Red Tails

Twentieth Century Fox | Release Date: January 20, 2012

5.9	USER SCORE Mixed or average reviews based on 107 Ratings

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Lambo442Nov 2, 2012

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Probably one of the worst high budget films ever made. I was laughing at it non stop because the stereotypes are just so in your face. Lucas must have known this film was a complete joke. I can't believe it even exists. The plot and the subject matter if definitely film worthy, but it's approached in such a patronizing, unrealistic and childish way that you don't really appreciate what these men achieved. The dog fights look great as you'd expect but they'd completely unrealistic. You've got these tiny planes making multiple passes over naval warships, somehow dodging the flak from 5-6 anti aircraft guns and still making it home in one piece. Black jesus or no black jesus to keep you safe, this is just ridiculous. Worth a watch if you fancy a giggle though. The films just about manages to stay entertaining as it's so utterly utterly dire.… Expand

1 of 4 users found this helpful13

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ciaobabyJan 20, 2012

The CGI was pretty good (it's distracting in the trailer). The action scenes are excellent. But.....everything else is BAD!. Don't take my word for it, take the word of the critic sitting next me me that said it sounds like a 12-year oldThe CGI was pretty good (it's distracting in the trailer). The action scenes are excellent. But.....everything else is BAD!. Don't take my word for it, take the word of the critic sitting next me me that said it sounds like a 12-year old wrote this. That's giving it too much credit. My 8-year old could have written the dialogue. I can't decide if the dialogue made the acting bad, or bad acting made the bad dialogue even worse. But the lead character "Easy" has no emotional investment in anything he says, does, or sees. And on top of everything else the filmmakers have scored the film within an inch of it's life. For the first 20-minutes the film is score and dialogue that is so, crisp it sounds like it was all recorded in a vacuum. There is no foley or ambient noise...it's actually distractingly weird. The 3rd act of the film is supposed to be emotionally resonant but it falls flat.....it's a build up to nothing. I'm also wondering if a key plot or subplot was removed from the film as there are two indications. First, Bryan Cranston disappears completely and never comes back. Second, when Gerald McRainey give a big speech, it's all ADR and you only see the back side of his head (It's a bizarre shot, which leads me to believe it was the only angle they had where McRainey's mouth couldn't be seen). If they were re-writing this script to fix it in post, can you imagine how bad the shooting draft must have been. Overall 2/5 stars. Good luck with this one.… Expand

1 of 8 users found this helpful17

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BartJan 21, 2012

What a piece of crud. What an insult to the actual African American airmen, and an insult to other white airmen who all gave so much to protect our freedom. Leave it to Steven Spielberg to re-write history, as it is clear he has never readWhat a piece of crud. What an insult to the actual African American airmen, and an insult to other white airmen who all gave so much to protect our freedom. Leave it to Steven Spielberg to re-write history, as it is clear he has never read a history book. Do not waste your money on this film, as it is ridiculous garbage and an insult to veterans.… Expand

0 of 11 users found this helpful011

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wijseFeb 21, 2012

Might be one of the worst WW2 movies. It certainly is not based on historical facts. In the end they claim that the Tuskegee Airmen held the best record of WW2 of any Fighter groups in WW2.

0 of 3 users found this helpful03

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hootisJun 1, 2012

Everything about this movie as an abomination unless your black then its amazing, so i have to have a longer review of this peice of crap, um the converstations in the movie are very repetitive no story line, actors are pretty bad, like theyEverything about this movie as an abomination unless your black then its amazing, so i have to have a longer review of this peice of crap, um the converstations in the movie are very repetitive no story line, actors are pretty bad, like they barely react when one of their friends die or atleast is a compeletly false reactor this can be said for every aspect of the movie.… Expand

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

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PahnJan 20, 2012

This was exactly what I thought it was going to be: A predictable, cheesy & highly-glamorized depiction of a true story story. It's heavy reliance on CGI is a good thing because it takes your mind off the cookie-cutter dialogue.

Or I couldThis was exactly what I thought it was going to be: A predictable, cheesy & highly-glamorized depiction of a true story story. It's heavy reliance on CGI is a good thing because it takes your mind off the cookie-cutter dialogue.

