Popular reviews

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  Review by Andy Summers ★★★ 3

  Considering that this film was apparently one of George Lucas' most personal projects, it was a surprise that he didn't feel the need to direct it himself? The last film made by Lucasfilm before that inevitable purchase by the Mouse Company back in 2013, this has some of the finest African American actors around at the time filling the starring roles. Given the effect that Black Panther's mostly black cast had on providing that moment of positivity towards a group of people that had rarely been the centrepiece of Hollywood movies, I'm surprised this film didn't do likewise given the historical importance of the Tuskegee Airman's story?

  Red Tails could have done with a more expansive script that fleshed out…

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  Review by Frankie_L4_87 ★

  HAHAHAHAHA

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  Review by Jay D 's Watching ★★½ 2

  Kind of torn on this one, because it apparently was only able to get made with George Lucas's name and Lucasfilm money attached, and even then, reading the production notes, it was a real struggle --but that same reason it was able to get made is, maybe I think, the reason why I'm so of two minds about it, because the film shares certain, ah...proclivities of Lucas, only in a 21st century film about the Tuskegee Airmen, it's a little jarring.

  So: First up, there is a VERY talented ensemble cast here, as well as a couple of very skilled writers and all that Lucasfilm FX money for director Hemingway to handle the plane combat. The cast is so good…

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  Review by MaryAnn 🌵 ★★★½ 2

  It's really not that bad. Yeah, there are some cheesy lines/parts, but it was still compelling and entertaining.

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  Review by Jess ★★½

  Ah yes. My favorite part of WWII was when racism was cured.

  The true story getting a spotlight is great but this makes them into propoganda.

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  Review by Connor Carey ★★

  Even with a stacked cast, a compelling story and impressive action sequences, Red Tails never rises above mediocrity. Nate Parker and David Oyelowo are both solid but outside of them, you don't really care about any of the characters, and it doesn't help that a lot of the performances even from the veteran cast aren't very good. The writing and dialogue are awful, and the entire movie just feels like a collection of war movie cliches. There's a good movie in here somewhere but it buried under layers of cheese and terrible writing. There's no reason this should be as boring and dull as it is.

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  Review by Vulcan Vader ★

  While looking up this movie, I accidentally typed ‘red fails’, and now that’s my review.

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  Review by Geir Friestad ★★½

  A movie made with good intentions, a clunky script and a dispiriting lack of directorial grace, Red Tails barely makes it back to the runway intact. It's the kind of movie you want to like – a racially charged underdog story, about the African American squadron of fighter pilots known as the Tuskagee Airmen and, more informally, as the Red Tails.

  Unfortunately, director Anthony Hemingway, helming his first feature film here, seems to have relied heavily on consistently uninspired directorial cues from producer George Lucas, because all of the unfortunate hallmarks of the bearded one's inept style of actor direction are in full view here. Only whenever the movie segues into one of its handful of dogfighting sequences does it…

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  Review by WesSamderson ★★★ 1

  “You’re the best God Damn Pilot we have” says every war general to the bad boy pilot

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  Review by Andrew Smith ★★★★ 1

  Bumped up to four stars because I make the rules. Infinitely better than Top Gun. Does it have piston driven BF-109s and P-51s pulling cobra maneuvers like modern jets that have thrust vectoring like Su-57s and MiG-29s? Yea. But stacked cast, Black people killing Nazis, P-51s blowing Me-262s out the sky. Ne-Yo and Method Man. Just a treat.

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  Review by Marcin Wichary ★★★★ 6

  George Lucas’s last blockbuster production before he finally decided to dedicate 100% of his time to his true destiny: forever re-releasing Star Wars movies. That’s what this recent article told me, although to be fair, it was all in between the lines. (It’s also confusing how they talk about the movies Lucas “made” meaning produced, not directed.)

  Given the special effects were done by Industrial Light & Magic, the fact that the dogfights look spectacular goes without saying. It needs to be said anyway. The visuals are breathtaking, the big screen really feels big, and the action sequences are riveting.

  And yes, it’s just an action movie. It has none of the appropriate respect to the horrors of that most terrifying…

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  Review by Travis Lytle ★★★

  Moving with the speed and agility of the air missions its recounts, "Red Tails" is a thrilling, mid-scale war epic. Unfortunately, the Anthony Hemingway-directed film about World War II's famed Tuskegee Airmen also feels built on a progression of token war cliches which does its characters and history a disservice. The cast is strong, and the genuine of moments of repartee interspaced with neatly choreographed effects sequences depicting the airmen's battles over Europe are engrossing. This is solid work in need of a richer story worthy of its subject matter.