REVIEW: Red Tails

Red Tails (2012): Dir. Anthony Hemingway. Written by: John Ridley and Aaron McGruder. Story by: John Ridley. Starring: Nate Parker, Davi Oyelowo, Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, Daniela Ruah and Bryan Cranston. Rated PG-13 (Aerial battles and explosions). Running time: 121 minutes.

2 ½ stars (out of four)

Red Tails is an unabashedly corny war movie about the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of black fighter pilots who fought in WWII. In it, American soldiers shout things like, “Take that, Mr. Hitler!” and the Nazis are limited to snarling, “Show no mercy!” from their cockpit, translated for our benefit with subtitles. What makes Red Tails appealing is how unshakably positive it is. That is not to say the film downplays the racial tension of the time – this is a central focus – but rather that the film is not interested in depicting these prejudices as merely oppressive. The movie is about a group of black soldiers who ignore what the white higher-ups were saying about them and became American heroes.

Red Tails was produced by George Lucas, who also financed the film out of his own pocket. If the dogfights sometimes remind you of Luke Skywalker’s scuffles with Imperial Tie Fighters, that is only because Star Wars was influenced by WWII movies of the 40s and 50s, the same films that Red Tails emulates. (An early cut of Star Wars is even said to have used clips of aerial battles from these films in place of unfinished special effects.) This film pays homage to that part of cinematic and American history, even retaining those films’ plucky innocence. I say innocence. Others might say naiveté and others still will call it childishness. Regardless of how you label it, the effect is the same: giddily exciting heroism.

The Tuskegee Airmen were real people and are fictionalized here as a thoroughly likable bunch. There is Martin “Easy” Julian (Nate Parker), their stoic flight leader whose drinking habit is the only blemish on his impeccable character. His best pal, Joe “Lightning” Little (David Oyelowo), is a showboat, always going for the glory even when his orders dictate otherwise. The rest are known primarily by their nicknames painted on the sides of their planes: Junior (Tristan Wilds), Joker (Elijah Kelley), Neon (Kevin Phillips). For the most part, you can guess their personalities by their nicknames. Cuba Gooding Jr. also costars as the Major on base.

The soldiers kid around on the ground and we learn a bit about their lives and friendships but not a whole lot. The character accorded the most non-fighting scenes is Lightning, whose blossoming relationship with a young, Italian woman (Daniela Ruah) in a nearby town is sweet and quietly romantic in an old Hollywood sort of way. (Again, you may substitute these adjectives with “insipid” or “trite” if you are feeling cynical.)

The true heart of Red Tails, however, is in the sky. The dogfights are fast-paced and energetic, and I enjoyed the way the characters’ personalities effect how the battles play out. When Easy commands his boys to attack a German train, he orders them to swoop in from the side but Lightning stubbornly disagrees. He wants to shoot at it head on. Just how reckless this is is difficult to visualize until you see him do it.

One of the most interesting threads in Red Tails features Terrence Howard as a Colonel who meets with an all-white group of military officials in Washington to discuss the progress of what one of these men (Bryan Cranston) calls to as an “experiment.” He refers to Tuskegee Airmen when he says this. The U.S. government at the time was skeptical that black soldiers would be as effective in battle as white soldiers. One published study (excerpted in on-screen text before the first scene) finds that the inferior skills and cowardice of black men make them unreliable in war.

Mr. Howard, with characteristic poise and composure, denies the validity of these offensive claims. He must give half a dozen speeches in this film, either in defense of the Tuskegee Airmen or to inspire them, and man, what a great speaker he is. When he talks, you listen.

And the Tuskegee Airmen, they can fight. Red Tails, which was written by John Ridley and Aaron McGruder, and directed by Anthony Hemingway, is often cheesy and clichéd. There is nothing cheesy about the heroics of the Tuskegee Airmen though and George Lucas and Co. pay tribute to them not with gritty realism or brutal violence but with a dashing, old-fashioned, action picture. And why not? Red Tails turns back the clock to 1944 and gives these men the movie they never got back then.

- Steve Avigliano, 1/27/12