Redtails Movie Review

I've been looking forward to this movie's release. My son and I headed to the theater tonight (one day after opening) and packed into a mostly full theater.

NOTE

I did not expect much realism in the flying scenes because, on balance, scenes of people sitting in a cockpit are dull (even the great Jimmy Stewart had a tough time in Spirit of St Louis, a movie I like, but is not recognized one of Stewart's best). So I won't complain about maneuvers or physics of the impossibility of this or that -- this is a movie and the film makers need to keep the stuff in frame and keep the interest of the audience, few of whom are pilots or aeronautical engineers.

The movie opens with B-17s flying in formation. The scene is complemented by awesome sound of hundreds of radial engines. It's immediately marred by the unrealistic clouds the planes fly through (B-17s flew at high altitudes over Europe to avoid flak and make life harder for the fighters). The Bombers are jumped by German fighters and the American fighter escort peels off in chase, leaving the bombers helpless. The Cockpit shots capture the bomber crews complaining, and of course they dutifully plummet to earth in a fiery wreck. Even the densest member of the theater audience can see that something ain't right and needs to be fixed (even while the Army that will eventually defeat Germany and Japan cannot).

Next, we see Colonel Bullard (Terrance Howard) in DC, pleading the case for his unit against a condescending southern General. He replies with righteousness and the dense audience once again knows who is Right and who is Wrong.

We follow the banter on base to get to know the heroes, but the focus is so diffused we really don't care much about any one of them (We're dense, remember, and can't be empathetic for a dozen people at once). Certain stereotypes help us figure out who is who (the cranky maintenance NCO, the Motivational Speaker-now-Army-Colonel, the "Go get 'em boys" coach, the conflicted warrior from a privileged background, the angry guy who is fighting racism one bar brawl at a time, the dew-eyed kid who everyone worries about because they know he's gonna die, and so on.... )

I'm righteously indignant, so you'd better watch your step, mister...

They finally get their chance and rip up the jerries but good. Somehow at a closing speed north of 600 MPH the lead Bad Nazi figures out the opposing fliers are "Africans." So the Nazi snarls menacingly and leans into his panel to give his bullets extra oom-pah. He gets his come-uppance, and races home to base, followed by four (yes, just four) of the heroes. Their P-40s  are loaded with atomic bullets as they take out about 10,000 ME-109s parked within inches of a million gallons of Really Explosive Stuff.

Silly Nazis.

There's a contrived romance (apparently only one pilot in a Fighter Group can hook up with a gorgeous Italian chick while 1,200 others just hang around playing poker and exchanging witty banter). This is the kiss of death (that is not a plot spoiler -- if you've seen one war movie you know exactly what's gonna happen). When the gorgeous Italian chick blurts out "I love you" in halting English, Lightning (played ably by David Oyelowo) tries to slow her down. We know why.  He wants to say, "Look, woman! Don't you know you just killed me?!"


It's also telling that the only female character in this two hour flick is unable to speak English. The Germans get subtitles, but the Italians, nessuno. Which makes sense, anyway, given the dialog George Lucas usually places before his female cast.

Natalie Hershlag wondering if  this is a good idea...

Anyway, there's a few more flying sequences with gorgeous views of Bombers. The ME-109s look cool and real and even sound sinister. In the climactic battle the Evil Nazi is now flying an ME-262 jet fighter (the Red Tails call him "pretty boy" because they can spot Arayan effeminacy at 600 MPH). When he grunts "Kill them" (in German) I leaned over to my son and whispered in my best James Earl Jones basso profondo, "Leave this one to me..."

I'll get you, my pretty!

Sadly, the musical score was awful (think Dukes of Hazzard Go To War). There was no compelling theme, no unifying anthem, not even a 1940s mood. When the choir started humming mournfully I had to roll my eyes. Why not just borrow the Saving Private Ryan score? They're not using it anymore...

The landing sequences were so fake it was embarrassing -- the P-51s looked like X-Fighters landing on Hoth.

NOTE

I can't help myself -- Did the Red Tails not need the first half of the runway? At least they had good brakes. Their P-51s stopped within inches of touchdown.

Imperial Walkers were not in Red Tails. But they could have been...

This movie tossed every war movie cliche into a blender of three hundred Sun Blade CGI servers, handpicked a bunch of good actors, and then gave them a crummy script and asked them to make it work.

Gerald McRainey? Really? Is there no other actor in Hollywood who can convincingly portray a General? Not one?

Please, save me from my agent....

I'm very disappointed to give the movie a thumbs down. This movie was based on the premise that the audience can't handle nuance. That's a shame, since the most damaging bigotry isn't the loudmouth in a bar, but rather the whispered backroom suppression and manipulation. These are darker, more complex themes that require a deft touch.

In The Kings Speech, two capable actors carried the film through intelligent, believable dialog despite a backdrop of drab wartime Britain. The only noticeable CGI were barrage balloons. The writers, directors, and actors in that film trusted that the audience would follow and understand the interplay between the characters, understand the tensions, pressures, and demands, and see something as ordinary as a speech as a great triumph.

The Tuskegee Airmen accomplished much before a single Nazi plummeted to his death. They volunteered, trained, learned, and fought for those with whom they dare not share a water fountain.

They were a huge wave in the historic movement towards equality, a still incomplete movement, but much farther progressed today than in 1944 because of what they did. And something as benign as taking off in a P-51 heading north towards Germany was a great enough triumph.

The combat success was mere confirmation of what they already knew. And what we know today. Give us some credit.