The Flyboys(Tom Sizemore, Stephen Baldwin, Reiley McClendon, Jesse James)

director: Rocco DeVilliers
Starring: Jesse James, Reiley McClendon, Stephen Baldwin, Tom Sizemore
Writers: Jason DeVilliers. Rocco Devilliers, Richard Dutcher

Remember back in the day when you were a kid and rode bikes around the neighborhood with your best friend? Remember all the crazy adventures you dreamed up of being kidnapped by mafia goons and sneaking onto planes and being chased by thugs who want to kick your ass? Imagine if all of that stuff happened in real life in a believable yet amazing way. Combine it with good story writing and incredible acting performances and you have the independent feature film The Flyboys.

Summary:
The plot of this movie starts off pretty simple. Kyle(Reiley McClendon), the new kid at school, befriends a kid named Jason(Jesse James) after defending him from getting beat up by the school bully. The two boys develop an instant friendship and Jason shows Kyle his favorite hangout spot.. The local airfield. The two sneak on a private plane and a series of amazing adventures ensue featuring the mob, explosions, tons of action and adventure. This was a good movie.

Why this movie is flipping awesome:

I saw this independent movie at a special screening this past weekend at The Playhouse West Film Festival in North Hollywood. It was freaking awesome. In fact it was so awesome that I am writing a special review for it. This film is a film for all ages and has child stars, but it isn’t just a kid’s film. I would say this is a coming of age film about friendship, brotherhood and courage that can also be appreciated by kids. A film with a true heart and soul.

Reiley McClendon(right) gives a kick ass performance as the new kid in town who moves around a lot. He really captures the sense of bravery and independence that kind of childhood can cultivate in a kid. He tries to do the right thing even if it means pissing off assholes bigger than him. A scrappy kid, he doesn’t take shit from anyone.

Jesse James(left) is the perfect compliment to McClendon as the kid who gets picked on and wants to be brave but just doesn’t know how. The two boys make a good pair and they both are awesome actors.

Tom Sizemore and Stephen Baldwin play brother mobsters who mirror the main characters’ situations as adults. They bring the adult element to the whole story with sensitivity and soul. Both actors give some damn good performances and by the end of the movie I was moved to tears by the emotions and feelings their relationship evoked.

On top of the movie’s soulfulness is a healthy dose of action and adventure. The action scenes in the movie involve planes and cars and guns, etc… I was pretty impressed. The film makers involved in this project were able to put just enough action to skirt the outer edges of reality without making the movie totally unbelievable. Given the film’s indie budget, I was impressed cause the action scene’s are worthy of any multimillion Hollywood Action/Adventure movie.

Another surprise was the talkback with the Film’s creators. As awesome as this movie was, they were not able to get distribution by any major film studio’s. The impression was that the studio execs were stuck on the idea that this movie was a kids movie and the adult themes were a little too complex to market to kids. That was pretty amazing cause this movie is a good ass movie that could easily become a classic American adventure movie in ten years time.

Summation:

Because this movie is not yet widely distributed, you are going to have to check it out at special screenings until some lucky studio picks it up. To learn more about the movie go to their official website.

Other movies I would recommend if you liked this one are:
E.T., Forrest Gump, The Goonies, Saving Private Ryan.