Many other reviews have made this statement, but it is very true, and I feel the need to repeat it: The “Tuskegee Airmen” were worthy of admiration for their achievements against all the odds and plenty of adversity, both in combat and out of combat, and they are very much worthy of a serious film exploration of their trials, but this movie ain’t it. This is a popcorn-munching, action war movie that yes, tells the basic story and gets across the general message, but candy coats darn near everything to the point of stereotyping almost everything about it. People have compared this film to the semi-recent Flyboys, but I definitely enjoyed Flyboys much more than this one.

Writing: If this was not a horrible script, something got very lost in translation. The dialog is incredibly cliche and corny, the situations smack of how casual observers might think of the situations, not how it actually was for the pilots and the characters are a collection of the majority of your basic war movie stereotypes. There is so much more to the Tuskegee story that this movie hardly scratches the surface. Some of the most impressive is the story leading up to where this movie begins, but none of that is shown (or ever mentioned, as far as I could recall). If you really want to know about this story and want to see it in movie form, by all means go out and get a copy of the FAR superior HBO movie (starring Laurence Fishburn and many other notable actors). What it might lack in comparison to this film in visual effects work, it MORE than makes up for in every other possible category. If George Lucas had this thing in development for some 23 years, surely he could have scrounged up a better script at some point.

Production: Absolutely nothing to complain about here. Well, perhaps the haphazard editing might be worth a mention, with transitions between scenes that fade through rather awkwardly, but it is not a bit problem. Otherwise, this is a movie that puts forth the visual effects money with obvious results. While the dialog may still be awful during the aerial combat scenes, the effects work is top notch. There is no faulting ILM for their contributions to the film (as well as the other handful of vendors that contributed to the production).

Cast: The cast is a mixed bag. Then again, I honestly have trouble telling what is the fault of the actor vs what little they may have had to work with. Terrence Howard probably pulls it off the best with his stoic performance. Like every single character in the movie, it is a pretty one dimensional character, but Howard fits the bill for the role. Cuba Gooding Jr seems to enjoy chomping away on his pipe throughout the entire movie, but he also pulls it off. Nate Parker and David Oyelowo are a couple of the main pilot characters, with hit-or-miss performances. Their interplay between each other feels very stilted and forced, though the script does not do them any favors in making that work. Some bits work, some do not. And hey, Gerald McRaney puts in a nice appearance as a general. Sometimes you stick with the obvious casting that you know will work.

Music: Terrance Blanchard does an OK job with the score. It does seem like a score in search of a theme that it never finds, but it fits the mood and gets the job done. Not a particularly great score, but at least it did not hurt the film.

This movie could have been, and should have been, far better. It is not a particularly bad film. Sadly, it is just a mediocre film. It may be a good one to toss the blu-ray on from time to time while you are doing other things, and you can stop and watch the action scenes for breaks in what you are doing.