The United States Military: A History of Heroes Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		2.0
Audio		2.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.0

The United States Military: A History of Heroes Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman July 21, 2020

Mill Creek mainstay Coby Batty narrates The United States Military: A History of Heroes, a lengthy seven-part documentary that explores the history of all four primary branches of the military: Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Army. The program is mostly linear with some breakaways to past or future to establish a concept necessary to better understand the subject. It moves quickly even at nearly seven hours in length, cramming a good bit of information into each segment.

The United States Military: A History of Heroes contains the following seven episodes:

• The U.S. Navy 1775-1914 (56:04): This first segment explores the importance of the Navy in supporting ground forces, framing its vital functions beyond combat on the seas. A fine Navy, it was learned from the British, must be a critical cog in total military superiority. At the time of the American Revolution, the Continental Navy was formed, birthing a long and storied branch of the U.S. military. This piece explores key officers and battles in the American Revolution, the Navy’s clashes with pirates, The Navy’s involvement in the War of 1812, the birth for the Naval Academy in Annapolis, technological advancements and battles in the Civil War and the Spanish-American War, and the lead-up to World War I.
• The U.S. Navy 1915-Present (57:38): The Navy’s expanding role as a military might, peacekeeping force, and deterrent. At the dawn of World War One, travel across the Atlantic becomes increasingly dangerous when German U-Boats blockade the United Kingdom and engage in unrestricted submarine warfare, targeting all vessels within blockaded lanes. The Lusitania is sunk and the U.S. enters the war. In 1941, Japan decisively devastates the U.S. Navy at Pearl Harbor. Chester Nimitz commands the remaining and rebuilt U.S. Pacific Fleet and overseas Japan’s surrender. The program further explores the Navy’s role in the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Cold War, the “Brown Water Navy” river patrols in Vietnam, and the Navy’s role in the war on terror. This episode additionally explores the formation of the U.S. Coast Guard, the story of PT-109, female enlistees in the Navy, and the formation of the Navy SEALs.
• The U.S. Marine Corps 1775-1916 (58:22): In November 1775, the Colonies were at war with Great Britain. In a Philadelphia tavern, the Continental Congress passed a resolution creating the United States Marines. This film explores the Crops’ early missions in the American Revolution, the War of 1812 and the Battles of Bladensburg and New Orleans in particular. It looks at Archibald Henderson’s tenure as the Marine Corps Commandant. The piece explores battles against piracy, efforts to merge the Marine Corps with the Army, the Corps’ fighting in the Mexican-American War and that war's legacy on the Crops, a Marine death during John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, The Marines’ fighting in the Civil War on land and sea, lauded Marine actions on foreign lands in the years following the Civil War, the origins of “Semper Fi,” and the story of decorated Marine Daniel Daly.
• The U.S. Marine Corps 1917-Today (58:46): This segment looks at the Marines’ fighting prowess in World War I and the ensuing nickname purportedly assigned to them by the German army: “Devil Dogs.” It moves on to explore the Marines’ fighting in the Pacific during World War II, full racial integration of the Marine Corps by 1960, recent Commandants and the position’s duties, Marine Corps duty and action highlights in Vietnam (including the Tet Offensive, sniper Carlos Hathcock, and the fall of Saigon), recruitment problems following Vietnam, the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing that killed 200 Marines, and stories form the War on Terror. Also: the Marine dress blues, women in the Marine Corps reserve during in World War I, Navajo code breakers in World War II, and the Marine One helicopter.
• The U.S. Air Force 1903-Today (59:36): The piece understandably opens with a look at the origins of flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. It explores the use of balloons and dirigibles in World War I, aerial combat during the war, aircraft development in the years in between the World Wars, the attack on Pearl Harbor, the retaliatory Doolittle Raid, the Tuskegee Airmen, the Fat Man and Little Boys atomic bomb drops, Chuck Yeager’s test flights, the emergence of jet fighters and their new capabilities, the Air Force’s role in the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, the rise of Air Force One, and modern-day conflicts.
• The U.S. Army 1775-1899 (1:00:28): The formation of the first Continental Army, the Army’s first firearms, the questions surrounding the place of an established army in the new nation following the victory in the Revolution, the formation of the Army Corps of Engineers, and combat operations in various conflicts with Indian tribes. Much of the last third focuses on the U.S. Civil War, including a further look at the firearms used in the conflict and several of the key clashes that defined the war. It ends with a look at the return to the Indian Wars following the South’s surrender at Appomattox.
• The U.S. Army 1900-Today (59:30): The Creation of the National Guard and the Reserve Officer Training Corps, redefining the Medal of Honor, the Army’s usage in quelling violence at the Mexican border, weapons development throughout the century, and the story of “Sgt. York” amongst other tales from the First World War. The piece highlights key officers and battles during the Second World War, the Vietnam War in detail, the integration of female soldiers into the Army, the Army’s redemption in the Gulf War following Vietnam, and current operations in the War on Terror.

The United States Military: A History of Heroes Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The United States Military: A History of Heroes tells its story on Blu-ray via a 1080p, 1.78:1-framed transfer of passable, at best, quality. The film is cobbled together of source images of drastically varying ages and qualities, including real archival footage, recreated scenes of war, still photos, and artist renderings. There's little visual consistency beyond the regular appearance of various eyesore issues, including macroblocking, banding, jagged edges, aliasing, raised blacks, really the whole nine yards to potential problem areas for an image. As it is, the general clarity of all images proves satisfactory. The painted scenes probably fare the best, and the archival film footage, followed closely by the digitally sourced war scene recreations, fare the worst. The former shows the most inherent wear to the source, usually film when looking at scenes from World War II on through to Vietnam and parts of the War on Terror, while the digital recreations are amongst the most frequently problematic for the flaws inherent to low grade video. Colors are similarly distributed for quality, with the colorful paintings finding the most graceful and accurate pop while the video scenes are usually of depressed tones that offer little in the way of tonal excitement. The image is watchable at best. Set expectations low but watch for the narrative content rather than the visual supports.

The United States Military: A History of Heroes Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The United States Military: A History of Heroes features a stereo Dolby Digital 2.0 lossy soundtrack. There's little of note going on here. Narration is the primary component and is sometimes problematic. In the first segment, narration is harsh, crunchy, and not particularly adept in finding the center area between the front left and right channels. It improves for some episodes (Navy II, Marines I, for example) and reverts back to its harsher edge in others (Marine II, for example). Overlaid readings fare a little better with similar positioning struggles but less of that scratchy, unkempt presentation. Music has little to offer of interest beyond being suitably clear and wide. A few battle sounds accompany historical recreations but are often presented at a low, background, nonessential volume.

The United States Military: A History of Heroes Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The United States Military: A History of Heroes contains no supplemental content. No DVD or digital copies are included. This release does not ship with a slipcover.

The United States Military: A History of Heroes Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The United States Military: A History of Heroes delivers a rather comprehensive narrative history, and it does so pretty well down the line without bias. It's also fairly simplistic, offering a series of highlights rather than anything truly in-depth or groundbreaking. It's useful for instruction in the essentials or for military and history buffs to get a protracted fix. The video and audio qualities are acceptable for the content but won't wow home theater aficionados. No extras are included. For hours upon hours of content and at a price of just a few dollars, this release earns an earnest recommendation.