Like United States President Woodrow Wilson in 1914, Hollywood has shied away from World War I. In fact, you probably could count the number of World War I films on both hands, compared to the miles and miles of celluloid attached to World War II and the subjects of D-Day, Pearl Harbor and Iwo Jima. While “Saving Private Ryan” is probably the single greatest war movie ever made, I think the same is still possible with World War I. It just hasn’t been done yet.

World War I started around 1914 and pitted the Allied powers of Great Britain, Canada, France, Italy and Russia, against the Central powers of Austria-Hungry, Bulgaria, the German Empire and the Ottoman Empire. Missing from the Allied group was the United States, who finally entered the war on April 6, 1917, after German submarines attacked American merchant ships, and the British informed the United States about the Zimmerman Telegram, a proposal from Germany to Mexico to form an alliance against the United States.

However, even before April 1917, Americans were giving their young men to the war, specifically to the Lafayette Escadrille, a squadron of the French Air Service. This band of American fighter pilots was formed in 1916 and before the end of the war saw 265 Americans in its corps.        These American pilots had a reputation for being daring, reckless and their officer’s club had a notorious party atmosphere. According to historians, the squad had two lion cubs – “Whiskey” and “Soda” – as mascots. One of these lions, Whiskey, is shown in the film.

“Flyboys”, directed by Tony Bill (“My Bodyguard” and “Six Weeks”, both early 80s movies were the only feature films I could find under his credit), opens with introductions to the various young men volunteering for the Lafayette Escadrille. Some, like William Jensen (Philip Winchester), join because of family legacy and the desire to be a hero. Others like Briggs Lowry (Tyler Labine) and Eddie Beagle (David Ellison) leave to escape, one from his father, the other from the law. And finally, there is Blaine Rawlings (James Franco), a hot-headed, cocky cowboy from Texas, who joins because he has no family and, after the bank repossesses his ranch, no place to live.

Despite their willingness to fight for the French, they are perceived by French officers and veteran American pilots as cocky and juvenile, essentially not understanding the harm that will certainly come their way when they take to the skies. The officer in charge of teaching them how to fly is Captain Thenault (Jean Reno) and he is portrayed as grateful, encouraging and extremely forgiving of the American’s constant disobedience of orders, as well as their brash demeanor.

During the American’s training montage, we also come to meet Reed Cassidy (Martin Henderson), a veteran of the Lafayette Escadrille and the corps’ Flying Ace. He watches the new pilots’ backs, gives them advice, but takes an instant father-son role to Blaine. This means only one thing: That Cassidy is going to kick the bucket at the end of the movie and give our hero, Blaine, a reason to make it to the film’s final duel. This must be the case, because the chunk of romance Bill plops into a large portion of the film’s middle is snuffed out tersely at the end of the movie, so it’s definitely not the love of a woman that keeps our hero flying strong.

The problem with “Flyboys” is one of identity and purpose. The movie isn’t a romance, but it’s not an action film. It’s not a drama, but not quite a comedy. Bits and pieces of all those elements are thrown about, and at times, when cinematography, acting and dialogue mesh, the movie works. But mostly the film feels discombobulated, almost like it’s suffering from short term amnesia. It can’t decide whether to be firmly lighthearted, or gritty and realistic. I suspect that’s the PG-13, let’s get the teens to the theaters drumbeat stifling any attempts at a serious war movie.

In the end, “Flyboys,” while energetic and visually astounding in many respects, doesn’t quite hit the bar set by previous war films. And that’s “Flyboys” main problem: It just doesn’t know what road to travel. Part drama, part romance, part action and bits and pieces of comedy sprinkled throughout, the movie ends up an ordinary, enjoyable PG-13 war movie. Not grand enough to be considered amongst the canon of war film, but not lousy enough to be considered a bomb.