Chris Reviews Red Dawn

I saw this film opening night this past Tuesday but was unable to write a review then as I left to go out of town the following morning. In fact I saw a number of films over the break so look out for some more reviews in the coming days.

Now the original Red Dawn is a cult classic, Its a somewhat decisive film that while its very campy and cheesy is a lot of fun and features some interesting political commentary. So does the remake feature the same fun and political commentary? Read below to find out....

The Good-

The original Red Dawn has always been a film that stirs the feeling that many young boys have of wanting to survive in the wilderness and shoot bad guys and this Red Dawn retains some of that juvenile desire. Chris Hemsworth is solid in the Patrick Swayze role of the original although they are very different characters. Where Swayze was that cool older brother, Hemsworth is very much the bad ass war veteran who knows what to do but is not particularly likeable. Other than that I really don't have much praise for this film, and I was stretching to write that much good stuff about it in the first place.

The Bad-

This film is truly a mess! With the exception of the opening act, the plot is almost incoherent. The basic premise of the North Koreans invading the United States is pretty easy but they attempt to set up a larger plot that leads into a potential sequel. That is one of my biggest problems with the film compared to the Original. In the 1984 version we get a shockingly violent ending that makes a somewhat anti-war statement at the end, resulting in a much more unique film than it is given credit for. In this version we get a very Hollywoodized film that is more interested in making money than being innovative or unique. Not only is the plot very weak but the acting is atrocious, especially Josh Peck. He sucks the life out of every scene he is in and is definitely the biggest weakness of the film. Not only is the plot terrible and the acting awful but even the action scenes are just mediocre. Yeah there are a lot of explosions and shootouts, but there is no emotion or importance behind them. Red Dawn is essentially just a montage of action scenes that lack any type of coordination and really don't serve any purpose to the plot. Even the bad guys are very weak, they really don't do anything once they invade. We have no perception of what their intentions are and what the bigger picture is outside of a few throw away lines.

Summary-

I did not expect a great film by any means, in fact I expected a pretty bad film and in that it met my expectations. I did not hate it the whole way through because I had set the bar so low. That being said I was really disappointed in this film. While it technically does a lot of the same things as the original, it lacks the fun, intelligence and energy of the 1984 version. I'm sure there will be those that like it, but if you have any taste for good film making stay far away from this film!

MY RATING

2 out of 5

Chris "Da Franchize" Hart