Mortars, MRE’s, Kraut, foxholes, oscar mike, Easy company and Hitmen Victors have been my lingo for the last month. In that time I have watched Band of Brothers and Generation Kill. One has been touted as one of the best mini-series ever made and the other was ignored during this years award season.
Band of Brothers had been recommended to me by several people and I decided to see what made this show amazing. Halfway through the first episode I realized what was so great about this show. The characters had distinct personalities and there was something that made me immediately connect to them and want to know more.
As I went through the series I was amazed by the production value and emotion that the story evoked. There were several times I had to remind myself that this was a mini-series and not a movie because the visuals were outstanding. Before I was even completed watching the series I bought it on Blu-ray thanks to an Amazon Deal of the Day.
Generation Kill was based on the book of the same name which is about Marines during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. At first I wanted Generation Kill to be more like Band of Brothers, and while the premise is similar, that is where their similarities end.
Generation Kill reminded me of Jarhead for the first half of the series because the Marines we follow are not seeing any action. Most of them just want to fire a round in combat and never get the chance because they are not being utilized properly and are put in bad tactical situations. The story is neither pro-war or anti-war, instead it does a fantastic job of describing what a soldier goes through in a time of combat and how management of troops can be almost as deadly as the enemy.
While Band of Brothers was a remarkable display of visuals Generation Kill created a tension and uneasy feeling by showing the companies progression to Baghdad and questioned if they were doing a ravaged Iraq. I am glad I took the time to watch Generation Kill but there were many times something reminded me of a Band of Brothers episode and a characters action would remind me of someone from Easy Company.
I would easily recommend each series but with heavy emphasis on Band of Brothers because what it created is more of art than it is television.
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