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Red Tails
Red Tails (2012 film)

A movie directed by Anthony Hemingway

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Lucas' Historical Flop

  • Jan 28, 2012
Rating:
+3
Star Rating:


Red Tails is caught in a fatal tug-of-war between two narrative approaches. On one side, we have serious drama; the film is an historical account of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first ever group of African American fighter pilots to serve the United States military during World War II. On the other side, we have a stylistic homage; it’s a generic war movie rife with threadbare clichés, some lightweight, some melodramatic, all of it dated and hopelessly predictable. Perhaps if someone had come to a decision as to which film they wanted to make, there might have been something to get out of it. Had I been executive producer George Lucas, who invested an estimated $100 million of his own money into its budget and promotion, I would have opted for a more serious approach.

That’s because the real life story of the Airmen is far more compelling than the filmmakers give it credit for. During World War II, many African Americans were still subject to degrading Jim Crow laws, and the U.S. military was racially segregated. It took just over twenty years of civil rights advocacy for Congress to pass a law amending the rules that prevented funding for the training of black military pilots. That was in 1939, two years before the formation of the Tuskegee program and five years before the all-black 332nd Fighter Group would be sent overseas to join the 99th Squadron in escorting the Fifteenth Air Force’s bombing raids across Europe. Even then, the War Department stipulated that blacks be put into separate military units and that they be staffed by white officers, who usually prevented them from advancing.

                                              
                                              
                                              
Not much of this background information is explored in Red Tails. It takes place in 1944, after the program had been established. This provides precious little context for audiences unfamiliar with the history of the Airmen. What the filmmakers do explore has been filtered through a highly conventional lens, many scenes looking, sounding, and advancing as if they had been lifted straight from a 1950s war movie. At that time, Hollywood would freely indulge in contrivances and stereotypical characters, including the unyielding superior officers, the hotshot young privates, and the poor sons of bitches that would die after revealing their plans to return home to their women. This movie provides us with variations of all of the above. The dialogue, especially during the early combat scenes, was written in the cornball style of a Saturday matinee serial – a mixture of obvious puns, harmless goading, and preachy sermons.

When the issue of racism finally does work its way into the plot, it will immediately be obvious how much it has been simplified and sanitized. Bryan Cranston, for example, plays Col. William Mortamus, an inflexible white bigot who, naturally, speaks in a Southern drawl. He will on a few occasions butt heads with A.J. Bullard (Terrence Howard), a black colonel who correctly points out that his men deserve better than rusty hand-me-down planes. He delivers every line as if giving a child an ultimatum. And then there are the scenes with the Airmen stationed in Italy. The white pilots refuse to give them the time of day until the Airmen do their stuff during the bombing raids; at that point, the white men make the most miraculous and sudden of turnarounds, going so far as to salute the Airmen in broad daylight, inviting them for a round of drinks at the local bar (which they had previously been denied access to), and even shake their hands. If problems were this easy to solve, the world would indeed be a much better place.

                                               
                                              
                                               
Several characters are given their own dramatic situations. There’s friction between best friends Martin “Easy” Julian (Nate Parker) and Joe “Lightning” Little (David Oyelowo). The former likes to do everything according to protocol and masks his resentment of his unseen but nonetheless demanding father with alcohol. The latter is an ace pilot who takes foolish risks, on land and in the air. There’s the kid everyone calls Junior, although he would much prefer the nickname Ray Gun (Tristan Wilds); a bit inexperienced, he will eventually find himself in a POW camp and participating in a great escape with the white inmates. There’s Major Emanuel Stance (Cuba Gooding, Jr.), always with a pipe in his mouth, always having an occasion to deliver a firm but inspirational speech. The filmmakers even find time for a soppy romance between Lightning and an Italian woman named Sofia (Daniela Ruah), the circumstances of which would be phony even within the pages of a dime store romance novel. Never mind the fact that they can express their love without knowing the languages they each speak.

For George Lucas, Red Tails was an odyssey, originally conceived of in 1988 but repeatedly postponed due to multiple script rewrites, many attached directors, and its rejection by every major studio because of its all-black cast, which they claimed would have made it impossible to market oversees. It’s a project he obviously cared about from the start. And yet ... this is the best he could give us? I can give him credit for his trademark display of special effects; the aerial dogfight sequences, some edited in the style of a Star Wars space battle, are nothing short of spectacular. But all the digital wizardry in the world can’t compensate for a screenplay that relies on an inferior plot and one-dimensional characters. How tragic that a very real and very interesting chapter in American history has been marginalized by bad filmmaking.

                                                  

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February 18, 2012
Seems corny and boring. Not in a rush to see it.
February 18, 2012
Unless I'm mistaken, it might already been gone from theaters.
 
January 30, 2012
So what I'm getting from this is that Red Tails is a predictable movie, filled with all the cliches and stereotypical lines expected from a WWII movie.  And that it dosent really touch (much) on what these men really went through. Its dumbed down so its not "offensive" to audiences.

Is that About right.
January 30, 2012
Yes, that's about right.
January 31, 2012
so then it looks like Im just going to see this movie for some WWII starwars action
February 01, 2012
That's entirely your call.
 
January 29, 2012
sounds like a more action-aimed, stylish rendition of the story of the Tuskegee Airmen. I was drawn to see this but it dropped off my radar since there were too many other releases I wanted to see last weekend. I may still make time for this one, but I need to see THE GREY first.
January 30, 2012
It has already dropped off of everyone's radar. Poor George Lucas -- all that money he wasted on an obviously inferior piece of work.
January 30, 2012
I may just see this for the dog fights. I really am not sure if I want to see tha t horror movie with the actor from Harry Potter, so I may give this a chance.
January 30, 2012
You mean The Woman in Black starring Daniel Radcliffe. I can't wait to see that one, simply because I love moody, atmospheric, period ghost stories.
January 30, 2012
I always get a little turned off when I see a horror-thriller rated PG-13. You going to see "Chronicle"?
January 30, 2012
Definitely. As for PG-13 horror films, I personally have no problem with them as long as they're enjoyable. In my opinion, gore, nudity, profanity, and violence don't make a horror movie better by default. In some cases, they can make a film worse.
 
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Chris Pandolfi ()
Ranked #7
Growing up a shy kid in a quiet suburb of Los Angeles, Chris Pandolfi knows all about the imagination. Pretend games were always the most fun for him, especially on the school playground; he and his … more
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About this movie

Wiki

  • Opened January 20, 2012 | Runtime:2 hr. 5 min.
  • PG-13
    Some sequences of war violence
  • Information for parents: Common Sense Media says OK for kids 13+.
  • During World War II, the Civil Aeronautics Authority selects 13 black cadets to become part of an experimental program at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. The program aims at training "colored personnel" to become fighter pilots for the Army. However, discrimination, lack of institutional support and the racist belief that these men lacked the intelligence and aptitude for the job dog their every step. Despite this, the Tuskegee Airmen, as they become known, more than prove their worth.
  • Cast: Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Bryan Cranston, Nate Parker, David Oyelowo
  • Director: Anthony Hemingway
  • Genres: Action/Adventure, Drama
  • Michael B. Jordan as Maurice 'Bumps' Wilson, Nate Parker as Marty 'Easy' Julian and Kevin Phillips as Leon 'Neon' Edwards in ``Red Tails.''
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    Movies, War Movies, Action & Adventure
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    Details

    Genre: Action, Adventure, War
    Release Date: January 20, 2012
    MPAA Rating: PG-13

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    "Lucas' Historical Flop"
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