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Red Tails
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Metascore
46 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 32 Critics What's this?

User Score
6.1 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 64 Ratings

Your Score
10 out of 10
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  • Summary: Red Tails begins its story with World War II in full swing. As the war continues to take its toll on Allied Forces in Europe, the Pentagon brass, desperate to protect their dwindling numbers of bombers look to an option previously considered unthinkable. At long last they give The Tuskegee Airmen the chance to prove themselves in battle and forever put to rest the misplaced belief that blacks lacked the courage, discipline and intelligence to be fighter pilots. Against all the odds, with something to prove and everything to lose, these intrepid young airmen take to the skies in awe inspiring displays of bravery and heroism to fight for their country and with it, the fate of the free world. (20th Century Fox)… Expand
  • Director: Anthony Hemingway
  • Genre(s): Action, Adventure, Drama, History, War
  • Rating: PG-13
  • Runtime: 120 min
  • More Details and Credits »

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 32
  2. Mixed: 18 out of 32
  3. Negative: 4 out of 32
  1. Tampa Bay Times
    Reviewed by: Steve Persall
    Jan 20, 2012
    75
    Thankfully, much of Red Tails is spent in the skies, where fighter planes swoop and zoom in thrilling dogfights with incendiary direct hits. Executive producer George Lucas apparently gave Hemingway the keys to his CGI kingdom, creating marvelously designed in-flight action and a sappy, snappy salute to the Tuskegee Airmen.
  2. Boxoffice Magazine
    Reviewed by: Sara Maria Vizcarrondo
    Jan 20, 2012
    60
    Such a story is made to be colored in jumbo crayon, and at first you might long for a more nuanced approach, but this film was produced in the 1940's serial style that's made Lucas Films enormous.
  3. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: James Adams
    Jan 19, 2012
    38
    Virtue aside, however, Red Tails is a lousy film. Not wincingly bad, mind you, just mediocre.

See all 32 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 35
  3. Negative: 5 out of 35
  1. ImJoshing
    10
    I loved Red Tails because it is a fun, action-packed, shoot-em-up movie that incorporates an important story too often left out of history. I found the chemistry between the actors to be wonderful, and the story to be captivating -- i.e., underdogs fighting for a chance to kick some Nazi butt (not to mention just get recognized by their fellow countrymen as human beings). Lastly it's refreshing to see a broader story told about our past, and celebrate a group of often unsung heroes. Many of the criticisms I've read have some merit. Some of the dialogue may be stilted, some of the acting is stiff (but the acting of one of the lead pilots, Joe Little - a.k.a. "Lighting" is fabulous), the historical accuracy might not be spot-on... BUT, frankly I don't think these flaws take away from the bigger package of an exciting action movie. I think part of the criticism comes from people holding this movie to a higher standard because it deviates from the typical Hollywood formula (i.e. it's an action movie with an all-Black cast), which in my opinion is not fair. No this movie is not "Saving Private Ryan", but George Lucas didn't set out to create high-drama. His goal here was to create a pop-corn, feel-good, action movie, and in that regard the movie is a tremendous success.… Expand
    • 4 of 4 users said yes
  2. Csquared1
    5
    This film was ok, but if were to recommed a film about the Tuskegee Airman, i'd deffinatly reffer people to the video store for a copy of the last one that was made. The story isn't as good and i can't really say that improved CG made the flight sequences any more exciting. Worth a watch, but i'd wait for Netflix for this one if i could do it again.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. ciaobaby
    2
    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 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 5 users said yes

See all 35 User Reviews

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