Just hours after George Lucas and Lucasfilm announced a release date for the long, long, long in development Tuskegee Airmen action-drama Red Tails, the first trailer has debuted online. "We count our victories by the bombers we get to their targets, by the husbands we return to their wives, by the fathers we give back to their children," says a very determined Terrence Howard at a crucial moment in the very determined two-minute clip. Sounds heroic, Terry! But how does Red Tails compare to the 1995 HBO film, The Tuskegee Airmen?
Pretty well, actually! In fact, they look fairly similar, save for the Lucasfilm-enhanced scenes of aerial battle in Red Tails, which dwarf similar scenes in Airmen. (That is Cuba Gooding Jr. appearing in both films to muddy the waters further.) All of which raises the question: Do you like your Tuskegee Airmen historical dramas laced with the stoicism of Terrence Howard or the stoicism of Laurence Fishburne? That answer will go pretty far in determining your interest in Red Tails when it's released on Jan. 20, 2012.
VERDICT: Delayed on the tarmac.