Many
elements of 'Star Wars' were in homage to older world war two dog
fighting films. Lucas obviously has a thing for this style, as now
that he can do whatever he wants he's decided to fund and direct his
own throw-back dog fighting movie about the Tuskegee airmen.
This
wasn't a weird move in itself - it's a neat story idea - but the way
he talked about it was embarrassing. You know he said that no big
studios would fund the film because it had an all black cast? And
that it was somehow the first of its kind? His whole spin on what is
nothing more than a sub par dog fight movie was awkward and I think
bordered on offensive in its miss-selling this film as being somehow
culturally significant.
Firstly,
the plot is overly simplistic and the dialogue is laughable.
Seriously, it's like a child wrote it. There is also a heavy use of
effects and a lot of it feels very fake and green screeny (George is
very much still in a prequel style rut). It's very heavy handed all
round. The religious elements, the racism, the friendships. All the
sides are painted with such a broad brush too - almost all the white
people are terrible racists, and all the Germans are evil and take
pleasure in killing.
It's
intentionally campy, but the mix of styles doesn't work well. There
are lots of shots of people dying horribly or being set on fire or
whatever, and it's weird to see them cheering and laughing after
killing so many people.
And
there are several major plot holes. They keep showing footage of
areal battles that was just from an earlier scene of the movie with
an old timey filter over it. Where were the cameras meant to be? Did
all the fighters have dashboard cams or something? And are we meant
to believe that that guy saw a woman on a roof from his plane in
enough detail to decide that he was in love and recognise her later
and that she actually saw and recognised him?! Through the glass of
the plane cockpit? The whole romance sub plot is stupid. There's no
chemistry or even much dialogue between the two, yet each time we cut
back to a scene together their relationship has apparently progressed
in leaps and bounds - suddenly they're together, now he's proposing,
now they're getting married.
The
whole film just feels like it's for children. The plot is so simple
and all the characters are so black and white, if you'll pardon the
pun. Oh, and the weird motivational speeches don't feel earned and
fall totally flat. It plays more as a sly comedy than a serious war
drama.
Red Tails: 25.8