While every war drama is inevitably going to be difficult to watch, there is something about Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg’s World War II miniseries that raises the stakes, and in particular, Masters of the Air is a harder watch than many war projects, including its predecessor, Band of Brothers. In 2000, Hanks and Spielberg collaborated on their very first war miniseries, Band of Brothers. The series was highly lauded and considered one of the best war series ever made. Ten years later, they reunited to make The Pacific, and now, Masters of the Air is their newest project.
It’s inevitable that Masters of the Air will be brutally compared to Band of Brothers. The 2000 series is the blueprint for all war dramas after it, and therefore, most things don’t compare. However, when it comes to intensity and dread, both of which appear often in the war genre, Masters of the Air wins out over Band of Brothers. This fact has little to do with how the series were made, or even whether one series is better than the other. In the end, it comes down to the true stories the shows are telling and how they differ.
Masters Of The Air May Have Done The One Death Band Of Brothers Would Never Do
Masters of the Air episode 4 did something with its main character that Hanks and Spielberg’s Band of Brothers never could have done in 2000.
Masters Of The Air Is Even More Deadly & Hopeless Than Band Of Brothers
Though Band of Brothers and Masters of the Air take place during the same war, Masters of the Air is a harder watch than Band of Brothers because it is much deadlier. While Band of Brothers follows the Easy Company, a segment of the U.S. Army that seems capable of overcoming any and every obstacle put in their way, Masters of the Air centers on the unlucky 100th Bomb Group. Unlike Easy Company, the 100th can’t seem to avoid problems. Each of their missions is imbued with bad luck, and as a result, their losses skyrocket with every episode.
In this way, the two squadrons are totally opposite of each other. While the Easy Company finds success even in the darkness of war, the 100th can’t seem to catch a break, despite their talents and strong relationships. The Easy Company and Band of Brothers offer a sense of hope and inspiration to audience, meanwhile the 100th and Masters of the Air invokes dread.
This makes Masters of the Air much harder to watch than Band of Brothers.
Masters Of The Air’s Hopelessness Is Accurate To Real Life
To be clear though, Masters of the Air isn’t trying to bring down its audiences. In reality, it is trying to tell a dark and astounding story. Masters of the Air is attempting to bring the true story of the 100th Bomb Group to audiences in the same way that Band of Brothers shared the Easy Company’s story. Though it may be hard to watch, there is still light at the end of the tunnel. Members of the 100th did survive the war, showing that, despite the odds, American soldiers were able to survive the darkest parts of their lives.
Masters of the Air Band of Brothers Release Date 2024-01-26 2001-09-09 Cast Nikolai Kinski, Austin Butler, Isabel May, Sawyer Spielberg, Anthony Boyle, Barry Keoghan, Callum Turner, Stephen Campbell Moore Ross McCall, Frank John Hughes, Marc Warren, Matthew Settle, James Madio, Rick Warden, Richard Speight Jr., Dale Dye, Neal McDonough, Michael Cudlitz, Eion Bailey, Donnie Wahlberg, Scott Grimes, Ron Livingston, Kirk Acevedo, Dexter Fletcher, David Schwimmer, Damian Lewis, Colin Hanks Genres Drama, War Drama, History
