Big Screen Blurb: Red Tails

It's a historical tale from the 40's told with a distinctive 60's flare with all of the special effects of today. It's Red Tails, the story of the pilots of the Tuskegee air program.  And...it's pretty good--further proof that the profitably performing string of History genre flicks is alive and well in Tinsel Town.

The Tuskegee air program was a group of African American pilots during World War II. However, according to "official" military reports, the colored soldier was an inferior soldier. Enter Colonel Bullard (Terrance Howard). He's in charge of the Tuskegee air men and set to prove such reports as false. The Tuskegee pilots have been relegated to a mop-up role when it comes to taking out the Jerry's (Nazi's) of the war. This hasn't set too well with the hungry pilots of the program, including squad's leader, Easy (Nate Parker), and Lightning (David Oyelowo). Small victories begin to add up and the group is given the task of protecting bombers. Yadayadayada...we look on as the Tuskegee pilots give the bad guys hell, while building the respect they had desired and deserved for so long.

It's pretty good. I'll go with 3.5 Stars. It's a great story of the disrespected underdog emerging as the big dog in a big way...and it's true. Well, the story at its core is true. Along with the tale, we get the low-down on a handful of the characters. I'm not sure how historically accurate those characters are, but we do experience the story very nicely through their eyes and various accounts.

My only real issue with the flick is the dialogue that seemingly comes right of a 60's war flick. We get a lot of quick-hitting quips as a substitute for real character interaction. That's all good and well, but when characters need more hard-hitting dialogue to truly develop, the quippy writing in the screenplay just comes up a little short.

That minor complaint aside, it's solid. The special effects hit hard, true and in a way that gets the ole testosterone crankin'. Sure, you get some certain CG moments, but we'll experience those for quite some time, me-thinks. The trick is to make those few and as non-distracting as possible, which is what you get with Red Tails.

If you're remotely a history buff and can see one movie this year...well, go see J. Edgar, but if you can see two...well, then go see The Iron Lady; but, if you can see three historical tales...see Red Tails and see it BIG.

True...OUT!