Review: Red Tails
The 332nd Fighter Group of World War II was known as the Tuskegee Airmen. Toward the end of the war they became known as the "Red Tails" for the painted tails of their P-51 Mustang Aircraft. This fighter group is well known for several reasons: Its pilots were all African-American men, who served with distinction and were some of the most highly decorated fighter pilots in World War II. The 332nd has appeared in a number of documentaries, films and television shows. Red Tails is the latest attempt to tell the story of these airmen.
Red Tails has been a work in progress by executive producer George Lucas for over 20 years. Sadly, that 20 years of effort went to waste. This movie fails on so many levels, it boggles the mind -- how could 20 years of effort produce such an amateurish piece of work? Red Tails tries to tell the story of the 332nd through a series of non-believable and sometimes stereotypical caricatures.
A number of areas are problematic in this movie. The first and primary problem is with the screenwriting. The dialogue is pedantic, boring and many times simply ridiculous. In one scene, the new P-51 Mustangs arrive and the pilots decide to paint the tails red (hence their nickname). One of the pilots exclaims, "Let's paint the tails red like the Red Baron!" Hey dumbass, the Red Baron was German, you know the guys we are fighting. I cannot count the number of times that characters German and American exclaim, "Look, the pilot is African. Look, the pilot is black." This coming from people flying at 150 knots plus.
It's really difficult to know whether the writing issues come from screenwriters John Ridley and Aaron McGruder or the emperor himself, George Lucas. It's hard to tell who put in a character with the call sign "Ray-Gun" who actually has a Buck Rogers raygun with him. Has to make you wonder.
Another major problem concerns the performances themselves. Every performance seemed forced and unbelievable. With a cast of great actors like Cuba Gooding Jr, Terrence Howard and Bryan Cranston, you would think director Anthony Hemingway could draw out some great acting. He fails on every level. During combat, no one breaks a sweat. Even the injuries are laughable. Think Paul Reubens' death in the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The big difference is we were treated to over 40 minutes of that weakness.
Sadly, the air combat was a mixed bag as well. The external combat shots worked well. But when scenes are intermixed with dialogue from the pilots, calmly flying around on joy rides, it was ruined. In 2012, we know that combat is hell and we expect our characters to show that. I blame the writing and acting for this lack of believability.
Lately George Lucas has taken to the press with a story about how Hollywood executives didn't want to market a movie with an all-black cast. Nope! Lucas couldn't be more wrong. Movie executives don't want to market poorly made movies. Check your clothes, Emperor.
A much better film to consider on this subject is The Tuskegee Airmen, staring Laurence Fishburne, Andre Braugher ... and believe it or not Cuba Gooding Jr.