Every now and then I hear the phrase "but it was based on a true story" used to argue a movie's worth.  Although I find this irrelevant to good storytelling, whether on screen or on pages, it strikes an interesting chord that movies based on true stories resonate more with an audience.  However, this is not necessarily the case with Red Tails, a movie that falls short from making any substantial impression on its audience.

The movie directorial debut of Anthony Hemingway (Changing Ways), Red Tails is the long overdue project by George Lucas about the Tuskegee airmen and their battle with racial adversity.  Unlike the 1995 HBO productionThe Tuskegee Airmen, this big-budget film, set at $65 million, opens in the midst of 1944, when the pilots are trained, itching for a taste of real aerial warfare. 

In the beginning, the 332^ndFighter Group starts off doing missions involving shooting up trains and trucks in its hand-me-down Curtiss P-40 Warhawk aircrafts.  While stationed in Ramitelli, Italy, the military powers remain skeptical regarding the Tuskegee project, doubting the soldier's intelligence and fortitude in battle.  The two black officers in charge think otherwise.  Colonel A.J. Bullard (Terrence Howard,Iron Man) and Major Emmanuel Stance (Cuba Gooding Jr., Snow Dogs) see that their men can stand the heat of battle, so Bullard pushes for his men to be assigned a mission to prove their worth, rather than having the military shut down the project. They are then assigned to provide air cover for giant Boeing B-17 Bombers due to the fact that the other fighters keep leaving them defenseless after they engage in combat with 'Jerry' fighters.

A majority of the dramatic sequences incorporate the squadron leader Marty 'Easy' Julian (Nate Parker, The Great Debaters), who is intelligent and level-headed despite an ongoing fight with apparent alcoholism, and Joe 'Lightning' Little (David Oyelowo, Rise of the Planet of the Apes), the unruly hotshot pilot and arguably the best fighter in the division.  Their banter becomes stale after a while, a veritable broken record of "stop drinking" and "start listening to my orders." 

Added to this mix is the Italian love interest of Joe Little, Sofia (Daniela Ruah, "NCIS: Los Angeles").  Their love story, with Joe not speaking Italian and Sofia not speaking English, is endearing, but nevertheless convolutes the overall storyline.

With screenwriters like John Ridley (Undercover Brother) and Aaron McGruder ("The Boondocks"), I expected more than what was given.  Trying to capture the 1940s Zeitgeist isn't easy, especially with the likes of The Thin Red Lineand Saving Private Ryan used for bases of comparison. Going into the theater having read no reviews of this movie, however, I was expecting the best with the names on board, possibly a mix between Do the Right Thingand Flyboys. What I got was nothing of the sort. The characters should have been further explored, but every time a glimmer of character development opened up, it seemed to fade into the background. There is a lot of telling, but not enough showing, as if the movie staff has no faith in its audience.  Simply put, the movie was unfinished and rushed, especially on the editing side.

Even a majority of the computer generated 'dogfight' scenes seemed inept.  Although it seems that the quirky cartoonish aerial scenes were what the directorial team was going for, they served to filled in the gaps for more cockpit scenes in which the squadron banters one cliché joke after the next.

All things considered, I would not suggest watching this movie.  While George Lucas has been planning his own Tuskegee project for close to 25 years, the result seems like it was only given a couple months of thought.  Save your money or memory space.