Red Tails

Daring flights and dogfights are the CG-enhanced aerial showpieces of this George Lucas-produced WWII yarn, which desperately flounders to have its true story heard. The made-for-TV tale (ambitiously stretched out for the big screen) of racial acceptance circles around the fate of the Tuskegee airmen, an untested squadron of African-American pilots.

In 1944, just before they are about to have their licences revoked and their bags packed for home, these flyers are handed a mission that will showcase their true courage, class and commitment. The potential of this historically rich lesson of integration in the armed forces is shot down by wooden acting, character clichés, archetypal ignorance and a wince-inducing script full of battle-worn motivational dialogue. Helmer Anthony Hemingway, a journeyman director whose CV includes The Wire and True Blood, fails to elevate his game past a TV special. The brave airmen of the Tuskegee really deserve a better tribute than this. [Thom Atkinson]