REVIEW: RED TAILS

HBO's The Tuskegee Airmen might not be great but it's really good.  Lawrence Fishburn(pre fat), Andre Braugher(pre fat), Courtney B. Vance, Allen Payne, Theo Huxtable, and Cuba Gooding Jr.

Straighten up and fly right.

Still love when Braugher says, "We weren't assigned. We were requested."

Do they have the Memphis Belle crew in this one?

I decided to comment here instead of the section below the review.

Did Lucas have anything to do with Star Wars' being so good and successful?  Yes.  It was his baby.  Kurtz?  A producer doesn't make a film good, only allows good filmmaking to happen.  Harrison Ford?  One good actor doesn't make a film work.  

The reason Star Wars works so well is because Lucas was forced to work on the script for two years, at the demand of the studio, because his early drafts were terrible and didn't make sense...but there were seeds of great ideas in them.  The same thing happened to the Wachowski brothers...slaved over the first Matrix script at the demand of the studio, had enough clout on the sequels to shoot a first draft script, or something damn near it.

Lucas was already a great gear head and his mind was most driven towards the visual FX and making them as real as possible.  He nearly had a heart attack slave driving ILM towards perfection.  The bottom line is Lucas made Star Wars work because he worked himself half to death on it...cast it well, shot it well, edited it well, and scored it like a motherfucker.  Many people helped Lucas, but none of them took it very seriously.  He had the vision.  It took every single bit of blood, swear and tears, and combined with great storytelling in the classical mode, merged with sci-fi that got a new injection of imagination via the visual FX, and you have a perfect storm of talent and creativity.

That is why Star Wars is Lucas'.  Though I'd argue half the success of that film is due to the score by Williams.  It's dangerously close to looking very silly without that score to carry it.  

I think Empire works mainly because of Lucas' guiding hand and the talent of those he picked to make the film.  They made a masterpiece, something even greater than the first one.  And I think Lucas was so turned off by how dark and serious Empire was, he reacted a little too severely and turned Jedi into a muppet filled toy commercial.  He was firmly an empire himself by that time and I think his filmmaking instincts were watered down by his corporate responsibilities and his overbearing need to protect what he'd created.  And that transformation from filmmaker to billionaire empire maker was severe enough to destroy whatever semblance of talent he'd possessed before. 

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Originally Posted by Ambler 

I decided to comment here instead of the section below the review.

 

A well thought-out and fair assessment. I kind of wish it's under my review now. 

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Originally Posted by roboTimKelly 

A well thought-out and fair assessment. I kind of wish it's under my review now. 

Wish granted.

(though I forgot to take out the first sentence, argh)

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Originally Posted by Ambler 

Wish granted.

 

(though I forgot to take out the first sentence, argh)

Wish granted. I edited that sentence out for you.

Thank you.

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Originally Posted by Ambler 

The reason Star Wars works so well is because Lucas was forced to work on the script for two years, at the demand of the studio, because his early drafts were terrible and didn't make sense...but there were seeds of great ideas in them.

I find it both hilarious and ultimately depressing that a good majority of the shit that we bitch about in the prequels (the political aspects in particular) was meant to be apart of the franchise from the get-go, but the studio...........................as well as his buddies Coppola, Milius, De Palma, Scorsese, etc.......................talked him out of including that crap way back then.  Unfortunately, when the time came to make the prequels he went back to that same pile of material and didn't feel he needed the encouragement and advice of his pals this time.  Lucas was always telling the truth when he said he (mostly) had it all planned out from the get-go.  He just didn't have "editors" the second time 'round.

Am I the only person in the world that kinda liked the political aspects of the prequels? I felt that they often gave the films an epic sweep that they otherwise sorely lacked. Sure a LOT of it was boring with people walking down corridors and talking, but I still liked Palpatine's plot to secure power -- and I do feel a bit of chills when he announces the "reorganization" of the Republic into the Galactic Empire in the senate and the music swells.

 That is a good scene. One thing I think would have helped the prequels would have been if the basic plot of the Attack of the Clones was episode one. Palatine is already Chancellor and is playing the separatists and Republic against each other. Then just cut to Obi-Wan and his apprentice Anakin. This why there is no talk of prophesy and midaclohrions. Just like in Star Wars the movie would start in media res.

Take Serenity and rejigger it into a Star Wars movie.  Done.

