Review of Red Dawn (2012) by Wilson B — 17 Mar 2014

Actually not a bad update of the original, which I saw a few months back. It's a decent action movie that manages to wipe off the dust from the studio shelf. The cast is formidable and well-acquitted.

The necessary scenes of conflict are exciting. There is some heart and even a bit of (intentional?) humor (with a battle taking place in Subway!) in the proceedings. The Chinese (North Koreans, originally) are actually decent villains that are a bit more thorough in their planning than the Russkies.

And it should appeal more to younger audiences who gawk at how dated the original was. However, it suffers from a flimsy script, a lack of character development, and not having much to offer than explosions and not very convincing attempts at evoking patriotism.

Even then, if this scenario were to occur, we could hold off an invasion with our own arsenal if the military is not able to assist. It also tends to feel more like a tweeny CW show at times. Nonetheless, this more recent model of "Red Dawn" is about on par with its Reagan-era predecessor in merits and quality, each grappling with their own flaws yet entertaining with aplomb.