My Review of "Red Dawn (2012)"

Red Dawn (2012) is a remake of the old 1984 classic of the same name. I haven't seen the original movie but I am enticed to see the original after watching this. Let's get it out of the way that this is a popcorn action flick that you shouldn't take too seriously. The whole story is a little absurd but there is some fun to be had with it.

The movie starts off with a montage of news videos that sort of explain how North Korea is now a threat to the USA. Don't worry about the preposterousness of this concept because it could have very well have been aliens from outer space and it would have been the same. They make it sound like North Korea is gunning to rule the nation. We're all obviously blind to this and so everyone is living their regular lives as normal.

We get introduced to our main heroes of the movie. Jed is this military veteran that happens to be in town. His younger brother Matt is supposed to be the real hero of this story. He's a high school football quarterback that lives by his own rules. Of course Matt has a loving girlfriend Erica. Erica has a best friend Toni who is infatuated with Jed. So the whole thing goes around in a big circle.

Everything is all normal until one morning they get invaded by the North Koreans. It's almost comical how they fly into their small town. Why on Earth would you put so many forces and resources in taking down a small little town? It's a popcorn action movie so they have to go over the top so yeah I get it.

Soon as you know it Erica is taken prisoner by the North Koreans and the rest of the gang team up with some extra supporting characters. They end up calling their resistance the Wolverines, based on Matt's high school football team.

Through a series of montages we see the gang bond with one another while learning techniques and tricks from Jeb. They soon become a force to be reckon with. With this new tactical team they make several strategic attacks on the North Koreans to gain the upper hand and raise the morale of their fellow Americans.

I like the fact that they mentioned that some of their town folk have joined forces with the North Koreans but they didn't use this to the full effect that they could have. This could have been much more intense if they didn't know who they could trust in their little town. Instead it just ended up as a sidenote like some sort of political statement the movie was trying to make.

They had elements to make the viewers think that this was likely as they were spewing propaganda through the media and over the air through speakers. This movie could have been way more complicated if that was made a bigger issue though.

Another thing that they didn't really dive into was the timeline of the North Korean occupation of their small town. I think it would have been better if they made it seem like their town had been taken hostage for a matter of years. It would make more sense with the training of the Wolverines as well as their tactical planning. Then again this movie would have been much longer as well. Technically this would have been an interesting TV series if they ever made one. There are enough elements to make it into a fun one.

Acting in this movie was kind of a mixed bag. There are several characters that were quite wooden. A lot of their scenes consist of staring at each other in intensity but even that was done in an awkward way at points. Still they didn't really need a very good cast for this movie. I have a feeling that the target audience was young adults and they don't really care about that sort of thing.

Overall, there is some fun to be had with this movie. Some of the relationships and sub storylines kind of work. Again it's a mindless popcorn film so it shouldn't be taken incredibly seriously. I do want to watch the original because there must have been a reason for them to want to remake this movie. As for this movie I would have to give this a 5 out of 10. It is watchable but I wouldn't go and rewatch this movie again.