The Pacific (2010)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Jeff "

  
  Being a diehard fan of Band Of Brothers and being obsessed with anything related to history and World War two, I highly anticipated this show like every other person who loved Band Of Brothers. Many people seemed disappointed with the result, and the most common complaint is,… More
  Being a diehard fan of Band Of Brothers and being obsessed with anything related to history and World War two, I highly anticipated this show like every other person who loved Band Of Brothers. Many people seemed disappointed with the result, and the most common complaint is, "well it's not as good as Band Of Brothers." My answer to this is, "well what did you expect?" Let me defend this mini series by saying of course it's not as strong as BOB, but if this was made before BOB then this mini series would've gotten more praise, but since this came after, it's been dismissed as crap, and "not as strong as BOB". I do believe that this second mini series is not as good, of course, but you have got to look at it from another point of view as well, The Pacific is a series based on three men who fought in the Pacific, Robert Leckie, Eugene "Sledgehammer" Sledge and John Basilone. While BOB was focused on a company fighting in Europe, The Pacific is an entirely different theatre of operations, it was a much tougher theatre because for one, the Japanese didn't surrender, and they were fanatical. The Pacific is a well acted and crafted series that should appeal to fans of Band Of Brothers. Sure it's different, but one thing is for sure both series are wonderful and pays tribute to the sacrifice that the men payed and it's also an important history lesson that can get you interested in things related to this incredible war. The Pacific is a wonderful and actually quite underrated series. A series worth watching. In the end, you really can't compare BOB with The Pacific because each series are very different from one another.

• Carlos M

  
  After the outstanding Band of Brothers, which centered on an American parachute infantry company in the European Theatre of World War II, this second war miniseries depicts the real story of three marines in different regiments through the Pacific Theatre of Operations. A powerful… More
  After the outstanding Band of Brothers, which centered on an American parachute infantry company in the European Theatre of World War II, this second war miniseries depicts the real story of three marines in different regiments through the Pacific Theatre of Operations. A powerful ten-episode production that dives into the minds and souls of soldiers showing the effects of war in their lives. While the former show had a very uniform narrative though, this one lacks the same fluidness as it attempts to focus on three characters who barely come across each other along the series - in fact, two of them do briefly meet but in a context that adds not much to the plot. Besides, the battle of Guadalcanal feels incredibly reduced, whereas another major one like Iwo Jima is relegated to no more than ten minutes in a later episode. Even so, the result is astonishing, a very intense and well-made ambitious production that boasts amazing realistic visuals - and it will probably remain with you for a long time after you watch it.

• Randy T

  
  The comparisons to HBO's <i>Band of Brothers</i> are inevitable and a little unfair. Whereas <i>Band of Brothers</i> is the story of a company of closely bonded G.I.'s, <i>The Pacific</i> is essentially about three heroic marines whose… More
  The comparisons to HBO's <i>Band of Brothers</i> are inevitable and a little unfair. Whereas <i>Band of Brothers</i> is the story of a company of closely bonded G.I.'s, <i>The Pacific</i> is essentially about three heroic marines whose lives intersect. Consequentially, it's a little more difficult to develop connections with the characters. Still, this is an epic undertaking and HBO has once again done itself proud. Another outstanding miniseries highlighting the extraordinary valor of soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines.

• Cynthia S

  
  AWESOME, A MUST SEE! Without a doubt one of the most spellbinding mini-series (MOVIE) about World War II with Japan. NOT A DOCUMENTARY, this is a feature film broken into 10 parts. The film follows three Marines (HOORAH) as they struggle and fight through the taking of Ima Jima and… More
  AWESOME, A MUST SEE! Without a doubt one of the most spellbinding mini-series (MOVIE) about World War II with Japan. NOT A DOCUMENTARY, this is a feature film broken into 10 parts. The film follows three Marines (HOORAH) as they struggle and fight through the taking of Ima Jima and outer Islands of Japan. I HONESTLY WATCHED each part back to back over one weekend, it was that GOOD. I would compare it to a good book that is impossible to put down. WOW.......

• Mark K

  
  HBO’s ‘The Pacific’ miniseries captured seven Emmy awards recently, and this is my 100th review. Helmed and produced by the same team that created ‘Band of Brothers’; the Pacific is an ambitious telling of some of the key island-hopping campaigns of the Second World War. With an eye… More
  HBO’s ‘The Pacific’ miniseries captured seven Emmy awards recently, and this is my 100th review. Helmed and produced by the same team that created ‘Band of Brothers’; the Pacific is an ambitious telling of some of the key island-hopping campaigns of the Second World War. With an eye for accuracy and detail, the production team perfectly captures the horrible, bloody mess the island campaigns were. Since it focuses largely on the stories of four Marines, the episodes are presented in a slightly different fashion that BoB, in that it gives no sweeping ‘Invasion of Europe’ overview, but instead captures the mud-level view of the common Marine. It’s not as well liked as Band of Brothers: The reasons are clear. Most people have been raised on a steady diet of the romanticism of warfare, mostly as depicted in the invasion of Europe, and the bloody mess of the island campaigns isn’t well known. In the Pacific, that romanticism belonged to the naval pilots and carrier battles that were all part of the war. So it’s easy to see why it was less well-received by people that liked Band of Brothers: Nobody likes to see people broken by war, and unclear objectives, and often chaos: That’s truth. Another truth is that The Pacific does what few series have ever done – take you there, and fill you with the same dread. You OUGHT to recoil from watching it. Pitted against the dedicated and implacable Japanese forces, these are young men for whom there’s no real escape: The marines and Army units engaged in reducing Japanese outposts had nothing but mud, malaria, and misery to compound their boredom. The soldiers depicted are just some of the many stories but they give an interesting cross-section of the US forces. The casting is once again superb at all levels, and their ordeals are about as close as I ever want to come to a war like that. The action wavers between extremely intense bursts of violence and long period of either tedium or paranoia. You find yourself questioning why some of these battles were fought at all, and three episodes deal with Pelelieu, a pyrrhic and ultimately useless victory. However, these are stories that need to be told, and HBO and Spielberg’s team with Hanks, McKenna, and the rest of the technical folks do an outstanding job at all levels. You really come to understand why veterans of that conflict don’t talk about anything but the chow and their buddies. That’s really all that was even halfway good. It will give you an appreciation for what that generation did, and even more appreciation for the sacrifices our current generation have made around the world in their own service to their country. This series and Band of Brothers makes many half-assed films about ‘heroes’ with guns look like the hollow fakes that they are. It’s not for everyone, but if you’re into history, or just want a better understanding of history presented in a high-quality way, The Pacific is worth watching. You can also read the companion book for the series, which also follows two more participants in the Pacific campaign that aren’t in the series. Recommended