Movie Review: Red Tails
I recently went to the theater, a rare event for me, and saw Red Tails, advertised as a tale of the 332nd Fighter Group, or better known as the Tuskegee Airmen, during World War Two. Now I love myself some good ol historical war movies, especially World War Two and even more so about the conflict in the air during the war. The action scenes in the movie sure did not disappoint, the CGI was beautiful, the dogfights were intense, and there were plenty of unrealistic, Hollywood inspired, destruction, explosions and fireballs. As for the rest of the movie, it was rather painful. The whole story of the Tuskegee Airmen is the unfathomable amount of racial bigotry and racism they had to over come just to be allowed to train to fly planes for the Army Air Corp, let alone see front line action. However if you had no idea about the Tuskegee Airmen’s history coming into this movie, you would leave with the same lack of knowledge on the subject. You really don’t get a firm idea of the racism they even faced until you a pretty well into the movie. Even then its cliche exchanges among the the top brass back in Washington, DC and a horribly predictable fight at a “White Only” officers club. The main protagonists in the movie are Martin “Easy” Julian, played by Nate Parker, and his reckless flying wing man and best friend Joe “Lightening” Little, played by David Oyelowo. Both have their own sub-plot story lines as Easy struggles with the evident disapproval of his father that he numbs through alcohol (even flying drunk at times, something that wouldn’t fly in the real world) and Lightning’s glory seeking ways. Also, to keep things interesting for the viewer, they introduce a love story between Lightening and an Italian woman, played by Daniela Rush, that waves at his plane at the beginning of the film. Instead of keeping things fresh, it just proves to be a rushed and some what confusing story line of what I think is supposed to be a stab at those who turn their noses up to inter-racial love. They also incorporate a story of rivalry between Lightning and a German fighter pilot who paints the nose of his plane yellow and is loving refereed to as “Pretty Boy”. And I don’t even want to mention the wild story of Ray “Junior” Gannon, played by Tristan Wilds, and his quest to earn the nickname “Ray-Gun” that involves him being shut down and escaping from a POW camp. The dialog isn’t great at first but does get noticeably better as the movie progresses, and the film does provide a few laughs (including this awkward obsession with “Black Jesus”). There aren’t very man big names, with Terrence Howard and Cuba Gooding Jr. highlighting the cast. Overall I would say this movie is at best entertaining, but not worth paying full price to see. I give it 2 out of 5 stars, wait for the dollar theaters or rent it when it comes out on DVD.
