Red Tails Trailer

So, this has been online for a few days now, and I've been wanting to blog about it.  It's the first trailer for Red Tails.






I got kind of excited in those weeks before the release of Revenge of the Sith when I caught an interview with George Lucas in which he confided that part the reason why did the prequels was because he knew they would make a ton of money, and thus ensure his financial security to give him the freedom to make the kind of moody, experimental films that he really wanted to make.  Ooo...I wonder what Lucas was going to make after the prequels.  What did he mean by "moody and experimental?"

Apparently, he meant Indiana Jones fighting aliens, because that's what he made next.

But after that, he assured us that he was finally turning his attention to Red Tails.  Red Tails is a movie that Lucas has been developing since the late-1980s.  Some originally thought it was a code name for Episode I, as Return of the Jedi had the similar-sounding code name "Blue Harvest."  Lucas, however, assured the fans that Red Tails had nothing to do with Star Wars...that it was, in fact, a World War II epic about the legendary Tuskegee Airman -- an all-African-American fighter pilot squadron. 

While Lucas himself wrote the original story, he handed screenwriting duties over to John Ridley.  For the director, Lucas chose Anthony Hemingway, a veteran television director making his feature film directorial debut.  The film boasts an all-star cast, with Terrance Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr, Method Man, Ne-Yo, and Bryan Cranston. 

This is Lucas's first non-franchise film (i.e. not Star Wars or Indy) since 1994's Radioland Murders, and that's a bit of a detriment for me.  Without the nostalgia factor of lightsabers in the trailer, it's tough to get excited about this film.  I need to know more right now...more about the plot, more about the characters...just more.

However, since it is Lucas, the special effects are looking amazing.  It looks like he's taking what he learned from the spectacular space battle scene at the opening of Revenge of the Sith and applying it to World War II dogfights.  That's kind of a neat full-circle thing....  As has been widely reported, Lucas showed the special effects artists on the very first Star Wars dogfights from World War II films to convey what he wanted to achieve in the space battles. 

Red Tails hits theatres this January, and I look forward to finding out more.