It’s taken a long time for the George Lucas produced Red Tails to make it from the an idea to the cinemas. He’s been working on it for two decades, and even though shooting began in 2009, it won’t actually reach cinemas until early 2012. Set during 1944, the war in Europe continues to take its toll on Allied forces, and the Pentagon brass has no recourse but to consider unorthodox options – including the untried and untested African-American pilots of the experimental Tuskegee training program. Just as the young Tuskegee men are on the brink of being shut down and shipped back home, they are given the ultimate chance to show their courage. Against all the odds, with something to prove and everything to lose, these intrepid young airmen take to the skies to fight for their country – and the fate of the free world. It’s a famous tale and has taken on legendary proportions in African-American history. Lucas therefore needs to get it right, and while it certainly looks like the aerial sequences will be spectacular, it’s yet to be seen whether the rest of the movie works.
Oddly while the story is famed for the young African-American men who fought valiantly for their country at a time when they lacked equal rights with white people, the trailer and poster tend to concentrate on the action, making it look almost like a 1940s action-adventure serial. There were rumours Lucas wasn’t pleased with Anthony Hemingway’s direction, so perhaps he’s trying to make up for any percieved weaknesses by suggesting it’ll be an aerial action spectacular. We’ll have to wait and see if that’s true when the movie, starring Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr., David Oyelowo and Ne-Yo, arrives in cinemas.