Review of Red Tails (2012) by Walter M — 13 Jun 2013

Having been trained to fly fighter planes for the Army Air Corps, the all black 332nd Fighter Group out of Tuskegee is tragically left with little of consequence to do except to shoot down trucks and trains, which Joe 'Lightning' Little(David Oyelowo) does in style before making time with Sofia(Daniela Rush), a local woman. All of which happens under the watchful eye of his squadron commander, Marty 'Easy' Julian(Nate Parker). In fact, they are almost put out of business but Colonel Mortamus(Bryan Cranston) overplays his hand, giving an opening for Colonel Bullard(Terrence Howard) to show that the Tuskegee Airman can prove themselves in a meaningful situation.

When it takes to the skies, "Red Tails" is an entertaining movie with a handful of exemplary scenes. At the same time, the movie is more often than not corny and hokey. Sadly, this is in the service of telling an important history(the movie assumes the viewer already knows who the Tuskegee Airmen were while reminding us that racism was worse in the past in its opening statement) which frankly deserved better. Now, whether that is intentionally done to mimic a 40's war movie(with 95% less stereotypes) or this is the way the filmmakers imagine people of the time actually spoke is beyond me.(Executive producer George Lucas is a nostalgist, along with an occasional monarchist, so maybe that has something to do with it.) Regardless, the movie does look great, even if it does not always pass muster on a technical level. And as somebody who grew up on "M*A*S*H," I don't see what the big deal is with Easy's drinking.