Tuskegee Airmen.  World War II.  Awe-inspiring airfights.  You know what that means; time to ogle men in uniform, amIright?

George Lucas revisits his well-known love of classic war-genre feats of awesome in Red Tails, a story about the amazing pilots of the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group (aka The Tuskegee Airmen).  It’s a real-life story about how honor, duty and fearlessness knows no color.  Unfortunately, Lucas doesn’t seem to have any interest in creating fully fleshed characters or believable dialogue, and instead relies on cheap sentiment, cliches and rushed direction so he can scoot over to Skywalker Ranch and play with his CGI.  That it’s a beautiful film can’t be denied, but the Tuskegee Airmen, and this movie, deserve better.

First things first; Lucas served as Executive Producer here, not director.  This movie was directed by Anthony Hemingway (Ali, Changing Lanes).  But it’s got Lucas’ pawprints all over it.  Remember how we all winced when Darth Vader screamed “Noooooo!” in Revenge of the Sith?  And how lame Anakin and Padmé sounded, well, anytime they talked about love?  That sense of knowing that the actors in a film could be doing a much better job if they were allowed to?  It’s here!  Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr., Bryan Cranston, Gerald McRaney, Tristan Wilds (The Wire)…all fabulous actors.  Then why the oftentimes wooden acting?  Definitely not because of the subject matter; the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, their drive to serve a country that had no use for them, their amazing feats of heroics, definitely a tale any number of actors would love to sink their teeth into.  But as my friend said as we walked out of the theater, the dialogue in Red Tails sometimes sounded like a cold reading.  And that’s a shame.

The story?  Well, it’s the story of the Airmen, and how they struggled to become an integral part of the WWII wartime effort instead of an “experiment”.  One or two of the higher-ups give our boys a chance to prove themselves, and Thundercats Are Go!  There’s racism, crazy flying (I kept waiting to hear “Danger Zone” when Iceman Lightning did his badass flying moves) and a sweet wartime love story.  And that’s about it.  Just enough story to connect the amazing flying sequences, no more.

The good stuff?  If you can sweep aside the weak bits of characterization and plot, there’s tons to love; the CGI is simply amazing.  Early on, there’s a train explosion that is so intense I figured if Lucas had done this movie in 3D I probably would have gotten ash in my hair.  Take that, Super 8!  And though there are many, many scenes where the acting is so clunky that it’s almost painful to watch, Red Tails does have a few tidbits of shine in that department.  The banter between ace-pilot Lightning and his beleaguered mechanic Coffee feels authentic, as if you’re listening in on two guys just shooting the shit.  Cranston (as Colonel Mortamus, the head bigot in the jackass parade) gets to show us exactly how talented he is when Mortamus whips out the hip-deep racism that drives every move he makes.  And seeing the unit the Airmen worked in is impressive (mad props to the art department), and so is the unbridled excitement and joy on the actors faces as they covey what it must have been like for those pilots.  The love of aircraft, of flying, shines on their faces every moment they’re anywhere near a plane.  That’s a beautiful thing, indeed.  So is the re-creation of Operation Shingle, where the Airmen aided infantry in the landing at Anzio.  Smoke, water, mud, blood…all so true-to-life I wanted to scrape my boots at the end of it.

Does Lucas glaze over a lot of the dialogue so he can play with his tech toys?  Does he give only a passing nod to history and instead dives into creating a mythology?  Of course!  He’s George Lucas, it’s how he rolls.   But even the bits of wince-inducing dialogue delivery (I won’t say acting, because I’m sure the actors did all they could, given the environment) don’t take away from the overall grandness of the film.  Red Tails is a film for the 8-year-old boy in all of us; the one who just wants to see cool stuff zoom by.  This film is one that should have been done a long time ago, and should be done again and again, ‘til there’s one that’s on the level of Saving Private Ryan or Best Years Of Our Lives.  It’s what those Airmen deserve.  (I’d also love to see the 442nd Regimental Combat Team get a little lovin’, while we’re at it.)

Lucas saw the old war serials back in the day, and those devices are here, loud and proud.  But he made ‘em work in Star Wars, and he makes ‘em work in Red Tails.  You want gritty, realistic wartime strife?  Watch Downton Abbey Season 2 (no, seriously it’s amazing).  But if you’re looking for fun CGI wrapped up in 21st Century pomp & circumstance dressed in WWII-era dungarees, you’ve come to the right place.