Red Tails - Movie Review

There were a few movies that opened recently we'd wanted to see, so we took in a couple of them over the weekend.  I'll review The Descendants when I get a chance, but today we'll talk about Red Tails.

Red Tails tells the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African-American pilots - the first such group to see combat service in the United States Air Force - in World War II.  I should say, it tells a comic book version of the story.  There is little shown of the oppressive racial prejudice of the times, and the battle scenes look more like a video game than reality.  It seems like there could have been an opportunity to make a wonderful, moving film about these couragous men.  That being said, this is still an entertaining movie.

The characters, while not fully developed, are appealing - you do grow to care about many of them.  In particular, David Oyelowo was quite good as "Lightning" Little - the daredevil of the group.  His romance with "Sofia" (Daniela Ruah) is touching.  Unfortunately, it, like most of the other personal interactions, isn't fully developed in the movie.  I'd have liked to see a little more of them, and a little more of the interaction between Colonel A.J. Bullard and his superiors (not to mention his men).  Turning these men into real people - not super heroes - would have made this a superior movie.

As it was, Red Tails is an entertaining, action-filled film.  It's fun to watch, and you'll cheer for the good guys right up to the end.  That won't be enough for many critics, but it was enough for an enjoyable two hours at the movies.