Red Tails DVD Review

Director: Anthony Hemingway

Starring: Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Nate Parker, David Oyelowo, Tristan Wilds, Ne-Yo, Elijah Kelley

Running Time: 119 minutes

Certificate: 12A

Extras: Beautiful Nightmare Featurette, Double Victory Highlights, Trailer

Given the professional footballers’ – or ‘soccer players’ for the Americans – apparent penchant for racism, and the very public controversy this has caused in recent months, it seems only pertinent that RED TAILS, the story of 332nd Fighter Group in WWII, is released to buy in shops, a film that hails back to a time when such unpleasantness was far more widespread.

Consisting entirely of African Americans 332nd Group are kept away from the Germans and combat. Based in Italy the crew – Easy (Parker), Lightning (Oyelowo), Junior (Wilde), Smokey (Ne-Yo),  Joker (Kelley) and others – are left to pass their time whilst Colonel Mortamus (Bryan Cranston) sees fit to hold them back (he’s racist) against the will of A.J. Bullard (Howard), who will not stop until his boys see action (he means 332nd Group, not his ‘swimmers’).

Like George Lucas’s other work, RED TAILS lacks subtlety. Whilst he only has an executive producer credit Lucas’s grubby little mitts are all over the film: poor scripting, bright colours, and rudimentary story telling. Whilst none of these are too offensive – other than the dialogue – it’s the nasty little additions that drag RED TAILS into the realms of mediocrity: characters are overplayed, needless story threads, and the fact the script takes unwelcome shortcuts. Broken down simply, RED TAILS is a story of overcoming obstacles through brilliance; 332nd Fighter Group do this, but rather than just tell their story screenwriter John Ridley has seen fit to cram some unnecessary antagonism into proceedings: the odd ‘N-word’ from white soldiers, and racist Nazis – surely the fact they are Nazi’s is enough, but we still get ‘treated’ to lines like ‘These soldiers form no issue, they are Africans’. Whilst the thought process is obvious, it doesn’t need to be rammed down our throats. There is also more forced humour and in-flight comradery than is probably necessary. Yet, in spite of all this RED TAILS is solid enough. Some of the acting is truly abysmal – horrifyingly so in fact, but the story just about manages to sustain interest; after all we root for the group and even when it gets a little too saccharine you’ll still find enough warmth to muster a wry smile come the inevitable conclusion.

RED TAILS is an excellent idea shoehorned into a mediocre film but is still worth your time.

Extras: ‘Beautiful Nightmar’e looks at the boot camping done by the cast and wears out its welcome about three minutes in. The ‘Double Victor’y footage is horrifying but necessary.

RED TAILS is released on DVD and Blu-ray 29th October