The Red Baron

11/29/2019

***Curiously unabsorbing account of the Red Baron*** The exceptional career of the ace-of-aces, Manfred Von Richthofen, is chronicled up to his death at 25 years-of-age on April 21, 1918. “The Red Baron" (2008) comes in the tradition of similar WW1 fighter pilot flicks “The Blue Max” (1966), “Aces High" (1976) and “Flyboys” (2006). “The Blue Max” is an extraordinary melancholic epic while the realistic “Aces High” is good, but one-dimensionally mundane. The blockbuster-ish “Flyboys” is entertaining, but marred by comic book storytelling (think “Legends of the Fall”). Does “The Red Baron” match or surpass any of these movies? Unfortunately, no. Everything is here for a quality film of this sort, but something about the storytelling makes for a curiously unabsorbing viewing experi