Review of Red Dawn (2012) by Jeffrey M — 01 Oct 2014

Today's review was brought to you by the word, "Reboot". Hollywood has gone cold in these reboots. There's almost no soul in them. And since this is the case, the few good reboots like Robocop and The A-Team get slammed and thrown to the curb because of the fatigue.

And to be honest, I've personally had enough. Red Dawn is the next in a long line of disappointments, which is hilarious because this one was actually delayed due to financial issues over at MGM, leaving plenty of time for tinkering.

Nevertheless, horrendous visual effects, terrible plotting, major plot holes, and bad acting throw the remake straight into the discount bin at Walmart. The film follows a group of young people as they rebel against an invading North Korea.

The original film had it as the Chinese, which was infinitely more believable as a force that could successfully invade. Instead, they changed it to North Korea so as not to offend anyone. Well, it's still an offensive film, just for different reasons.

For starters, the visual effects are laughable. The opening para jump looks like a bad video game and the visual effects only stay as bad throughout. The plot is a rehash of the original, with a few minor modern adjustments, but it's just dumb now, especially when one considers where the invasion took place.

The acting is horrible, with Chris Hemsworth and Adrianne Palicki given almost nothing to work with, leaving the screen to the painful Josh Peck. There's no chemistry or characters. It feels like they're doing a spoof at times.

The film is short, but the horrible pacing makes it feel like a lifetime as it bounces from poor comedy to action to drama, neither of which is handled with any success. By the time is finally ends, the film wants you to feel respect for the characters that they "changed".

The only thing the audience will feel is insulted.