Review: ‘Masters of the Air’ is a visually spectacular re-creation of war centered on real-life stories

Completing a trilogy, until a subsequent miniseries about submarines or PT boats makes it a tetralogy, comes “Masters of the Air”, which, like its predecessors “Band of Brothers” and “The Pacific” is based on a thoroughly researched work about real people and events, then dusted — at times slathered — with Hollywood magic. At the center of the story — to the extent there is a story and not just a series of events — are best friends Maj. Gale “Buck” Cleven and Maj. John “Bucky” Egan, handsome, charismatic, expert pilots early described as “the unquestioned leaders of entire group.” Cleven, imperturbable yet not insensitive, doesn’t drink or gamble or dance — he’s a movie cowboy — and Egan is the opposite. Anthony Boyle as Maj. Harry Crosby, a navigator, in “Masters of the Air.” The other two major characters are Anthony Boyle as Maj. Harry Crosby, a navigator, who is the series’ occasional narrator; and Nate Mann as Maj. Robert “Rosie” Rosenthal, an extraordinary flier who is arguably the most renowned of the 100th veterans, and worth a biopic of his own — though he is somewhat less central here, as he’s more of a lone figure. Like “Band of Brothers” and “The Pacific,” “Masters of the Air” seeks to offer a representative array of situations within a sliver of a huge subject, and to tag all the relevant bases, if at times only for a conversation, or even a sentence; some terms of art — MIP, combat box — are thrown in without explanation, but if you pay attention, you will get a fair idea of how a B-17 works. With a reported budget of $250 million more or less — you could make “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” for that, or “The Holdovers” 10 times over — it is as spectacular as you’d expect.