it’s equal parts exhilarating and stressful because they take the time to make you care about the solider manning these planes.
THE TRAUMA OF WAR
For a series set in the 1940s it really dives into the psyche of being at war. A lot of war adaptations lean heavy on the battles and explosions. While this series has that in spades, it also gives you time with the characters making the stakes so much higher. Of course in war, not everyone makes it out alive. But just because you make it out alive, doesn’t mean the experience hasn’t changed you forever.
Masters of the Air expertly analyzes how differently people compartmentalize trauma. Whether it’s brushing off the violence as a circumstance of war itself or turning to alcohol or women to drown the pain. The mental journey of this series goes way beyond the “for the good of the country” messages the media loves to show off. It also shows the upper establishment of the military as a whole sacrificing their men for the victory, by any means necessary. Bringing forth the moral dilemma of humanity versus duty.
TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING
As the series comes to its end, it falters with late additions to the story that could have benefited by being introduced earlier on. The inclusion of the The Tuskegee Airmen is severely underutilized. It’s vital to the plot, but it could have benefited including the dark history a bit more throughout the entire series.
Masters of the Air delivers an impressive cinematic series with rich characters, high stakes and stunning spectacle but stumbles on itself juggling too much at once, hitting some turbulence rather than bringing it home gently and precisely. For a story that starts off taking its time to get your invested in the characters of Cleven, Crosby and Egan, the additions of supporting characters as time goes on make the finale feel a bit rushed. Don’t let that critique deter you from this expertly crafted series, it just left an impression of really good when it could have been really great.
RATING:
