Masters of the Air is currently streaming on Apple TV. Plus the first couple episodes just aired this past weekend and will be followed by seven more hour long episodes, one each Friday until the finale
It stars Austin Butler, Callum Turner, Barry Keegan and a host of others. Executive producers on this include Gary Goetzman and the great Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. The first couple of episodes were directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga.
It’s based on the book by Donald L Miller, also called Masters of the Air, and brings to light the stories of the bloody hungry U.S. bomb group that was active during World War Two with their bomb raids on Nazi Germany.
Initial Reactions
All the stuff that takes place in the air was epic and tense, really well shot. And It’s amazing that they were able to accomplish all of this on a TV show budget.
You see the planes whizzing by and the bullets, too. And it’s crazy how much pressure they have to be up under while they’re up there. Anything could go wrong. And we see in a lot of instances that it does. So much respect to anyone in the Air Force.
I grew up hearing a lot about the Tuskegee Airmen, which was a black troop of fighter pilots from the era. So a big part of the appeal of the series for me was getting to see them in action. So I was a little disappointed that they didn’t make any appearances in these first couple of episodes. But they’re in the promo material, so I know they’re coming and I can be patient.
Standout performances so far come from Austin Butler and Barry Keegan. They’re both building great resumes for themselves, especially Barry Keegan lately. He was in Eternals and he played Joker in the most recent Batman movie. So I’m definitely going to keep an eye out for them and the remainder of the episodes.
The Verdict
This show has built a strong foundation for itself in these first couple episodes. I’m looking forward to some Tuskegee Airmen action later on in the season. So far, the series has delivered on the visceral air combat that it promised us. I’m not super locked in just yet, but there’s a lot more story to tell, so I’ll definitely pop back in for more episodes in the coming weeks.
