Thoughts on George Lucas' film: Red Tails.

By Andreia Solomon Burke

Stafford H. Burns III, the great nephew 

of Col. A.J Bullard (played by Terrence Howard)

Today, in London's Leicester sq was the UK screening of: Red Tails, George Lucas' twenty-three year vision of  making a film about the Tuskegee airmen. The film is about the first squadron of African American pilots trained in the US military.who served in World War II in Italy. Lucas selected a brilliant cast of actors to portray the unsung heroes who fought in Berlin against the Germans in 1944. Cuba Gooding Jr as: Major Emanuel Stance | Terrence Howard as: Col. A.J. Bullard | Nate Parker as the whiskey drinking: Marty "Easy" Julian and Neyo, who played a satisfactory role as: Andrew "Smokey" Salem just to name a few.

Lucas spared no expense when it came to the graphics, and blowing up the fighter jets, which is where he let the film down. He (Lucas) put a lot of emphasis on - in the air trickery, and less on telling the stories of the airmen; building their characters. The film did  show the love story between Joe "Lightning" Little played by: David Oyelowo and Sophia an Italian girl played by: Daniela Ruah. I must admit, Red Tails did have its share of hold-your-breath, and edge of your seat moments - especially when Capt."Easy" would drink right before a mission, then climbing into his fighter jet with his men depending on him to get them all back to safety. And when Ray "Junior" Gannon's ( played by: Tristan Wilds) plane was shot down by the Germans, he was held as a prisoner; escaped with four other white soldiers and resurfaced at the end of the film.

Overall it was a good, not great film depicting the struggle of the Tuskegee airmen. This is the second film under, Lucasfilm productions, the first being Radioland Murders.The special treat of the day was meeting Stafford H. Burns III, the great nephew of Col. A.J Bullard (played by Terrence Howard) who attended the screening with his lovely family.