"The Red Baron" Movie Trailer Review

By our guest blogger, Matt Popkin

Finally! Snoopy’s nemesis gets the treatment he deserves.

Starring Matthias Schweighöfer, “The Red Baron” is a high-octane film with a little love-story thrown in on the side. The romance plot, judging from the interactions of the main male and female characters in the trailer, looks to be as enjoyable as a big ol’ pile of brussel sprouts put right next to a juicy 20oz steak (the high-octane action is the steak here. Get it? Brilliant, I know).

While some of the dialogue in the trailer is painful--in particular, “SO, NOW YOU WANT TO WIN A WAR WITHOUT KILLING ANYONE, HUH?” and “You opened my eyes. You taught me to see what I didn’t want to see”--such B-movie melodrama is made up for by the world-class quality shots of the Red Baron zooming around and taking part in a series of breathtaking aerial battles. These scenes, complete with giant zeppelins, are enthralling as they are completely unique to World War I--a snap shot of a time when technology was just beginning to overtake human skill but had not done so quite yet.

Furthermore, I dare you not to get goose bumps when that signature red plane appears on screen for the first time and you hear, “I don’t want them to be surprised. I want them to be scared.” I might’ve thrown a fist pump or two.

Opening in the United States sometime in 2010, it will be interesting to see how the film is received. It may be hard for some to connect with a “bad guy,” a protagonist who is shooting down and killing Americans and their allies. Despite that, I am sure to see the film at some point, if only to see how the filmmakers handle the mystery surrounding who shot and killed the Red Baron.

One of the candidates for that honor? Australian gunner Cedric Popkin, a man who shares my surname and, as I’d like to think, some relation. After all, I am pretty handy with my anti-aircraft Vickers machine gun.

View the trailer for "The Red Baron" below. What are your thoughts?