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Originally Posted by chrknudsen 

Am I the only person in the world that kinda liked the political aspects of the prequels? I felt that they often gave the films an epic sweep that they otherwise sorely lacked. Sure a LOT of it was boring with people walking down corridors and talking, but I still liked Palpatine's plot to secure power -- and I do feel a bit of chills when he announces the "reorganization" of the Republic into the Galactic Empire in the senate and the music swells.

I didn't care too much for the political machinations at the time but McDiarmid as Palpatine was by far the best thing in the prequels for me.

I enjoyed RED TAILS for the WWII comic book it intentionally was.  The acting wasn't too shaky but the aerial sequences are pretty impressive to see on the big screen. Watching Nazis getting blown up is always a good time.

Secondly, I'm a big fan of the Saga and what the prequels did to widen the scope of the SW universe. Yes they were more politically driven than the later chapters but it's not like Lucas hadn't been going on for ages about all the machinations that led to the downfall of the Republic. Of course that's wrapped within the larger story of Anakin's fall from grace and you get some serious meat on the bones of the OT.  I'm not saying that the prequels aren't without their flaws but the OT has them too but does that stop people from enjoying them? Of course not.

P.S. If anyone gets the chance to photoshop Lando as Black Jesus. Please do so.

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Originally Posted by Bucho 

 

I didn't care too much for the political machinations at the time but McDiarmid as Palpatine was by far the best thing in the prequels for me.

Palpatine is also pretty much the only character in the prequels with a plan and clear goal. I think that helps in making him one of the most interesting characters. The good guys aren't even trying to stop him (which should really be the main goal of the good guys in these kinds of pulpy adventures), they're trying to figure out something about the Separatists or unravel the plot to destroy the jedi or ensure that the prophecy is fulfilled or some other vague goal that's neither interesting nor urgent.

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Originally Posted by chrknudsen 

Palpatine is also pretty much the only character in the prequels with a plan and clear goal. I think that helps in making him one of the most interesting characters. The good guys aren't even trying to stop him (which should really be the main goal of the good guys in these kinds of pulpy adventures), they're trying to figure out something about the Separatists or unravel the plot to destroy the jedi or ensure that the prophecy is fulfilled or some other vague goal that's neither interesting nor urgent.

Yeah, that's absolutely a bingo. Plus McDiarmid is just a great actor to watch and he seems to be having quite a bit of fun playing the evilest mofo in the galaxy.

The film is basically a WWII comic with decent, although emotionally lacking and in no way spectacular, aerial sequences and some of the worst ensemble acting I've seen in a long time.  Is that the kind of creative direction this true story deserves?  In my opinion, no, although there are scattered sequences where the stink of Lucas is surprisingly nonexistent and the direction, which I understand is from a guy who has primarily worked in television, is passable enough.

Also, on the matter of the prequels:  in theory, the political aspects there make sense with what was established as context for some of the OT, but where it fails is in the execution.  Palpatine's rise to power, McDiarmid's occasionally annoying performance notwithstanding, is the only remotely interesting thing done with the concept...because Lucas apparently thinks political intrigue is little more than two characters reading wooden dialogue as they walk down a hallway otherwise.

You'd be pretty wooden too if Natalie was your co-star!

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Originally Posted by chrknudsen 

Am I the only person in the world that kinda liked the political aspects of the prequels? I felt that they often gave the films an epic sweep that they otherwise sorely lacked.

It was a good idea, but poorly executed.  George needed some decent screenwriters to help him hammer out his ideas.

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Originally Posted by Chaz 

 That is a good scene. One thing I think would have helped the prequels would have been if the basic plot of the Attack of the Clones was episode one. Palatine is already Chancellor and is playing the separatists and Republic against each other. Then just cut to Obi-Wan and his apprentice Anakin. This why there is no talk of prophesy and midaclohrions. Just like in Star Wars the movie would start in media res.

Obi-Wan should have been the master in Phantom and Anakin the teen apprentice, dropping the whole "discovered slave" angle.  The film should have ended with the Clone Wars beginning, leaving room to explore that war in the second film.  Anakin's past still could have easily been covered in AOTC.

The biggest problem with the prequels is that 80% of the stuff we were all looking forward to doesn't happen until the third and final entry......................and I'm not just talking about Anakin becoming Vader.  Speaking of which, AOTC should have ended on a cliffhanger leaving everyone (character-wise) thinking that Anakin is dead.  He should have turned shortly after the start of ROTS.  Of course, this is all just "armchair storytelling", but it still boggles my mind at how badly George fumbled his own story overall when it came to the prequels.  Yet again, having one or two screenwriters on board would have helped A LOT.