I also pointed out that they made absolutely no mention of what the movie is actually about, instead preferring to spin it as some kind of work of fiction instead, which is pretty damn insulting to the people it's supposed to be celebrating.
How was it not made clear that the film is about the first black aviators in the US military serving in ground attack and bomber escort roles during WWII? That's what the film is actually about at its most basic level, besides other themes like overcoming adversity and bigotry and so forth, which was also touched upon.
Plus, despite the fact that the characters and some events are fictionalized (which contrasts with the more historically accurate 'The Tuskegee Airmen' and gives a good reason why the two films should be complimentary to each other rather than redundant), the film also touched on some pretty specific historical moments:
- The 332nd being criticized for having no aerial kills when they were initially tasked with ground attack/air support missions; used as a means to try and disband the group.
- The sinking of a German destroyer with machine gun fire only (Although they were flying P-47s at the time IIRC and not P-51s, but that's an understandable filmmaking choice to avoid having to explain that they changed aircraft four times. But they still got in the transition from their first aircraft - P-40s - to their last aircraft of the war - the P-51).
- The fact that many other escort fighter groups either took to chasing after the enemy (being seemingly more interested in getting kills than protecting the bombers), stayed too far out from the bombers to be of any use, or left too early. The Red Tails always stuck with the bombers and lost an extraordinarily low (compared to other groups) number of bombers as a result, thus earning their loyalty.
- The attack by German Me-262 jet fighters during the raid on the Daimler-Benz tank factory in Berlin (though that may not be mentioned by name) in which three Me-262s were shot down by three individual pilots. The group received a Distinguished Unit Citation as a result.
So, I see this as a film that should work nicely alongside The Tuskegee Airmen in giving less historical characterization but more spectacular aerial fighting and perhaps reenactment of more specific events (mentioned above) where the other film could not due to budget, while still hitting on the essential message of triumphing over adversity and facing enemies both at home and abroad.
Plus, when the Me-262s showed up it was pretty awesome. I rewatched that part several times.
