Film Review: Heroic Tuskegee Airmen grounded by 'Red'

20th Century Fox

The George Lucas production "Red Tails" is inspired by the real-life Tuskegee Airmen of World War II. From left: actors David Oyelowo, Elijah Kelley, Leslie Odom Jr., Michael B. Jordan, Nate Parker and Kevin Phillips.

The pioneering African-American fighter pilots of the Tuskegee Airmen deserve a more memorable and less cornball movie tribute than "Red Tails," a George Lucas production that perhaps was motivated as much by the Marin County mogul's desire to top the dogfight scenes in "Star Wars" as by his interest in World War II.

An introductory caption informs viewers that "Red Tails" was "Inspired By True Events." A more accurate caption might add that "Red Tails" also was "Inspired by Old Movies."

As in a vintage wartime morale-builder from Warner Bros. or Republic Pictures, the Army Air Corps soldiers presented here are differentiated as much by their colorful nicknames as by their personalities: "Joker," "Smoky," "Coffee," "Winky," "Raygun" (the movie's one overt sci-fi reference) and so on.

"Deke" (Marcus T. Paulk) is the flight group deacon, whose good-luck charm is a picture of a dark-skinned Christ that he posts in his cockpit. "We're a long way from Memphis," Deke allows, "but Black Jesus is with me!"

Red Tails (PG-13)

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Red Tails

An account of the Tuskegee Airmen, an all-black World War II fighter pilot squad. The squadron, which was sent to North Africa and Italy to ...

Rating: PG-13 for some sequences of war violence

Length: 120 minutes

Released: January 20, 2012 Nationwide

Cast: Terrence Howard, Nate Parker, Tristan Wilds, Elijah Kelley, Leslie Odom Jr.

Director: Anthony Hemingway

Writer: John Ridley, George Lucas

More info and showtimes »

The characterization of the sneering, show-no-mercy Germans is even less subtle. "Die, you foolish African!" proclaims a Nazi flying ace, a redtailed P-51 Mustang in his sights.

The central conflict involves best friends "Easy" (Nate Parker), the captain of the 332nd Fighter Group, who has begun to find his courage in a bottle, and "Lightning" (David Oyelowo), the group's most skilled and reckless flyer. Lightning is "one craaazy pilot," says Raygun (Tristan Wilds), also known as "Junior." (The unit is generous with nicknames.) But Lightning is not all flash: His romance with a lovely signorina enables him to show his gentle side even as it detours the movie from the wartime action that is its selling point.

Set in Italy in 1944, "Red Tails" finds its airmen -- graduates of the Tuskegee, Ala., "experiment" to train "Negro" combat pilots -- itching for action instead of the "lowdown, dirty" assignments that the Army brass believes are better suited to the allegedly substandard intelligence and reflexes of "colored" soldiers. The movie depicts racism, but also suggests that all it takes for a black man to be embraced by the white establishment is for him to prove his skill. In one scene, a black pilot is denied admission to an officers' club; later, the same pilot is welcomed into the same club after he shoots down a flock of Germans.

Bigotry here is more personal than institutional, as represented by Bryan Cranston as a white officer with a convenient Southern accent. Gung-ho and retro, the film has no interest in acknowledging the hard postwar homefront destiny awaiting many of these men; this perspective makes "Red Tails" essentially a kids' movie or family film, rather than an adult war film, like Clint Eastwood's "Flags of Our Fathers." (Last Friday, Barack and Michelle Obama watched "Red Tails" in the aptly named Family Theater at the White House.)

The climactic scene in "Red Tails" begins with an extreme closeup of Old Glory, blowing in the breeze; the stars and stripes fade out over a shot of the proud airmen, in formation, as "America the Beautiful" plays in the background. A lack of irony can be refreshing, even thrilling, but "Red Tails" is flat, in a way that has become almost a Lucas trademark. The director-for-hire is Anthony Hemingway, a television veteran who has helmed many episodes of "True Blood," "Treme" and "CSI: NY"; no doubt it's hard for a debuting feature-film director to exercise much autonomy on a Lucas set, but "Red Tails" seems utterly impersonal. The film feels as inconsequential as a TV movie, but with elaborate special effects.

"Red Tails" somewhat overcomes its shortcomings during its final battle scene, thanks in large part to Oyelowo, who makes you care about Lightning. The move opens in the midst of warfare, but the digital dogfights become interesting only after you get to know the pilots, in part because the technically impressive effects are so crystal-clear and clean they seem less real and intense than the aerial battles in vintage war movies. At the preview screening I attended, the bright yellow of the fiery explosions tended to blow out the image, revealing a flaw of the digital projection technology.

-- John Beifuss: (901) 529-2394

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