Let me just state here and now, for the record that I REALLY wanted to like this movie. I went in with amazing high hopes because I thought here was finally going to be a beautiful, wonderful, and epic portrayal of those heroic and brave trailblazers, The Tuskegee Airmen. It was directed by a Black man and produced by the man behind the amazing Star Wars movies, George Lucas. It was written by the very talented John Ridley, scored by the jazz great Terence Blanchard, starring some of today's best Black acting talent walking on the crust of the planet, as well as having the surviving airmen on the set during the filming. I had been looking forward to this movie ever since I heard that Black men flew fighter planes against Hitler's feared Luftwaffe back in World War II. That was a long time ago, I know so to say I was looking forward to this movie was putting incredibly mildly.
In a world where there are less and less Black faces on network television (unless you count those silly judge shows and insipid reality TV shows). Scripted network work seems to continue to elude today's young Black talent so I can just imagine what the casting job was like for this film. As the casting director I'm sure they had their pick of the youngest, brightest, and the best. Actors like Nate Parker, Tristan Wilds from "The Wire", David Oyelowo, and the great Andre Royo. Not to mention the incredibly multi talented Terence Howard along with Oscar award winner Cuba Gooding Jr. Let me not fail to mention Ne-Yo, Bryan Cranston, Method Man, the beautiful Daniela Ruah. This film had everything going for it is what I'm saying and sadly, very, very sadly it was ultimately disappointing.
Maybe it was my fault I initially thought. Maybe I went in with expectations way to high and no film, no matter how good it was, was going to live up to them. Maybe I thought, this movie wasn't really that disappointing. The action sequences in the sky were digitally amazing, some of Industrial Light and Magic's best work. It was dizzying and it had those moments when you felt like you were part of the action. Guns blazing, planes breaking apart and crashing to the earth, Flying Fortresses under attack and putting up a valiant fight until they succumbed to the relentless attack of the mighty Luftwaffe, some truly gripping sequences. The problems arose however, when the planes came back to earth.
Here was my initial dilemma. Was the acting bad because of the directing? Could Spike Lee have done a better job behind the camera? Granted, I give a lot of credit to Anthony Hemingway for helming the project and having to answer to George Lucas. I would imagine the only harder job on the planet would be President of this country. Would Spike have been able to work with George or vice versa? Anthony Hemingway is an accomplished director, of TV and that's when it hit me. His scope wasn't epic enough. This movie looked like a made for TV movie instead of the seminal piece it should have and could have been. We never really get to know the men themselves outside of their flaws and great flying abilities. We never find out what pushed them to become airmen and why they so badly wanted to fight for a country that hated them. We're left with nothing significant, nothing we could sink our teeth into.
The score by Terence Blanchard was equally disappointing. I am a HUGE fan of Blanchard's and I bought both his Malcolm X and Miracle at St. Anna scores because those were absolutely moving, powerful, and poignant. Red Tails in contrast seemed directionless and uninspired. There didn't seem to be the heroic theme this story deserved. This score told no story and like I wondered if Spike could have done a better job directing, I wondered what this score would have been like had John Williams had a crack at it.
I really wanted this movie to make me walk out of the theater the way I did after seeing Platoon, worn out and exhausted. Instead I walked out scratching my head and wondering if what I had just seen was any good, and that's never good. I won't say don't see it but I will say don't rush out to see it either. Me personally, I'm still holding out hope that one day there will be a movie worthy of those brave and valiant Tuskegee Airmen.
