I can only buy one of these movies on blu-ray for right now and will have to buy the other one later. Does it matter which movie I see first? I am more interested in Letters, but didn't know if I should watch Flags first and if Letters is best viewed second. Or does it not matter? I heard Flags has a large portion of the movie that is not war scenes. does Letters have more war settings?

I saw Flags first then letters a bit later. But i dont think it matters mutch in what order you see it.
And if i remeber correct letters has more war scenes and explotions :D

I have already seen Flags of Our Fathers and I cant wait to see Letters. I am glad to hear that Letters has more battle scenes.

I saw Flags first then letters a bit later. But i dont think it matters mutch in what order you see it.
And if i remeber correct letters has more war scenes and explotions :D

Sweet. If there is more war scenes in Letters then I think I'll pick that one up first.

Letters, from most reviews I've read, is an overall better movie anyway.

Dan

Letters from Iwo Jima could become a classic years from now. Flags of Our Fathers is a disposable war movie that will be forgotten in about 6 months.

Though I liked Letters better than Flags, I'm going to suggest Letters first for different reasons. I don't want to give away any of the movie in terms of storyline (yes, we know who wins, but that's not what I'm talking about ;) ). I think the emotional impact of the war scenes protrayed in Flags would be been more profound for me if I knew the Japanese soldiers first....instead of the faceless Japanese enemy in Flags.

Letters is a much better movie IMHO. Better story, better war scenes, better actors etc. Flags was only OK in my opinion. Not that Clint didnt do a great job, it just wasnt a story worth doing. Letters tells the worth while story in that scenerio.

Letters from Iwo Jima could become a classic years from now. Flags of Our Fathers is a disposable war movie that will be forgotten in about 6 months.
Just don't tell any American veterans of Iwo Jima that... ;)

I saw Flags first then letters a bit later. But i dont think it matters mutch in what order you see it.
And if i remeber correct letters has more war scenes and explotions :D

You've got that completely backwards. Flags is the larger budgeted movie and has much more combat footage. The majority of Letters is spent on the island in the days before the assault, and in caves during it.

Letters is the better movie, but you should watch Flags first. They're really two halves of the same movie, and seeing Flags first gives Letters greater resonance.

Rent Flags.

Buy Iwo Jima.

Letters from Iwo Jima could become a classic years from now. Flags of Our Fathers is a disposable war movie that will be forgotten in about 6 months.

Mostly because Letters looks at the battle from an unusual viewpoint for americans, and I doubt the japanese did many movies depicting those times ;)

You've got that completely backwards. Flags is the larger budgeted movie and has much more combat footage. The majority of Letters is spent on the island in the days before the assault, and in caves during it.

Letters is the better movie, but you should watch Flags first. They're really two halves of the same movie, and seeing Flags first gives Letters greater resonance.


Agreed 100%.

Though I liked Letters better than Flags, I'm going to suggest Letters first for different reasons. I don't want to give away any of the movie in terms of storyline (yes, we know who wins, but that's not what I'm talking about ;) ). I think the emotional impact of the war scenes protrayed in Flags would be been more profound for me if I knew the Japanese soldiers first....instead of the faceless Japanese enemy in Flags.


I think the emotional impact of the war scenes portrayed in Letters would have been more profound for me if I knew the American soldiers first, instead of the faceless American soldiers in Letters.

Although I believe It could be looked at either way, for me it worked very well the opposite of how you mentioned and it is interesting that the releases happened to be released how I saw them, Flags first and Letters second and I believe in that order for a reason.

I recommend Flags first.

I have not seen Letters, but I did see Flags in the theater and was dissapointed. I was expecting alot more battle scenes like Private Ryan. It was not what I expected.

Flags is weak. I think Letters is good enough to stand on its own without having a "companion" movie to reinforce it.

That said, I added Letters of Iwo Jima to my Blu Ray collection and have no intentions of getting Flags of our Fathers.

Letters was better,but I couldn't sit through either one of them a second time.

You've got that completely backwards. Flags is the larger budgeted movie and has much more combat footage. The majority of Letters is spent on the island in the days before the assault, and in caves during it.

Letters is the better movie, but you should watch Flags first. They're really two halves of the same movie, and seeing Flags first gives Letters greater resonance.


Good point, I will do that when I will be done with Matrix somewhere this week.

Watching Flags now, and the level of grey and colors and just realism is stunning. This is what high-def is about.

On edit, I can only hope that Spielberg has or is getting SPR on 4k for later.

yeah, just saw Flags, saw Iwo in theatres, and I'm going out on a limb and saying that a 'better' order to watch them is is actually the way I did... I think that the reflections upon the jingoistic appropriation of the photo plays stronger with the context provided by Iwo. I was pleasantly surprised by the film, it held up very well and surpassed expectations. I think combined they're a pretty great accomplishment by that Eastwood dude.

At the least, many Americans are less aware of the "other" side of the story, so starting with that will contextualize the nameless/faceless Japanese that pop up throughout the battle scenes of Letters - for that alone, I think it's better to watch the latter first.

And, yeah, I'm suggesting that Josh is wrong, the resonance of Iwo Jima came long after the fact, and the hooplah of FooF is contextualized by the misery and sacrifice of Letters....

Bad, poor, wrong Josh... :)