Movie Review: Red Tails

This movie is going to do really well and that is a shame. It is amazing how Hollywood powerhouses can take such a fascinating story and make such a flat, lifeless movie. Yes, the aerial fight scenes were very pretty but there was no meat in this stew. All of the crashes and fights were Disneyafied, the love story was trite and shallow, the characters weren't developed, the directors followed the wrong stories and made things up even though the actual, real story is fascinating!

The story that the press likes to tell is that mainstream Hollywood wouldn't touch this movie so the director and producers made it on their own. Sounds so brave, doesn't it? I think Big Hollywood had the right idea staying away from this movie. I'm going to guess the conversation went something like, "We want to tell this story but not with this movie."

I admit I didn't go into this movie with a whole lot of expectations. Chris saw the made-for-TV movie some years ago and he was super psyched about this film. When the credits rolled, he turned to me and said, "I'm sorry I made you watch that." I smiled and said, "Well at least you enjoyed it, right?" "Nope." And then he used words like, "Disappointing," and "Disgraceful" and really, I didn't have the heart to make him feel any worse by adding much of my input.

The one redeeming quality this movie has is the same redeeming quality all movies set in WWII have: costumes. Hooray for the costumes!

So don't waste your money. I honestly don't see a movie worth getting excited about coming out until May 4th.