TITLE: Red Tails
STARRING: Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr., Nate Parker, David Oyelowo, Tristan Wilds
DIRECTOR: Anthony Hemingway
STUDIO: Lucasfilm, 20th Century Fox
RATING: PG-13
RUN TIME: 125 minutes
RELEASE DATE: January 20, 2012

By Seth Miller
Staff Writer, Part-Time Ninja

George muthafuckin Lucas; I have never met a single icon who has gone from beloved by so many to being hated by the same people so fast. With his credibility beaten to a pulp, can he still help create a great movie? Red Tails has been a passion project of his for years, and he spent his own money to finance the film, so is the final result worth it?

Inspired by the true story of The Tuskegee Airmen, Red Tails follows a group of African American pilots who are stuck far away from the frontlines of World War II and are eager to prove themselves to a military that does not believe they have what it takes to be fighter pilots.

One of the few things that this movie has going for is the aerial combat scenes, which are spectacular. The effects are exquisite and the dogfighting scenes pull you into the film and kick the whole production up a notch. The performances are also strong for the most part and help elevate the screenplay past its obvious limitations; the most memorable being David Oyelowo’s rebellious pilot Lightning.

Too bad the rest of the film suffers from substantial problems. The screenplay by John Ridley and Aaron McGruder is filled with some very corny dialogue; the first few minutes of the film make it clear when bomber pilots recite the action in the most obvious and wooden way possible. The characters are distinctive enough to make them somewhat entertaining and distinctive, but most come off as walking clichés and never develop so much that the audience will genuinely care about what happens to most of them. The attempts to create conflict are present but lack any real substance.

The beginning may be corny, but it establishes the story and the film’s strengths well. The ending closes the film out effectively despite some wooden dialogue and acting, but the middle is bogged down by a poorly developed story; the romance subplot that was fun in the beginning dragged on for too long and the attempts at character conflict drag the whole thing down, making a two hour movie feel like four. The score by Terence Blanchard shifts between strong orchestral arrangements (that fits this type of film) and a bad ’80s soundtrack that fits horribly with the movie.

I get what the filmmakers were going for; they were trying to create a film that duplicated the war films in the ’40s where every line seems like it was ripped straight from a recruiting poster, and in that regard they succeeded in making a quality film. The film’s air combat scenes and the few scenes where characters shine keep the film entertaining; but the overall devotion to this style of film, the weak screenplay, and the dreadful score keep Red Tails from flying high.

RATING 4.5/10

Front page image and interior stills from collider.com.