WWII from Space

It sounds like a B Movie title but it's not. At least it's not supposed to be. It's a new way of looking at the events of WW II, offering a global perspective of land, territories and battles.

It's very USA-centric - guess who made it - and starts with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour which brings America into the war. Ok, let's go with that.

However, it skips backwards and forwards in time to look at various events of the war. This is annoying at best and is confusing. How much better if it had simply followed a linear path and let us see how the war developed as it played out.

Given the limitations of a movie's length, however, it is very much a potted history so there's nothing radically new or in depth here.

The view from space is a nice idea to help visualise the global scale of the conflict. However, often when dots flash up on a swiftly-rotating globe of the world to highlight cities and countries, far from illumination, they're simply blobs in a fog because some landmasses are obscured by cloud! As it's CGI-generated this is folly beyond redemption. Someone obviously thought it added a sense of realism but it simply detracts from the movie's admirable goal. Not all scenes are like this, just enough to spoil some of the movie's intent.

Essentially, it's just another WW II documentary. It has nothing new to add, it's very USA-dominated and it doesn't achieve what it sets out to do particularly well.

Revinionist attempt to rewrite history from the Americans' point of view, with many special effects. Trash!

Glad to see that a few other reviewers have commented this is not WWII but USA's part of WWII.

I was so hoping to see the politcal plays that started the war on a 'from space' viewpoint. It literally starts at the bombing of Pearl Harbour.

It is a shoddy mix of interviews, poor CGI and just a mess of visuals with the all too annoying 'American Hero' voice over.

If you are American, you will probably enjoy it. If you are interested in WWII avoid it like the plague.

Horrible.

Absolutely amazing piece of work. I have watched this documentary twice, and I still think about it every so often. It gives a whole new perspective to the war as a whole. My second viewing was with my dad, who is a World War 2 buff, especially in Pacific knowledge, and he loved it. Now, admittedly, the documentary brushes over some finer details of certain battles (as I learned from my father), but it does not detract from the overall picture. For example, at the Battle of Midway the documentary glosses over the tactical details of how the Americans easily defeated the Japanese carriers (as my dad mentioned to me while watching). If you are a serious WW2 buff, you would know that and probably be upset. As guy from the Millennial generation getting a scope of the battle, it is not a big deal. You just have to remember that they are trying to fit in a 6 year war in 90 minutes.

I never really studied the war as a whole, with regards to how it affected global politics after the war was over, or why certain decisions were made with regards to geography, or how it affected politics locally in America. For example, before watching this I would have said "America dropped the atomic bomb on Japan solely because the Japanese were relentless and refused to surrender". Now? After watching this with some global geographic politics shown to the viewer? My answer is "America dropped the atomic bomb on Japan for two reasons, Japan was relentless and refused to surrender, and because they needed to prevent the Russians from defeating the Japanese". I realize my answer is quite overly simplified, and I can guarantee that there were 100 other reasons as well, but this global space map production really shows events in a whole new light that is hard to grasp from a high school text book.

Thanks to the power of technology, they really paint the global picture and educate the viewer very well. If I had to say, it was like watching Total Annihilation (PC Game), WW2 style. They use such cool sounds and graphics which really makes you feel like you are in a PC RTS game, no joke. For example, they use virtual maps with digital shading and digital lines to show movement and route plans and force positions, something that you certainly can't get from a textbook.

If you watch only one World War 2 documentary, I would suggest this one. The 90 minutes goes quick, they really take their time detailing the global scope of the war, and they cover things that include not only the battles themselves but the ancillary events that occurred to make the battle (or victory, or loss, or whatever it may have been) possible.

Like most who are likely to be interested in something like this I have read countless books and watched countless documentaries. Yes this is beyond US centric, it is very much a simplified view of the major events involving the US. But both graphically and the interesting viewpoint from "space" (really could have called it zoomed out or something, just not as catchy) are both excellent and interesting. This is not and should not be considered a comprehensive look at WW2. But it is a good overview for those who are unlikely to deep dive and it is interesting to a person like me who knows the majority of the deeper story and enjoys the zoom out-in graphics and the perspective that adds.