Well, I was up all night a couple of nights ago fighting a VERY acute bout of bronchitis and saw the new version of Red Dawn on Netflix. In my misery (hacking, sneezing and feeling like my lungs and head were tar paper) I thought "what the heck, at least it will have action"....
So how was it? After watching about half of it I tried to OD myself to end the horror but alas discovered I had just swallowed 50 Mentho Lyptus cough drops. Sadly even the effects of Menthol overdose were not enough to mask the sheer, overpowering stupidity of this dreck.
To try to describe this "movie" in brief, it is a loose remake of the John Milnius movie from the 80s that launched the careers of a fair number of actors/actresses including Patrick Swayze and Lea Thompson. The original depicted a Soviet bloc invasion of the US and the formation and actions of a partisan group of high school students calling themselves the Wolverines. The original is actually a pretty good movie once you get past the somewhat silly premise. It had solid action, good acting and the atmosphere was well created as the strain on the kids turns them into pretty rough fighters and they are slowly whittled away by attrition. The final scene of a fictional landmark after the end of the war was actually sort of touching.
Sadly the remake was a cinematic disaster. The new premise was totally ridiculous (North Korea invades the US? Sure....). To make it worse they managed to lose the very elements that gave the original its appeal. For example:
1) In the original the local commandant for the invaders was actually a somewhat sympathetic character who at the end lets the last Wolverines go. In the remake he is a stereotypical brute who is killed near the end.
2) The new movie has our guerillas get to steal a magic piece of technology that is supposed to "turn the tide". The original did a good thing by resisting the temptation to make our heroes into literal world savers as it makes everything cartoonish. They never got to do some wonderful single thing to turn the tide - it was just them making life miserable for the occupying forces.
3) The acting in the remake is supbar to be polite. And some of these cast members we KNOW are capable of better work (like Chris Helmsworth). But in this film they were more wooden than a telephone pole. In the original a lot of the acting was good, especially Swayze, Lea Thompson and Jennifer Grey. You really felt these were kids in over their heads at first who hardened into fighters but nonetheless there was a despair as they were slowly whittled away.
The original Red Dawn was for a particular era. It fit that era and was a solid film in its own right. This piece of dreck should never have been made. And I need to learn to just shut stuff off when it is apparent it is trash rather than hanging on in the vain hope it will get better.
So how was it? After watching about half of it I tried to OD myself to end the horror but alas discovered I had just swallowed 50 Mentho Lyptus cough drops. Sadly even the effects of Menthol overdose were not enough to mask the sheer, overpowering stupidity of this dreck.
To try to describe this "movie" in brief, it is a loose remake of the John Milnius movie from the 80s that launched the careers of a fair number of actors/actresses including Patrick Swayze and Lea Thompson. The original depicted a Soviet bloc invasion of the US and the formation and actions of a partisan group of high school students calling themselves the Wolverines. The original is actually a pretty good movie once you get past the somewhat silly premise. It had solid action, good acting and the atmosphere was well created as the strain on the kids turns them into pretty rough fighters and they are slowly whittled away by attrition. The final scene of a fictional landmark after the end of the war was actually sort of touching.
Sadly the remake was a cinematic disaster. The new premise was totally ridiculous (North Korea invades the US? Sure....). To make it worse they managed to lose the very elements that gave the original its appeal. For example:
1) In the original the local commandant for the invaders was actually a somewhat sympathetic character who at the end lets the last Wolverines go. In the remake he is a stereotypical brute who is killed near the end.
2) The new movie has our guerillas get to steal a magic piece of technology that is supposed to "turn the tide". The original did a good thing by resisting the temptation to make our heroes into literal world savers as it makes everything cartoonish. They never got to do some wonderful single thing to turn the tide - it was just them making life miserable for the occupying forces.
3) The acting in the remake is supbar to be polite. And some of these cast members we KNOW are capable of better work (like Chris Helmsworth). But in this film they were more wooden than a telephone pole. In the original a lot of the acting was good, especially Swayze, Lea Thompson and Jennifer Grey. You really felt these were kids in over their heads at first who hardened into fighters but nonetheless there was a despair as they were slowly whittled away.
The original Red Dawn was for a particular era. It fit that era and was a solid film in its own right. This piece of dreck should never have been made. And I need to learn to just shut stuff off when it is apparent it is trash rather than hanging on in the vain hope it will get better.
You cant do Red Dawn in a post-Cold War world without Russians from the USSR. It wouldn't work with North Korea. Evidently, from your review...it doesnt. The whole side story about the girl and the guy could never work with a North Korean and an American. I dont even know how they did this one, but I liked the original. Ill post again after watching it. 
otherwise where do i go to get that time back? 
. North Korea??? Really?????
