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- HBO
- Sep 9, 2001
- HBO
- Sep 9, 2001
Summary Band of Brothers is a 10-part miniseries produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks for HBO. The miniseries follows Easy Company, an army unit during World War II, from their initial training at Camp Toccoa to the conclusion of the war. The series is based on the book written by the late Stephen E Ambrose. Tom Hanks approached Steven ...
- HBO
- Sep 9, 2001
- HBO
- Sep 9, 2001
Summary Band of Brothers is a 10-part miniseries produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks for HBO. The miniseries follows Easy Company, an army unit during World War II, from their initial training at Camp Toccoa to the conclusion of the war. The series is based on the book written by the late Stephen E Ambrose. Tom Hanks approached Steven ...
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Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 28 Critic Reviews
86
82% Positive
23 Reviews
23 Reviews
18% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 28 Critic Reviews
86
82% Positive
23 Reviews
23 Reviews
18% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
It is doubtful that any war movie on the large or small screen has captured the varied experiences of ordinary soldiers better than Band of Brothers. Whether it's the sheer terror of facing an unseen enemy or the momentary joy following a successful mission, the mini eschews the typical movie cliches while revealing and reveling in the humanity within each member of Easy Company. It explains in large measure why this group of regular guys and others like them have come to be called the Greatest Generation. [5 Sept 2001]
May be the best-ever film depiction of war in the trenches, large screen or small, and TV's loftiest miniseries since the Brits sent over "The Jewel in the Crown" in 1984. Give Band of Brothers a medal. [7 Sept 2001, p.C1]
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 384 User Ratings
9.1
92% Positive
353 Ratings
353 Ratings
4% Mixed
14 Ratings
14 Ratings
4% Negative
17 Ratings
17 Ratings
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 384 User Ratings
9.1
92% Positive
353 Ratings
353 Ratings
4% Mixed
14 Ratings
14 Ratings
4% Negative
17 Ratings
17 Ratings
A perceptive, powerful, five-star achievement in HBO's continuing championship season...Saluting it is a singular honor and privilege.[9 Sept 2001, p.3]
It doesn't even look like a TV miniseries -- it's more like 10 theatrical films that do an amazing job re-creating battles. [7 Sept 2001, p.W01]
Band of Brothers may be the best film ever made to show the everlasting bond forged in war between ordinary men...It may also be the best film ever made to show the relentlessness and horror of war. Aurally and visually, it's as graphically real as the battle scenes of Saving Private Ryan, only Band is five times longer...Still, there's something stopping me from saying this is the best war movie ever made, and that is because Band of Brothers succeeds as a whole, but fails to be as interesting in its individual installments. [9 Sept 2001, p.2]
Band of Brothers thus finds itself in a tricky no- man's land. It's too colloquial and too specific to be valuable in a larger historical sense, like the classic "World at War" series or any of the World War II documentaries that are a History Channel staple. Yet, it's too lacking in dramatic focal points to succeed fully as entertainment like "Private Ryan" or any of the dozens of World War II movies ("Battle Cry," "Battleground") that Hollywood turned out in the late 1940s and '50s. [7 Sept 2001, p.B02]
A glorious bungle. It has been produced on a dauntingly massive scale (by no less than Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, those old war hands) and is at times visually astonishing...Unfortunately it also suffers from disorganization, muddled thinking and a sense of redundancy. [8 Sept 2001, p.C01]
This series is an excellent achievement for the television medium. Mixing some of the most terrifying events in human history, as well as providing a deft undertone of courage and heroic triumph all around, "Band of Brothers" is a visually-stunning and emotionally compelling story from start to finish. This will surely go down in the books as an all-time classic.
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SEASON 1
I have seen a lot of movies and tv shows in my day, played lots of video games with excellent stories, and read a lot of superb books, but nothing... NOTHING! comes close to touching the majesty that is this series. Band of Brothers is almost perfect. You might be thinking I'm crazy, but you'll understand when/if you see it for yourself. There is not a single bad episode, and each one is a masterpiece in and of itself! The acting is superb, the visuals are stellar, the music is excellent, the characters and the story are phenomenal, the battles are the best ever put to screen, the pacing is great, the direction is nothing short of perfection. I have seen this series a dozen times, and the last few times I have been trying to find something... ANYTHING wrong with this show. The only one I've been able to find happens in episode 5, when Winters leads a charge with his company falling in from behind (right before he shoots the young german soldier). The soldiers APPEAR to be shouting, mouths wide open, and all you hear is the patter of their footsteps as they all run. I believe the original footage had been intended to have them shouting while charging head first into battle, and probably realize they couldn't do that, and couldn't reshoot because they'd finished it already, so they had to run with what they had. Even then, that is a minute issue at worst and a tiny nitpick at best. It's been almost two decades since it first aired, and it has aged incredibly well.
I will not divulge anything about this show, its story, or anything else regarding that one small nitpick I mentioned because you need to see and experience this for yourself. Go in blind, and I dare you to come out disliking it. This is a show for anyone and everyone. Even people who don't like war movies/shows (or even hate them) will come out loving this! I will say no more, its the best thing since Jesus Christ. Go out and watch it if you haven't already. Even if you don't have HBO, find someone who does, watch it with them, or buy the dvds/blu-ray box sets and watch it for yourself.
This show is better than the Godfather, better than Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones, better than Catcher in the Rye, the Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, or any Stephen King novel, better than the original halo trilogy, the Last of Us, Ori and the Blind Forest, and any other excellent story I've experienced. It's better than Shakespeare! I cannot praise this series enough!
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SEASON 1
It has been 16 years since this mini series first premiered on HBO, and it is by far still the best narrative depiction of the European theater of WWII for American troops. Every time I have re-watched this, I find something new, a subtle detail, that makes it that much better.
You walk away feeling completely moved, and you love the characters. It has fantastic action sequences, but beyond that they really did a great job showing just how emotionally unequipped the US Military was. The individual men that fought in the war had no idea what they were going to walk away from, and the emotional scars still effect our society today. It was the last Great War, it was the last, "typical war," and let's hope it's the last.
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SEASON 1
Band of Brothers is the best visual WW2 adaptation to ever grace any screen by brutally recreating the visceral aspects of war through the eyes of average soldiers. Unfortunately, the human characters are indistinguishable which makes it hard to care for them.
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SEASON 1
Disclaimer: I only watched up to episode 6 (still over half the series)
I really wanted to like band of brothers but the more I watched the more I just found it sooooo boring. On a technical level it is truly amazing - the way many scenes are staged and shot are some of the best I've ever seen on TV. However, the story and plot are where it becomes so weak. For me, every episode felt exactly the same. They focus on a character, a load of war **** happens, some random guy will die that got introduced in that episode (usually a soon-to-be famous actor), then eventually the main troopers are fine and dandy. It just gets so repetitive and the fact that all 6 episodes I watched felt very similar just left me feeling constantly bored.
I really don't understand how this has got such critical acclaim (outside of its production). It is literally all production with nothing else to write home about.
Basically, if you like it when things go BOOM then this series is for you
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SEASON 1
