Masters Of The Air Review: 4 Ups & 6 Downs

Of course, the tired scripts and formulaic storytelling hampering Masters of the Air's cast at every turn ultimately leads to the show's greatest failing: there isn't a single character here who feels in any way real, despite the fact they're all based on actual people. 

Butler, for example, portrays Gale "Buck" Cleven, an adept, slightly cocky airman who quickly becomes devoid of life; he's brave and noble, an eventual prisoner-of-war put through hell, but he's little more than this, because his thoughts are never explored in a compelling way. 

This is true of almost everyone around him - Anthony Boyle plays the show's narrator Harry Crosby, a navigator given no voice despite his being the one guiding the story - and it creates an emotional distance difficult to close.

For a show that wants to explore the emotional and personal rigors of these men, Masters of the Air never allows them to become anything more than surface. What you see is what you get with these guys, and what you see is so one-note it would impossible to care for them, were their stories not a reality.