Red Dawn (2012) Review

Posted in On DVD by - July 09, 2013

Red DawnIf you like okay unnecessary remakes then Red Dawn (2012) is for you. It stars Josh Peck as Matt Eckert, Chris Hemsworth as Jed Eckert, Josh Hutcherson as Robert Kiltner, Isabel Lucas as Erica Martin, and Adrianne Palicki as Toni Walsh.

Red Dawn is a remake of the 1980’s great Red Dawn. The movie opens with a series of videos showing that the economy is bad worldwide and North Korea is advancing along with Russia invading other countries. It then cuts to a small town in USA. Matt is playing football but loses. He along with his girlfriend and brother then head to a bar. A blackout occurs and everyone heads home. That next morning North Korea attacks and Matt, his bother and his friends head into the woods. They have to survive and rescue the town.

Red Dawn is an okay unnecessary remake. The ending which I will not spoil, is very different from the ending of the 80’s movie and it’s a very Hollywood ending unlike that one which was more effective. It also has much less of an impact than the original and makes a less of a point.

Besides that, it’s okay but unnecessary. There was no need for this to be remade unless to make some cheap money. But it’s only okay, not near the level of the original ( then again, most remakes aren’t). They adapted the story to the relatively modern time (more on that below) well.  And there are some good action sequences of them guerrilla fighting.

There is not much of the impact of what the fighting is doing to the teens unlike the original and that is a disappointment and the whole topic is mentioned maybe 3 or 4 times.

This movie was also filmed a long time ago (2009) and was supposed to be released back then along with Cabin in the Woods was supposed to be released back then. MGM went under and along with Cabin this was held back until MGM got better finances and then later because of Hemsworth’s new fame as Thor. Cabin is the much better one by so much. Overall, Red Dawn is an okay but uncesscary remake with a bad ending.

Red Dawn is rated PG-13 for sequences of intense war violence and action, and for language. I give Red Dawn a red C+ It’s an okay action movie.  But as a remake is disappointing and has a very cop out ending untrue to the original.

Movie Review Ninja Rating

2stars

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