RED TAILS (USA 2012) *1/2
Directed by Anthony Hemingway

Executively produced by George Lucas with lots of special effects from his Light and Magic Company, RED TAILS, the film of mistreated black fighter pilots during WORLD WAR is gorgeously shot and handsome to look at but comes off as pure Hollywood rubbish.

The setting is Italy, 1944.  To help win the war, the U.S. Pentagon brass had no choice but to consider the untested African-American pilots of the experimental Tuskegee training program.  Just as the young Tuskegee men are about to be shut down and shipped back home, they are given the ultimate chance to show their courage. These intrepid young airmen take to the skies to fight for their country - and the fate of the free world.  Right!  How this comes across in a film depends on how delicately and intelligently it is made. 

From the start to finish, the entire war is treated as a glorified game for adults rather than the horror (as in the film CATCH-22) it really is.  All the pilots have high hopes and willing to sacrifice their lives for America.  In CATCH-22, all the pilots want to be grounded and are going insane because of the high risk of flying missions.  Never mind the deaths that occur at the film’s end in RED TAILS.  These are glorified even more.  The story is so predictable and stretched out that ne wonders if there is any truth in all this – though the events are based on a book of these Tuskegee pilots during WWII.  Worse still is the ridiculous romance between “Lightning” (David Oyeolo) and Italian girl, Sofia (Daniela Ruah) who cannot communicate in their own native languages.  Though the film touches on racial prejudice of the pilots, nothing is touched on this inter-racial relationship, especially since Italian villagers are extremely old-fashioned.

All the actors seem as if they want to outdo each other in the acting department, just as their characters want to show each other the better pilot.  Cuba Gooding Jr. as Colonel Bullard looks the most outrageous smoking his pipe, and wearing his silly grin in his perfectly starched uniform.
More irritating is the small talk uttered by the pilots during air combat.  “Don’t nap!  You’ll miss the war!” or “Got a girl waiting!” This silliness have nothing to do with the plot or characters and show the film only trying to hard to please.  Other sayings like ‘politics is the art of postponing a decision till it is no longer relevant” does not cut it either.

The film’s period look by cinematographer John B. Aronson is worth mentioning as are the aerial shots.  But the dogfights are nowhere as exciting as say, THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN which contains the most exciting air fights ever put on screen.

At one point into the film, ‘Lightning” who takes considerable risks in the air is warned that the war is not a game.  Director Hemingway treats the entire film as a glorified game.  There is hardly any blood or gore on screen.  During one scene where a black is beaten up for challenging the whites, a fight that would definitely result in broken bones or even wounds near death, the victim is later shown with a perfect face, with no blood or a single bruise.

Hemingway puts the black pilots on a pedestal.  The Germans are treated as complete idiots who commit a ton of mistakes.  The pilots, in contrast, are always self praising and self congratulating themselves.  The escape from the German P.O.W. camp is the film’s biggest joke!  When Junior (Tristan Wilds) escapes never to be seen again, one knows he is going to show up at the film’s climax when everyone expects him to be dead.  Throw credibility to the wind!  RED TAILS is one tall tale of a movie.

What a waste that a story of courageous, used and unrecognized brave fighters that could have been made into an excellent war drama has been turned instead into exploitive, silly melodrama.  And the melodrama never seems to end running more than 2 hours!