It’s been a long time since I’ve seen this and an even longer time since I’ve seen the original. This is a remake of the 1984 version and I’ll be sure to give that a watch sometime but for now, I’m looking at the remake.
Red Dawn is going off the premise that the U.S. is invaded and colonized by North Korea and a band of teenagers engage in guerrilla warfare in the hopes they can get back the free and proud nation that once was. I personally don’t see this ever happening simply because our country’s military far outranks any in the world but it’s still a prolific idea for a movie. The concept of an invasion opens the door for living in the moment, what it would be like if it would happen. What would you do and who would you take along for the journey?
There are quite a few societal topics and camaraderie angles thrown in, which is to be expected but it never feels like it was tacked all over the metaphorical corkboard so you can’t see anything else. It’s put where it belongs and it works well. A bunch of strangers coming together as a small entourage of bandits, fighting for family, friends, their homes and their country. It’s as simple as that and sometimes simplicity is all we’re really looking for. Sometimes I think Hollywood overdoes things whether visually or what the film is trying to say and it all ends up being too much paint on the paintbrush, leaving smudges and smears all over what would have been a decent painting had it not been for the creators’ ambition getting in the way. Sometimes it pays to discover and sometimes it doesn’t. It always pays to be prudent and think things through before you show it to the rest of the world because you know people like me are going to nitpick every little thing.
That’s what I like about Red Dawn. It knows what it is, what it wants to say and who it wants to say it to. Given, this is a remake, all those things were already put in the groundwork but I still feel like this remake does a fairly decent job of leaving its own touch and being remembered as Red Dawn, not as the remake. It’s not trying to be better than the original, although I have to admit this was pretty well done so the original has a lot to hold up to.
The action was tense at points and more subtle when it was more of a diversion. The acting is fair for most of the supporting cast though I don’t think this film relies much on characters or script but rather empathy. If none of your emotions arise during this film, I doubt you’ll like it because that’s this film’s crutch. It doesn’t have much else to go on. The plot’s straightforward and the characters are pawns in the puzzle. Read your lines and put some heart into it and nine times out of ten you’ll be good. The character connection aligns itself with empathy in this film because those two areas go hand in hand here.
Josh Peck embraces the spotlight for the first time in a long time after his hiatus from the screen after Drake and Josh ended. Man, I loved that show. His acting chops haven’t slackened at all because of the many things pushing this movie forward, the most fruitful are the scenes between Peck and Chris Hemsworth. Some things have grown between them but they fight through them together and always prove to be brothers in the end, a brotherhood in the long list of brotherhoods that such a situation would incur.
Despite all the good, I have to admit I don’t feel like it’s a movie I’m likely to watch again because as good as it is, there’s only so much you can do with your philosophical pantomimes on-screen. I’m always engaged but still feel like a stranger to most of the cast and maybe that’s what this film was trying to do, to reinforce the point that even strangers can come together and fight for something they believe in. With that being said, there isn’t a lot of character development and that does drag this film down from scoring higher.
Once again, if you’re new to my blog, I’ve always ranked movies on a scale of 0-100 (I don’t know why, I just always have). Here’s the grading scale.
90-100 It’s a great movie and definitely one worth buying. (Guardians of the Galaxy, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Transformers: Age of Extinction, Jack Reacher, Godzilla)
80-89 It was a pretty good movie and definitely one worth seeing, but it doesn’t quite scratch my top ten percentile. (Tears of the Sun, Edge of Tomorrow, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Young Guns, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2)
70-79 It’s okay but I’ve seen better. It has its moments, but it has its flaws, too.(Maleficent, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Transporter 2, Battle: Los Angeles, Skyfall)
60-69 It’s got plenty wrong with it but I still got enjoyment out of this one. (Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, The Transporter, Speed, Godzilla(1998), The Incredible Hulk)
50-59 This movie isn’t intolerable but it’s not blowing my mind either. I’m trying really hard to get some sort of enjoyment out of this. (G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Vantage Point, The Starving Games, You’re Next, Thor)
40-49 This movie is just mediocre. It’s not doing anything other than the bare minimal, so morbidly boring that sometimes I’m actually angry I watched this. (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Billy Madison, A Haunted House, 300: Rise of an Empire, Cowboys and Aliens)
30-39 Definitely worse than mediocre, the 30′s ironically define the 1930′s, full of depression, lack of accomplishments, poverty and just so dumb. (Planet of the Apes, Stonados, Redemption, Pride and Prejudice, The Contract)
20-29 What did I just watch? Cliches, stupidity, nothingness, did I mention stupidity? Just…wow. (X-Men: Days of Future Past, Thor: The Dark World, The Sum of All Fears)
0-19 Watching this movie resulted in one or more of the following: seizure, loss of brain cells, falling asleep/unconsciousness, feel you wasted your time/day, accomplished nothing for you, left the movie knowing less about it then you did going into it, constantly asking yourself why you came to see this movie, or near-death experience. In short, staring at a wall was just as entertaining as watching this movie. This movie deserved a sticker or a label that said, “WARNING: EXTREME AMOUNT OF SUCKAGE.” (Clash of the Titans, A Haunted House 2, Open Grave, Alien 3, Dark Fury)
My score for Red Dawn: 76.
The Red Dawn remake doesn’t falter so much as it undercuts its potential, but notable performances from Josh Peck and Chris Hemsworth keep this from falling into the pit of disappointing sequels/remakes.
wordsofwistim 