Red Tails/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • And the Fandom Rejoiced: Aaron McGruder co-writing the final script, Anthony Hemingway directing, and the fact that they're trying to make the movie as historically accurate as possible.
  • Cliché Storm: Purposely invoked since the movie is supposed to be reminiscent of old patriotic war movies of the 40s.
  • Crowning Moment of Awesome: As noted in the poster, the producers obviously think the Red Tailers shooting down jet fighters with propeller planes definitely qualifies.
    • Dying Moment of Awesome: Lightning barreling towards Pretty Boy, never letting go of the trigger despite getting shot atleast twice with light autocannon rounds.
  • Minority Show Ghetto: According to Lucas, why this film was not picked up by any major studio.
  • Stylistic Suck: Possibly just this troper's imagination, but the minor white characters' performances sometimes come off as flat and artificial. Might be deliberate, either to keep the audience's focus squarely on the black characters, or to simulate how, to the Red Tailers, their Caucasian fellow-soldiers really would seem a bit stiff, due to W.A.S.P. uptightness and/or discomfort about serving with Negroes.
  • Too Cool to Live: Lightning
  • Unfortunate Implications: The reason this languished in Development Hell for so long was the fact that Execs didn't think that a movie with black main characters would be successful. Considering that the premise of the movie was basically about people doubting a black squadron would be successful, you gotta wonder...
  • Visual Effects of Awesome: While it doesn't have as huge a budget as most blockbusters, it being a pet project of George Lucas, who also ponied up much of the cash to get it produced, it looks to have ILM's full force behind it regarding the battle sequences, though some of it looks a bit too polished.