Is a review really necessary?

I've got to say a few things.  I really do.

My usual rant applies here.  Why in the fuck do film makers continue to use actors in their late 20's/early 30's to play high school kids?  WHY?  It's so fucking ridiculous!  Please stop!!!

If someone is going to remake a movie that most seem to have find memories of, please, don't completely fuck it up.  IS that asking too much?  The premise in the original from 28 years ago was a little hard to swallow, but that's what made it what it was.  Taking that same premise and putting it in the present, is just ludicrous.

But, this time around, everything is just ludicrous.  This thing ticks off all the screenwriting guru's boxes and suffers greatly because of that.  Nothing seems remotely believable.  It's like a 12 year old kid wrote this, which is too bad, because it's a pretty good looking movie with a $65 Million budget in 2009. The longer it goes on, the worse it gets and the more illogical the action gets.

The really crazy thing is that the enemy was originally the Chinese, but was changed to North Korea, so the film could benefit from the WWBO.  Guess what the overseas returns were to date?  ZERO!!!!!  Fucking ZERO!!!  Unreal.

This thing sat on a shelf for over 3 years while the $65 Million in budget just rotted away.

I've seen far worse but there's really no excuse for this to turn out so crappy with everything that they had going for them...back in 2009, that is.  By the time the release date came around, everyone knew this was dead in the water. Its $45 Million BO was actually much more than this deserved.

Yep, I wasted a spot on my Netflix queue for this sludge.  Avenge me, Jeff!  AVENGE ME!!

Yeah, same here.  I see most of my movies through Netflix.  Kind of pisses me off when the DVD arrives and there's no extra features at all.  WEAK!!!!

I'm actually DVRing the original Red Dawn this weekend, so I can do a comparison and see where this thing fell apart.

Sorry to mention it, Jeff, but the original Red Dawn was a piece of shit, too. It tried to be subtle, but suffered from being faux-clever. Of the major "America is good, Russia is evil" Hollywood films of the mid-'80s, it was way behind Rocky IV and Rambo: First Blood Part II. Maybe it's because Red Dawn starred basically the same cast from The Outsiders. Maybe it was because it didn't have the fun factor the other two did. Just me, though, when I think of the '80s action movie tropes.

Yeah, the original sucked, although the idea was fun for a little while.

This one was utterly bereft of character -- not characters like the actors, I mean, as a film it had no character. No style no voice no attitude. There should have been a lot of guilty pleasure in the totally un-ironic tale of a heroic Iraq vet leading a gang of heroic US rebels to fight an occupying force with guerilla tactics while eating Subway and waving the US flag; this was such a corporate product, though, that even that wasn't any fun.

Plus every scene was strangled in editing in an apparent attempt to keep the pace up. Dull stuff.

Quoted from Heretic This one was utterly bereft of character -- not characters like the actors, I mean, as a film it had no character. No style no voice no attitude.

While the original film stunk, it was a cult classic due to having an attitude. I recall Lea Thompson's character in the 84 film- sweet gal turned hardcore. C Thomas Howell became a sociopath. I bought Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen as brothers.

This remake is like piss in the radiator  ;D

To add insult to injury, they have a TON of loose ends. The ending suggests that the Good Fight will continue in unproduced sequels. God how I hate that.
While the original had a hokey saccarine ending, and least it had one.

Most action in the remake was dark, shaky cameras (yes, I hate that too) and editing that it made hard to tell who was shooting who. One memorable plot point from the 84 film carried over at the last minute - the "snitch" angle. Now it's out of nowhere, and it was handled in the 84 film with a surprise killing of that "snitch". In addition, the remake doesn't really pick up until they actually get a plot going which takes place in the third act. The movie is nearly given a hail mary pass on the arrival of Jeffery Dean Morgan in the Powers Boothe role. It comes too late to be effective.

I disagree, however, that the general premise is bad. But instead of the US setting, it should be in another country with any Americans studying abroad. They are then caught in a surprise coup anbd must live off the land while forming a counter-strike.

The original was as dumb as...well, it was dumb. But it had a betrter pace. The remake just made it worse. However, I did find that if you sold out to the North Koreans, you get to walk the streets freely, go in and and out of checkpoints, and if you didn't give aid to The Wolverines, you could eat at Subway.

the original was awesome for what it was. a popcorn 80s action movie. plus its full of young future movie stars.

tell me you didnt smile when Jen Grey and Patrick Swayze got a thing going.
tell me your jaw didnt hit the floor when 'Ponyboy' shotdown 'Randy' in cold blood (best scene of the movie by the way)
tell me you didnt day dream in highschool about you and your buddies doing the exact same thing.




Chris Hemsworth deserves better.

Quoted from Penoyer79 Chris Hemsworth deserves better.

Took the words right out of mouth. He was impressive again. He's got that unique Australian thing going on. Those boys know how to hold a screen - especially Mel Gibson, even if he's technically American.

Took my little brother to see this, and it was more fun at the end when he ripped this film a new arsehole. Boy's got some skills. This film not so much.