Flags of Our Fathers debuts

Flags of Our Fathers premiered Friday. I haven't seen it, but the preliminary reviews were apparently on the mark. Here's the consensus view:

'Flags of Our Fathers' Salutes The Men Behind The Moment"Flags of Our Fathers" stands with the best movies of this young century and the old one the preceded it: It's passionate, honest, unflinching, gripping, and it pays respects. The flag-raising on Iwo might have indeed become a pseudo-event as it was looted for maximum profit, but there was nothing pseudo about the courage of the men who did it.
But a few reviewers have noted imperfections:

Deconstructing myths in 'Flags of our Fathers'It is when the narrative shoots all the way forward to the present day, showing author James Bradley interviewing the old men who fought beside his father, that "Flags of our Fathers" starts to lose its footing. The horrible "old man flashback" framing device that Steven Speilberg used to bookend "Saving Private Ryan" should have been warning enough, but Eastwood plows ahead with several conversations between an actor we can barely see and don't care about and some elderly gentlemen who are not easily identified by their young counterparts in the island scenes. It brings the movie to a standstill every time.