Review of Red Tails (2012) by Dan H — 22 Dec 2014

So Red Tails isn't a very good movie.

Anyone who knows me well will tell you that I'm a pretty big history buff, especially when it comes to the history of warfare. I'm quite familiar with conflicts the likes of World War II, and in that regard I guess I judge films set within these events more critically than others. The story of the 332nd combat squadron, the Red Tails, is nothing short of epic, powerful, and would serve as the perfect historical criteria to make a film out of. This movie, however, doesn't really capitalize on that. Apart from a few cool dogfight sequences, the whole film is pretty dull, and has some less than stellar performances, and pointless subplots that don't really go anywhere. My inner historian tore more than a few scenes apart, and the whole tone of the film came off to me more as a light hearted adventure, as opposed to the truly remarkable story these men wrote in history. The characters also never really felt as if they were in any danger when in the heat of combat, and even if they were, it's not like I would have cared, being that I barely gave a shite about the characters in general.

It is evident that the filmmakers' hearts were in the right place, but they still failed to bring a remarkable, epic tale to life from the pages of history.