The latest edition of Hollywood Remakes the 80?s is 1984?s classic Red Dawn. 2012?s Red Dawn is little different from 84?s version ? swap out the all-star cast of Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson, Charlie Sheen, Jennifer Grey, and Powers Boothe with Chris Hemsworth, Adrianne Palicki (Friday Night Lights), Josh Hutcherson (The Hunger Games), Josh Peck, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, the beautiful landscape of Colorado gives way to the calming quiet of Washington State. The biggest change is the World War III hungry Russians of?84 get replaced by Chi-? ?I mean North Korea.
Red Dawn begins with Jed (Chris Hemsworth) returning home from his military tour overseas to his dad (Brett Culen) and little brother Matt (Josh Peck). They awake the next morning to bombs going off and men parachuting into their town. Why? America is under attack by North Korea. Matt and Jed head to the families remote cabin and pick up two of Matt?s classmates Robert (Josh Hutcherson) and Daryl (Connor Cruise) along the way. The group is joined later by Julie (Alyssa Diaz), Toni (Adrianne Palicki), and Danny (Edwin Hodge).
In predictable 80?s movie fashion, the ragtag group bands together to take on unbelievable odds and help win the war against North Korea.
Luckily, the nostalgia of the original isn?t lost in this remake. Of the recent Hollywood remakes/reboots, Red Dawn is a film that?s ripe with remake-ability.? Red Dawn is a throwback to the 80?s complete with an unbelievable training montage, cheesy one-liners, the evil villain Captain Lo (Will Yun Lee), kids who look way too old to be in high school, and teenage love.
As awesomely 80?s as it is, audience will be frustrated so much of the film goes unexplained. ?It?s never clear why North Korea is invading. The reasons why some people are detained why others aren?t is a mystery. The most shocking is how nobody notices kids with assault rifles in broad daylight. Answers for two of the three questions may be due to the Chinese soldiers being digitally edited into North Koreans by doctoring the flags and uniforms, not the people. After MGM?s financial woes in 2010, Red Dawn was shelved. Fast forward to 2012, two of the film?s unknown actors are now big stars making it much easier for distribution. The film?s sudden change to North Korean is due to China being a major power player in the international box office business. If a film wants to cash in on those overseas dollars, it must past the China Film Group (CFG) censors who are known for being difficult.
Red Dawn?s weak spot is its attempt to make the audience feel for Matt and his girlfriend who?s being detained. The entire plot point falls flat since we only see Matt and his girlfriend interact briefly for 15 seconds. This is only a problem because Matt has his ?I miss my girlfriend? sour face for 60% of the movie.
The action sequences, as ridiculous as they are, are very well done. The film makes up for its lack of stellar actors with explosions and shootout after shootout. Director Dan Bradley worked as a stunt coordinator on some big action movies like The Bourne series and Spiderman 2 & 3. His experience working on those films definitely pays off.
Despite Red Dawn?s flaws, and there are a lot, it?s a fun, predictable action movie. It doesn?t have the intrigue of Skyfall or the jaw dropping special effects in Looper, Red Dawn is just bullets and bad guys ? sometimes that?s all you need.
Grade: C
Source: http://blog.seattlepi.com/peoplescritic/2012/11/21/review-red-dawn-2012/
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