Jul
20
2008
|
Generation Kill Episode #2 |
|
|
|
Written by JD Johannes
|
|
Monday, 21 July 2008 |
"I could put it in terms of tactics or strategy. I could quote Boyd," Lt. Col. Stephen "Godfather" Ferrando says near the end of episode #2 of HBO's Generation Kill .
And it is lines that like which are winning me over to the mini-series.
To 99% of the viewers of Generation Kill, the name "Boyd" and why a Marine Battalion Commander would quote Boyd means nothing, but to me...to me...it means a lot.
John Boyd , was an Airforce Fighter pilot. He was known at 'forty-second Boyd' because in air-to-air combat he would have his opponents in his sights within forty seconds.
Boyd is also the intellectual father of the way the Marine Corps fights.
That the line didn't get cut or thrown away is important to someone like me. Mentioning Boyd meant something to the Godfather and those officers he was talking to.
And it means something to me.
The details like that are what I enjoy most about Generation Kill.
From the radio frequencies written with a grease pen on the windshield of the Humvee, clearing a jammed .50 caliber machine gun during a fire-fight and the reactions of the Marines after surviving the fight.
The details work.
I've filmed a couple of shoot-outs in Iraq and the gunfight scene in Episode #2 gets close to what one would look like if you could shoot it from multiple angles without your crew and cameras being destroyed in the cross fire.
Eric Kocher, the key military advisor, has done a great job with those little details that I've seen up close and in-person.
Little details like how in the firefight, Sgt. Brad Colbert doesn't look through his scope, he looks over his scope using the front sight post to aim.
Generation Kill is one of the few war movies to get so many of the details--details that mean little to the average viewer--right.
|
|
