Very well executed

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

I watched this film in preparation for a historical presentation by the Major General Irene Trowell - Harris Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen, located at Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, New York. It's being given next week at my local library in Florida, New York and it's something I'm looking forward to. I've heard of the Tuskegee Airmen of course, and this film was a good introduction, though not as expansive as I thought it would be regarding the history of the unit. It primarily focuses on a handful of individuals and as such, plays more as a story about how a small group of potential black Army Air Corps flyers overcame overt racism to become combat pilots during World War II. The caliber of actors selected was a good choice, including Laurence Fishburne, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, Courtney Vance and Andre Braugher. Each in their own way depicted how they persevered throughout their training and eventual assignment during the War. Fishburne and Braugher in particular displayed the singular type of attitude and behavior required to overcome the racism directed at them, thereby gaining a grudging respect from white officers and fellow flyers who they had to interact with. Andre Braugher portrayed the real Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin O. Davis, the only black line officer in the entire U.S. Army at the time (besides his own father), but one comes away from the film not knowing if the characters portrayed by Fishburne and the rest were also based on real heroes of the World War II. That will be a pertinent question for the military spokesmen at next week's presentation, and one I'll be looking forward to asking.

There is a reason HBO films had a rep for make movies that were ,well,not what Hollywood was making,yet what the public needed.This is such a film.I reviewed Red Tails on my own little blog,and enjoyed it,BUT as I stated it was a little"safe"for the box-office.This is NOT.Far sadder and shameful in the depictions of the disgraceful treatment these WW11 black airman faced.Think of a hundred Jackie Robinsons,who as a Army officer went thru much of the same BEFORE he played Baseball.But this movie is NOT about him. The mostly all black cast is well cast and recognizable and it would seem unfair to name but a few,so I won't .For this film had a true repertory feeling. My favorite scene was when Mrs Roosevelt has a spare of the moment flight at the hands of Lt.Lee and that signals that this group of pilots have finally been accepted to a certain degree,at least to now go oversees at least.In the end most of the airman would probably admit that the destination was worth the rocky ride to get there.They are better men than me,for I would have blown that road up !!!! Thats why their story must always be told and remembered and indeed,celebrated as we do Jackie's.

THE TUSKEEGEE AIRMEN is a film that I tend to get very emotional about. I can never see the ending without tears of appreciation, joy and intense pride.It all comes home for me as a self admittedly rednecked White bomber pilot says in the final briefing: "I have a crew whose lives are my responsibility. If it's all the same to you Sir, I want the 332nd to take me to Berlin and back".That cinematic statement is a long overdue Thank You from America to the pilots of the 332nd Fighter Group, both the living and the dead, for a job well done.I personally owe the Tuskeegee Airmen a sincere vote of thanks, as does EVERY Black person who has ever had the honor of having flown a military aircraft for the United States. The Tuskeegee Airmen blazed the trail that made it possible for others to follow.I've met a couple of the original Tuskeegee pilots, and I've heard their stories. The discrimination and bigotry shown in the film was NOTHING compared to the realities that they faced day after day. Even after the war, as decorated fighter pilots, the bigotry they faced on their return to the US was unbelievable.One old fighter pilot told me of how he had just come ashore from the troopship in full uniform, and was almost immediately arrested by the military police in New York City on a charge of impersonating an officer and wearing unauthorized decorations; the MP just KNEW that there was no such thing as a Black fighter pilot.Another told me of his postwar attempts to gain employment as an airline pilot as the lines geared up for the bright future that they saw coming. Ex military pilots with half his experience who were White were being snapped up without question... but after much beating around the bush, he was finally told that even as impressive as his credentials were, there was no place for him in the industry. He recalled that the airline representative that told him was so ashamed that he couldn't look him in the eye as he said it.Lawrence Fishburn's portrayal of Lt. Hannibal Lee is probably typical of the men who were part of this, the SECOND "Tuskeegee Experiment". They were college graduates, the best of the best, who had survived a system deliberately designed to eliminate them from flight training.Andre Braugher's testimony (as Col. Ben O. Davis Jr.) before the Congressional committee says it all when he asks what he, as a Black soldier, should think of a nation that despises him even as he lays down his life to defend it... a nation that asks him to fight for principles that don't apply to HIM personally.The film has technical flaws... every film does... but beyond them it tells a story that, by design or negligence, has been ignored by American history for almost a half century.

This movie is great, but at times hard to watch. I cannot believe people do exist present/past that actually thought this way. It was amazing to see how the Airmen had to OVERCOME a bevy of obstacles, just to FIGHT for the country that HATES THEM. There were a few scenes were I had to cry, it was heavy on me! The landing in the country w/ the prisoners... The hearing before the Special Committee.... And finally when the white pilot requests the 332nd.The facts of Airmen ordeals is riveting, I hope in life it doesn't take this type of example to prove to other ignorant people that African Americans, and minorities as a whole have something of value to offer. I often wonder to myself, 'Could White America, deal with the oppression, that they have dealt out, if the script was reversed?' I know for a fact they would have a REAL SERIOUS problem with it!