Enter the Tuskegee Airmen, known for the red nose and tail paint patterns on their airplanes. The movie’s focus is on one squadron of the group, led by Easy (Nate Parker) and composed of, at various times, Lightning (David Oyelowo), Joker (Elijah Kelley), Junior (Tristan Wilds), and Smoky (Ne-Yo). They fight both the Germans and racism, they struggle with substandard equipment and segregated facilities, and yet, in spite of all the hardship, they excel. They start to turn heads, get attention, and slowly but surely, they start to change the opinions of the white bomber crews who they fly support for. To call Red Tails a passion project for George Lucas is an understatement of epic proportions. He’s been trying to get the project funded since 1998, and he eventually took nearly $100 million of his own money to make, promote, and distribute Red Tails. His hand prints are all over the movie, even though he did none of the directing. You can take a look at any of the fight scenes and see George Lucas, as clear as day. You can also see George Lucas reflected in the movie’s classic, almost naive tone and the way it skirts around the issues of racism (for the most part) in favor of a rip-roaring action yarn. Red Tails functions as a sort of feel-good rah-rah picture the likes of which Hollywood doesn’t make about war anymore. The last movie of this type was Inglourious Basterds, I’d say; now, rather than the Jewish revenge fantasy, we get the African American hero tale. The Red Tails are heroes in the classic John Wayne or Gary Cooper mold, and Red Tails the movie handles them in a similar manner. Like those 40s and 50s movies, Red Tails can be corny, but it’s the good, fun kind of corniness in which you know the good guys are going to win and the evil Germans are going to get theirs in the end. Director Anthony Hemingway cut his teeth on television dramas like Treme and The Wire, and his directorial chops are at their best during the scenes in which the various pilots interact with one another, or when Col Bullard (Terrence Howard) faces off with the racist Pentagon establishment personified by Col Mortamus (Bryan Cranston) or confabs with supporters General Luntz (Gerald McRaney) and Col Tomilson (Lee Tergesen). While these scenes provide some comic relief, or some dramatic moments designed to draw responses from the audience, Red Tails‘ true starring moments are the incredible dogfights. Editors Ben Burtt (yes, that one from Wall-E) and Michael O’Halloran know their way around an editing suite, and the aerial combat is very exciting. Is Red Tails going to win awards outside of the technical Oscars? Probably not. However, it’s a whole lot of fun and, given what George Lucas was going for, it’s a rousing success. Is it a myth that is necessary? Probably not, but judging by the reaction of the audience during the film, it’s a welcome new face for an age-old genre. It’s not taking the men of the Tuskegee Airmen and turning them into heroes, it’s turning those heroes into legends. The Tuskegee Airmen were some of the most decorated pilots on the US military, and it’s about time they joined the Flying Leathernecks, the Flying Tigers, and the Lafayette Escadrille in the pantheon of real-life pilots who get fantastic films made out of their real-life adventures. Follow Den Of Geek on Twitter right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
title: “Red Tails Review” ShowToc: true date: “2025-08-18” author: “Elsie Diamond”
Scripted by John Ridley (Three Kings, U-Turn) and Aaron McGruder (Boondocks), and directed by Anthony Hemingway (The Wire, Treme), Red Tails follows the 332nd fighter group, a squadron of African American fighter pilots who overcame racial discrimination to become one of the most decorated in World War II. Focusing solely on the story of the pilots, who were reluctantly allowed to fly combat missions after the failure of the regular squadrons to protect US bombers on their raids into Germany, it eschews the broader political questions of the time and instead delivers an uplifting tale of heroic derring-do. From the brightly colored aerial dogfight that opens the picture, it’s clear that Red Tails is both a George Lucas production and a distinctly comic book retelling of a fascinating piece of US social history. Featuring some of the most exhilarating aerial combat sequences committed to film since Top Gun, Red Tails knows its strengths and plays to them at every opportunity. Mainly centring on the story of Joe ‘Lightning’ Little (Oyelowo), Martin ‘Easy’ Julian (Nate Parker) and Ray ‘Ray Gun’ Gannon (Tristan Wilds), during the two-hour plus running time we witness boys becoming men, mavericks learning humility, reluctant leaders struggling under pressure and young love thwarted by the cruelty of war. While the younger cast is left to wrestle with the ‘soapier’ material, it falls to Cuba Gooding Jr and Terrence Howard to try and breathe life into the more expositional aspects of the story. For the most part they just about succeed, but one comes away from the film wishing that both actors (along with the criminally underused Bryan Cranston) could have been utilized in a more interesting and effective way. That said, despite its somewhat crude approach to storytelling and character, taken on its own terms Red Tails just about works. Which isn’t to say Red Tails is for everyone. Many will no doubt baulk at its Ripping Yarns approach to history, while those of a more cynical disposition would be better off watching either 1995’s The Tuskegee Airmen, or even Clint Eastwood’s 2003 Flags Of Our Fathers, which examines America’s treatment of its WWII heroes through far less rose tinted spectacles. However, if you’re in the mood for a war movie that’s almost as breathlessly entertaining as it is unchallenging and as reassuring as mug of warm cocoa then Red Tails might just be right up your street. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here
title: “Red Tails Review” ShowToc: true date: “2025-08-16” author: “Lauren Glisson”
Scripted by John Ridley (Three Kings, U-Turn) and Aaron McGruder (Boondocks), and directed by Anthony Hemingway (The Wire, Treme), Red Tails follows the 332nd fighter group, a squadron of African American fighter pilots who overcame racial discrimination to become one of the most decorated in World War II. Focusing solely on the story of the pilots, who were reluctantly allowed to fly combat missions after the failure of the regular squadrons to protect US bombers on their raids into Germany, it eschews the broader political questions of the time and instead delivers an uplifting tale of heroic derring-do. From the brightly colored aerial dogfight that opens the picture, it’s clear that Red Tails is both a George Lucas production and a distinctly comic book retelling of a fascinating piece of US social history. Featuring some of the most exhilarating aerial combat sequences committed to film since Top Gun, Red Tails knows its strengths and plays to them at every opportunity. Mainly centring on the story of Joe ‘Lightning’ Little (Oyelowo), Martin ‘Easy’ Julian (Nate Parker) and Ray ‘Ray Gun’ Gannon (Tristan Wilds), during the two-hour plus running time we witness boys becoming men, mavericks learning humility, reluctant leaders struggling under pressure and young love thwarted by the cruelty of war. While the younger cast is left to wrestle with the ‘soapier’ material, it falls to Cuba Gooding Jr and Terrence Howard to try and breathe life into the more expositional aspects of the story. For the most part they just about succeed, but one comes away from the film wishing that both actors (along with the criminally underused Bryan Cranston) could have been utilized in a more interesting and effective way. That said, despite its somewhat crude approach to storytelling and character, taken on its own terms Red Tails just about works. Which isn’t to say Red Tails is for everyone. Many will no doubt baulk at its Ripping Yarns approach to history, while those of a more cynical disposition would be better off watching either 1995’s The Tuskegee Airmen, or even Clint Eastwood’s 2003 Flags Of Our Fathers, which examines America’s treatment of its WWII heroes through far less rose tinted spectacles. However, if you’re in the mood for a war movie that’s almost as breathlessly entertaining as it is unchallenging and as reassuring as mug of warm cocoa then Red Tails might just be right up your street. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here