Or I could summarize by saying this is just another civil rights-inspired movie...but with airplanes.… Expand

0 of 9 users found this helpful09

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ShamDeluxeFeb 1, 2012

After watching Red Tails I left the movie feeling like I had not learned a single thing about the Tuskegee Airmen or black pilots in World War II. It seemed like the movie started at â

0 of 3 users found this helpful03

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snazzyjuiceJul 18, 2012

Every second I was watching it I was wishing that it would just end. The movie suffered from it's leads who all were annoying in their own way. There is no character development they just have a bunch of airplanes shooting at things likeEvery second I was watching it I was wishing that it would just end. The movie suffered from it's leads who all were annoying in their own way. There is no character development they just have a bunch of airplanes shooting at things like trains, boats, other planes, military bases, but it's not even entertaining. This is seriously the whole movie, right here. Planes shoot - There's a new mission - Fly - Shoot - Someone you didn't even know existed dies - Everyone's sad - Shoot - Mission Accomplished! - Yay! ...... I'm not even kidding. It's that bad.… Expand

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

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PelaroMay 29, 2015

THIS IS PERHAPS THE MOST HISTORICALLY INACCURATE WW2 MOVIE EVER MADE. When the 332 Fighter Group, usually known as the Tuskegee Airmen, started flying bomber escort missions in May of 1944, much of the Luftwaffe's front line combat strengthTHIS IS PERHAPS THE MOST HISTORICALLY INACCURATE WW2 MOVIE EVER MADE. When the 332 Fighter Group, usually known as the Tuskegee Airmen, started flying bomber escort missions in May of 1944, much of the Luftwaffe's front line combat strength had already been decimated, largely as a result of Operation Pointblank, which reached its peak during Operation Argument, Big Week, February 20-26. This was a focused attempt, largely the brainchild of Jimmy Doolittle, to savage Germany's aircraft industry and decimate its fighter squadrons. It went into full scale during January of 1944, and ended in April, as bomber missions then started a concentrated campaign to cut Germany's supply of oil and to cripple its transportation infrastructure prior to D-Day. The Tuskegee fliers took no part in it. During that period, the Eighth Air Force's top pilots ( based in England , and under Doolittle's command ), Francis Gabreski, Robert Johnson and Don Gentile scored 10, 15 and 19 kills on Luftwaffe fighters, respectively. John Godfrey, Gentile's wingman, shot down 6 ( incidentally, the Gentile/Godfrey team was the most famous fighter pairing of World War 2 ). To make this as clear as possible, between January and April of 1944, these four pilots downed half as many planes as the entire 332nd did IN ITS FULL YEAR OF FLYING ESCORT MISSIONS ! Contrary to the film's adolescent dramatics, fighters were directed to seek out and pursue German fighters BEFORE THEY COULD REACH THE BOMBERS ! Dead Germans could not hurt the bombers, and bomber losses to fighters plummeted throughout 1944 ( however, German flak got much worse, as 88mm guns were pulled from the Russian Front to protect German cities). Likewise, accompanying bombers over target areas made no sense for our fighters, as German fighters usually struck before and after the B17s and B24s hit their industrial targets SO AS NOT TO BE SHOT DOWN BY THEIR OWN FLAK ! Flying over target thus put fighters at unnecessary risk from flak, which they had no power over during escort missions. Regarding the Curtis P 40 ( which is loudly complained about in the movie by 332nd pilots ), British, Australian and South African pilots were very successful against Axis fighters with them in North Africa ( Clive Caldwell , top Aussie Ace, notched 22 kills with the P 40 before being transferred to the Pacific ). At the same time the 332nd was receiving P 51s, The Flying Tigers (14th Air Force ) were still overwhelmingly dependent on P 40s, using them to great effect the spring of 1944 to thwart the Japanese Ichi-Go Offensive in China, not completely converting to P 51 Mustangs until June of 1945. CONCLUSION : The only way to enjoy this movie is by knowing little about WW2, nothing about the air war, less than nothing about the war in the Mediterranean, and much less than nothing about the air war in the MTO. Lukas has colluded to insult every other American fighter group, especially the other six ( 1st, 14th, 82nd---all flying P38s---31st, 52nd, and 325th ---all flying P51s the last year of the war ) that served the Fifteenth Air Force along with the 332nd. Those six groups downed over 1,400 Axis planes, on average each credited with twice as many kills as The Tuskegee guys. GOT THE PICTURE ? Read The Forgotten Fifteenth by Barrett Tillman for more insights !… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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asy8492Aug 3, 2013

I gotta say, my expectation did not met when watching the movie. When the trailers of this movie was first released, I was excited with all those actions and stuff (I'm a big fan of war action movies). But when I watched it, I thought theI gotta say, my expectation did not met when watching the movie. When the trailers of this movie was first released, I was excited with all those actions and stuff (I'm a big fan of war action movies). But when I watched it, I thought the trailer was much better than the real movie. Seriously I don't blame for the effects and actions used in this movie but I'd like to blame on the depth of story, dialogue and worst of all, the background music. For me, background music in movies are what affects me the most into getting the feel when watching a story. It gives that sense of mood for that particular scene. But when I saw Red Tails and the background music that was used, I gotta say that was crap. This movie deserves more effort and details. I thought that if the director focused on those kind of aspect, it would have turned out well. The CGI effects and actions was good but sometimes it's the little things that can have a large impact on the whole outcome.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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