The visual effects are splendid and for a change they're not overdone. They resemble the CGIs in the series "Dogfights", right down to the disconcerting image of a speeding airplane diving right into the camera lens.
I wish the story were as good. It's not as terrible as "Pearl Harbor" but it doesn't stray far from the expected narrative. A group of diverse African-American pilots are stationed in Italy. One has a habit of taking a few belts before a mission; another is reckless and expedient; another is the by-the-book commanding officer; there is the new recruit called "Junior" to whom everyone condescends.. There is a completely dispensable love affair. A white officer calls one of them by the N word and gets punched in the face for his trouble, while the pilot winds up in the slams. All that's missing is the "mail call" scene to turn this into a World War II flag waver with Richard Jaekel somewhere down the cast list. And no one should be forced to utter lines like, "So tuck your tail between your legs and slink back to Harlem!"
At first they face prejudice from the bureaucracy and are assigned to ground attack missions with obsolete P-40s. But when they prove their mettle, they're given bomber escort missions while flying the sleek new P-51s. On a later mission they were credited with downing three Me262s, the first jet fighter to see combat, and it was quite a feat.
Despite the undistinguished plot, the movie succeeds in holding the viewer. The viewer only need wait until the arguments and love affair on the ground end, even if only temporarily, before he's back in the air with those magnificent visual effects.
I wish the story were as good. It's not as terrible as "Pearl Harbor" but it doesn't stray far from the expected narrative. A group of diverse African-American pilots are stationed in Italy. One has a habit of taking a few belts before a mission; another is reckless and expedient; another is the by-the-book commanding officer; there is the new recruit called "Junior" to whom everyone condescends.. There is a completely dispensable love affair. A white officer calls one of them by the N word and gets punched in the face for his trouble, while the pilot winds up in the slams. All that's missing is the "mail call" scene to turn this into a World War II flag waver with Richard Jaekel somewhere down the cast list. And no one should be forced to utter lines like, "So tuck your tail between your legs and slink back to Harlem!"
At first they face prejudice from the bureaucracy and are assigned to ground attack missions with obsolete P-40s. But when they prove their mettle, they're given bomber escort missions while flying the sleek new P-51s. On a later mission they were credited with downing three Me262s, the first jet fighter to see combat, and it was quite a feat.
Despite the undistinguished plot, the movie succeeds in holding the viewer. The viewer only need wait until the arguments and love affair on the ground end, even if only temporarily, before he's back in the air with those magnificent visual effects.