See dogfights and a pipe-smoking Cuba Gooding Jr. in a clip from LucasFilm's WWII movie Red Tails

See dogfights and a pipe-smoking Cuba Gooding Jr. in a clip from LucasFilm’s WWII movie Red Tails

January 10th 2012, 10:24pm

It’s been in the works for years, and now the WWII action-drama RED TAILS will finally shoot up the screen on January 20th.

The movie chronicles the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, the legendary group of African Americans who were the first black pilots in the US military. Produced and financed by George Lucas and directed by Anthony Hemingway, RED TAILS stars Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr., Bryan Cranston, Nate Parker, David Oyelowo, Tristan Wilds, Method Man, Lee Tergesen, Ne-Yo, Elijah Kelley, Andre Royo and Jesse Williams.

As you can see from the clip below, the movie puts a lot of ILM-powered planes in the digital sky and gives Cuba Gooding Jr. something to stick in his mouth (and maybe keeps him off Netflix’s list of D-grade new streaming releases for a few days).

If you’re interested in hearing what Lucas has to say (or if you just want to find out if he’s still hopelessly out of touch), there are interviews with him on The Daily Show and with USA Today.