Alright, my family is actually involved in this production. I feel like I'm in the perfect position to tell you what it's all about (as I did once already in the first thread).
First: It's the story of a few
American soldiers as told in their books. Basilone is the only soldier whose story is not taken directly from memoirs.
Second: It's not even about all of the Americans in the Pacific. They focused on the most well-documented group of soldiers, the First Marine Division. Band of Brothers was about one group of soldiers as well. It never ceases to amaze me how pissy people get when they don't realize that you need to focus on specific soldiers in a dramatic movie, and that you couldn't make a movie about all of the groups involved in a conflict even if you wanted to.
Third: It's an anti-war movie. This upsets many of those involved with its making, and many fans. However, as a project with multiple contributors, it still has much to offer. Notably it is taken almost completely from relevant accounts of the men featured in the firm.
Fourth: Stop bitching about some specific battle or group of veterans not being in the movie. This movie covers 5 separate engagements, and it does a piss-poor job of even doing that because they bit off more than they could chew, and a few key members of the development crippled it (much like Hitler's commands during the Battle of Britain).
Fifth: I'm very glad to see no one bitching about the portrayal of the Japanese soldiers, the gore, or the language. They did a lot of stupid Hollywood things to the American soldiers, like having them be heartless assholes who shot livestock from traincars. Someone didn't even bother with the fact that even having live ammunition would have brought about a dishonorable discharge when they wanted to throw in their bit of Hollywoodism. The brutality of the Japanese was also dramatically downplayed (yes, the amount shown is actually a huge downplay from the reality). The language is also extremely clean compared to the statements given by the men who fought. All of these things were done to increase their potential market, at the expense of truth. Sometimes this was good (in the case of language); sometimes it was shameful (in the case of the portrayal of the American solders' attitudes and sometimes even actions).
They missed a lot as well. Best to read the books it's based off of if you are really interested in the men's stories. Otherwise, take it as something along the lines of "historical fiction". It uses real characters and some of their real actions and words, but it's not what reallly happened.
The Pacific is good, but I think band of Brothers was better.
You're damn straight. As one of the few hundred people who's seen this whole thing (that fact always tickles me) I can tell you that the last few episodes are of this are the best, but it doesn't quite measure up to Band of Brothers. Anyone watching will be sure to enjoy the character Eugene Sledge the best, as he is the only major character who is spot-on with the man himself.