Review: Red Dawn

Director: Dan Bradley
Written by: Carl Ellsworth (screenplay), Jeremy Passmore (screenplay)
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Josh Hutcherson, Isabel Lucas
Genre: Action
MPAA: PG-13

Synopsis: A group of teenagers look to save their town from an invasion of North Korean soldiers.
 

 

Remakes are usually under high scrutiny being that there is a base for comparison. There is already a set of standards that the film must meet to satisfy loyalists of the original, while improving upon it in a way that also manages to pay homage to the original.

 

This updated version of “Red Dawn” opens with an excitement that quickly dissolves as the film progresses. After a quick backstory, the air invasion takes place and I loved every minute of this scene. The intensity was high as they showed an army of paratroopers dropping from planes overhead into a familiar American suburb. That scene was unfortunately the highlight of the film because as things progressed there was a lot of redundancy with action scenes which took away from some plot details. Smaller intricate details about underlying agendas of the invaders, the invasion’s impact on America’s infrastructure, and the reaction of America’s allies were all thoughts that plagued my mind as I was bombarded with chaotic, unformulated action shots. Action films tend to be lighter in plot but most do have that twist that reveals the villain’s “true” agenda, which this film fails to deliver.

Old and the new

There is a lot of familiar, generic dialogue (as expected from an action film) and it tends to overshadow anyone’s ability as an actor as they fall into a role we’ve seen many times before. One thing that is shown is Chris Hemsworth’s abilities as an action star. He is a towering powerhouse that easily fits into the militant leadership role as seen in this film and others he has starred in. Although he is fun to watch in action, Josh Hutcherson was the most dynamic of the group in my opinion. His development from a coy and reserved teenager to a more courageous member of the group made him the most interesting to watch. The rest of the group served their roles but didn’t bring much of anything to the film. The rebellious younger brother, secret crush, and “sacrificial” members of the group were all necessities of the genre and nothing more.

 

This film had the potential to be much more than an action film. The subject is captivating looking from the outside, but once you dive in the plot quickly dries up. The progression of the film continually slows and by the end I was questioning what was actually accomplished. Although I tend to enjoy a good action flick and lower my standards for substance, I felt the execution of this film was just lazy and rushed.

 

Red Dawn – 5.0 out of 10.

A remake that doesn’t live up to the original…

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About Ryan

First and foremost, Ryan Brown is a fan. He has been an avid fan of both the theater and cinema since an early age and his passion for both has been continually growing ever since. When dissecting a film, he focuses on all elements of film-making including some fan/cult factors. He believes that character development is the foundation of a good film and usually starts his analysis of a film from there moving forward. His writing style may be influenced by his background of narrative and argumentative studies in the subject, but he tends to enjoy a more conversational style to better interact with the readers, unlike some other pretentious and pompous writers.

5 thoughts on “Review: Red Dawn

  1. It sounds like the new Red Dawn is decent, but not worth seeing in theaters. I’ll wait until it comes out for rent. I would like to see the original, though. A friend I work with at DISH recommended it, and it sounds like an interesting movie. It’s available for streaming at DISH Online, so I can check it out whenever it’s convenient for me. I’ll probably watch it this weekend instead of going to see the remake.

      1. That’s the consensus I’ve been hearing. I’ll probably see the movie eventually, just not in theaters. And yeah, it’s nice to have the DISH Online service. There’s actually fair amount of content that’s free for everyone, if you want to check it out.

  2. are u telling me that the country size of a peanut as of North Korea actually entered into US air space flying from flipping half a way around the world in their planes and dropped its troops in one state of America while american radars and its army was asleep?and North Koreans troops actually landed on american soil without any confrontation by American Armed forces?ok yeh they showed one of their plane going down apparently hit by one US jet fighter which is laughable!what US had only one jet to scramble to confront NK army?haha this movie is a joke,where was US ground forces in the whole movie?all i saw was a flipping copper running around in his car like a chicken,it was funny and un understandable how those so called heros/kids of the movie found automatic guns when they started their training before their first attack even training itself was funny,martial arts training and everything was just a joke what 6 men and women getting ready for a war against thousands of North Korean Troops? hahahha!!it was funny how North Korea brought their Humvees and helicopters from other end of the world to states by flying them hahha..it just gets funnier when North Korean Government Officals actually come to states for a nice Speech wiv’ a proper dice and stage while they are trying to invade the country,where was the rest of the US?what was happening in the rest of the country while one city of the US is getting invaded,it was funny some people are confined in barb wired areas while the rest working in shops moving about,P.S america and its people are shown as hypocrites in the movie cause apparently when those bunch of people were trying to fight against the NK forces bombing them shooting them setting boogie traps and everything they are seen as heros cause they are fighting against the forces that is trying to invade their country and they are doing heroic work while if the same thing is done by people in afghanistan and Iraq etc etc those people are called terrorists and bombers wtf? are they not trying to fight against america?because they have sent troops out in their country and they are invaders?if you have the right to fight against NKs to save ur country so does the iraqi and afghani people too how are they terrorists when you are not?oh i forgot ur saving ur country right so you are not terrorists!to be honest this whole movie just wasted my time i wish i could puke on the director’s face and tell him he is a shit bag,the story is shit the whole idea of the movie is shit not even close to reality next time if u wana make a movie try making a movie thats more real more closer to reality like Rescue Daw,Black Hawk Down,behind enemy lines saving Private Ryan don’t give us this piece of crap i am so angry to watch a film a complete waste of time n money,not even one thing good about the movie,i tell you what it takes more than just a movie to make a motion film turn into a box office hit with this crap dan bradley ain’t going far!there is so many ideas i can give u for a war movie u shit bag and trust my story would be far more better than this crap even tho i never even thought of making a movie or writing a story or anyfing this shit movie just made me angry,

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