Movie Review - "Red Tails" (2012) ***

     This is a tough one for me. I have been anticipating seeing this film for a while now. I have kept up with it off and on as it is a project from George Lucas, the creator of the Star Wars saga. Lucas has been working on Red Tails since 1988 and has had trouble finding support from studios, which ultimately led to him fully financing the project himself. Lucas has stated in recent promotional interviews for the film that it is his belief that a movie with a primarily African-American cast has scared off many studios from wanting to back the picture with the money necessary to fund the project. I do not know if this is true or not but I think it could be a valid argument. In recent years, movies with a high percentage of black actors tend to only fall in the comedy category. This is unfortunate, but it does seem to be a reality. So I was intrigued to see how the cast would do, and I'm also a fan of World War II history in general, therefore Red Tails was high on my must-see list.

     The movie is about the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African-American fighter pilots who fought during World War II. The group served their country honorably even though they faced racism and prejudice from many of their fellow soldiers. As the movie opens, the group is already stationed in Italy and is running routine missions to destroy trucks and tanks because the military leaders at the Pentagon do not trust them with more important tasks. We are introduced to a group of four pilots and it is these individuals that the movie focuses on during it's duration. The group is led by "Easy" (Nate Parker) who is a great pilot and leader but has issues with alcohol. His three wingmen are "Junior" (Tristan Wilds), "Joker" (Elijah Kelley) and "Lightning" (David Oyelowo). The group has a good rapport and they perform their tasks well, but "Lightning" is considered one of the best pilots even though he has a tendency to not follow orders. He and "Easy" butt heads over this several times but they are held together due to the presence of Major Stance (Cuba Gooding Jr.), the leader of the group while stationed on the ground. Stance reports to Colonel Bullard (Terrence Howard), who spends much of his time in Washington D.C. trying to convince the military hierarchy to put their trust in his men and send them more worthy assignments. They are eventually assigned a task that will have them see dogfight action and after succeeding with ease, they become a valuable asset to the military. They are asked to provide escort support to a group of bombers and it is during these missions where the Tuskegee Airmen earn their true stripes.

      I said at the beginning of the review that this was a tough one for me. What I meant by that was the fact that this movie disappoints me some. If you peel away some of the bad stuff and look at its core, there is a GREAT movie lurking here. The action scenes are very well done and I felt like I was up in the skies flying with these guys during battle. Even though Lucas didn't direct the film, you can see his touches during the aerial combat scenes, it's obvious Star Wars was an influence here. However, when the movie is on the ground it is a hodgepodge of hits and misses, unfortunately it's mostly misses. I believe the acting is fine in this film. Nobody really stands out and gives a tremendous performance, but there is not a lot wasted either. I think everyone pulls their role off admirably. Unfortunately, they aren't given much of a script to work with. There is a romance element installed in the movie and it is completely unnecessary and drags the movie down. I was reminded of Pearl Harbor, another war movie that had great action scenes but it gets bogged down in a ridiculous romantic angle that kills the pace of the movie. I also wish the movie would have gone for a bit more of a dramatic tone and focused on some of the issues these gentlemen faced. I'm sure the decision by Lucas and director Anthony Hemingway was to go lighter to appeal to a wider audience, but I think that was a mistake. There is a brief scene where several of the men are sitting around at base discussing why they are performing their duties even though they are not respected, but it only lasts a couple of minutes and then isn't brought up again. I wanted more of that. I wanted to see more scenes where the men faced difficulties from white soldiers. It's touched on but not enough. The movie frustrated me because of this, I came away thinking it was a missed opportunity. Don't get me wrong, I think this is a good film and I am recommending it. The war scenes are fantastic and it is a great opportunity for people to learn about a group of men who were heroes to their country, even though their country did not believe in them at first. I just wish it would have gone to the next level and been a more thought-based experience.