Review of Red Dawn (2012) by Thewaffle — 16 Dec 2013

This was a much better movie than people give it credit for. Every review seems to have completely missed the obvious overtones referencing the war in Iraq.

This movie introduces far more conflict in the audience than the original. The original was purely propagandistic in its treatment of the 1984 USSR. This edition, set against the historical backdrop of the insurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan, makes the audience feel much more conflicted about the actions of an American insurgency.

Contrary to all the complaints about North Korea as the enemy (every review seems obsessed with arguing that the US is too tough to be taken down by North Korea, which is the mentality that the opponent exploits in the movie) this movie succeeds because it doesn't harp on the details of the enemy, because the enemy is secondary to the personal struggle of the characters.