Red Dawn (2012) - My Review

Red Dawn  -  2012  -  Directed by Dan Bradley

I will admit that growing up I loved the 1984 cult classic Red Dawn. It starred Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen and C. Thomas Howell and still to this day if it is on TV I will sit and watch it. I promise I will never watch this remake again.

In the original the Soviets attacked us. In this one it is the North Koreans. I find it hard to believe the North Koreans could pull this off but what do I know.

After the North Koreans attack, a group of high schoolers and one of their brothers band together to lead a resistance. Chris Hemsworth leads the charge along with Adrianne Palicki, Josh Hutcherson and Connor Cruise but none of the cast is particulary memorable. At point I wasn't even sure who was alive and pretty sure I didn't care.

As the resistance grows bigger the kids get more audacious and begin building bombs and using artillery that suggests that everything they know they learned from a video game. At point they even mention a video game by name and seem to act as if this is one and the same.

Wolverines was the famous line from the 1984 version and used as a calling card and rallying cry for the resistance. When Hutcherson yells it here I almost started laughing. While the rah rah anti war statement of the original bothered many for its hypocrisy this film just seems to be an excuse to blow things up.

I don't hate the idea of remakes. There is a reason Hollywood makes so many of them as they are films that people either loved or may have forgotten or they can be introduced to a audience that never knew the original. But if the end result is garbage like this then Hollywood needs to start cultivating new talent for fresh new ideas.

Rating: 2 out of 10