'Masters of the Air' is 'Band of Brothers' for a New Era
Every decade since the new millennium has boasted a prestige miniseries following an American battalion in the Second World War, all produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, all looking at a different corner of the fight against the Nazis: Band of Brothers stormed our screens in 2001; The Pacific held its territory in 2010; after an elongated wait, Masters of the Air is finally bombs away in 2024.
Making a swift counter maneuver from HBO to Apple TV+ during some 2019 network reshuffling, it’s now clear why the limited series, about an airplane bombing company based in East Anglia, England, took its time to reach our screens (just over 10 years after first being announced at HBO). Technology needed to catch up so the many expensive bombing raids and dogfights could make it to the small screen. When you adjust for inflation, you could build just shy of 100 “Flying Fortress” B-17 bombers for what it cost to make Masters of the Air. It seems like it was worth it: Masters is robust, stirring entertainment, old-school in its uncomplicated storytelling without losing the freshness and grit of modern war media.
Weirdly enough, Masters of the Air’s biggest draw may not be its battles but its cast. Like Band of Brothers before it, the ensemble of fighting-age soldiers, pilots, bombers, and navigators is filled with a who’s who of rising talent, led by the charisma supernova of Austin Butler. Sure, many will be excited to watch The Boys in the Boat’s Callum Turner, Saltburn star and Irish treasure Barry Keoghan, or Doctor Who himself Ncuti Gatwa (unfortunately, like his role in Barbie, Gatwa features very little). But Butler, with his deep voice, piercing gaze, and James Dean-esque physicality, is fated to draw attention no matter what project he’s in. (Check back in with us post-Dune 2 to see if a bald, white-painted Butler still makes us swoon).
