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"Red Tails" is an old-school war movie with a pretty ambitious payload. For the most part, it's mission accomplished.

A long-cherished project by "Star Wars" maven George Lucas -- co-written by Mequon native John Ridley and "Boondocks" creator Aaron McGruder -- "Red Tails" puts an overdue, big-screen spotlight on the Tuskegee Airmen, an all-African-American unit of the Army Air Corps that battled racism at home while helping the Allies achieve air supremacy in Europe during World War II.

Initially, the Army, influenced by bigots in high places, refuses to let them get in the fight, relegating them to unimportant, noncombat details.

"War is hell," the hotshot pilot named Lightning says early in the movie, "but what we're doing is boring as hell."

The unit's commanding officer, played with pipe-smoking paternalism by Cuba Gooding Jr., reminds his men to keep things in perspective.

"You all thought . . . what? That you'd sign up, you'd get shiny boots and a uniform, and that would be the end of a hundred years of bigotry?" he says. "You're colored men in the white man's army. It's a miracle you're flying fighters in Italy and not mopping latrines in Milwaukee."

The major in charge of the unit, played by Terrence Howard, finally gets the Airmen a mission that allows them to show what they can do, and that leads to a bigger, more vital mission: escorting bombers. But there's a wrinkle: Unlike past fighter groups, which left the bombers unguarded so they could score kills against enemy fighters, the Red Tails -- so named for the markings on their new planes -- must protect the bombers first, and go for glory second.

Like any war movie worth its medals, you know how it's going to turn out. And "Red Tails," a work of fiction rooted in actual events, doesn't disappoint, either in the hero department or in the war-movie-action department.

The latter is largely thanks to the production team at Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic, which crafts sharp, super-realistic dogfight scenes that feel both lived-in and big-budget cool.

For the former, Ridley and McGruder try, with mixed success, to steer clear of war-movie cliches. Some of the pilots are complex characters not usually found in the genre: Lightning (David Oyelowo), an impetuous but brilliant pilot, falls in love with a local girl and starts to takes things more seriously; Easy (Nate Parker), the unit's leader, hides a drinking problem.

The bad guys, on the other hand, are worse than cartoons. Bryan Cranston, as a colonel intent on keeping the black pilots out of the war, spits out his racism. The German ace who seems to turn up at every aerial engagement even has a nasty scar on his cheek -- in case the swastika on his uniform isn't enough of a reminder that he's the villain.

The Airmen flew thousands of missions from 1943 to 1945, shooting down more than 100 German airplanes, earning scores of medals and, as important, adding a generation of heroes for people of all races to admire.

Lucas, who has been pushing for "Red Tails" to happen for 23 years, couldn't get a studio interested in the movie, so he financed it himself, because of his passionate belief in the importance of the story of the Tuskegee Airmen and their role in history.

That passion, clearly shared by many involved in the movie, comes through on the screen loud and proud.

That the guy behind the one of the biggest movie successes of all time had to fund his own pet project -- one involving guns and explosions, yet -- speaks volumes about institutional Hollywood's continued resistance to African-American-centric films.

And is a reminder of why the story of "Red Tails" remains important to tell.

Red Tails **1/2

Cast: Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr., Nate Parker, David Oyelowo, Tristan Wilds, Ne-Yo, Marcus T. Paulk, Elijah Kelley, Andre Royo, Bryan Cranston, Gerald McRaney, Daniela Ruah

Behind the scenes: Produced by Rick McCallum and Charles Floyd Johnson. Written by John Ridley and Aaron McGruder. Directed by Anthony Hemingway.

Rated: PG-13; violence

Approximate running time: 125 minutes

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