Red Dawn
Oh man, remember this one? Wow!? Someone had the guts to remake the already flawed but lovable 80’s smash hit Red Dawn. The premise, a communist nation, in this case North Korea, has made the decision to invade the U.S. and take over the nation. This go round we follow a group of high school students in Spokane, WA. Named after their school mascot, the Wolverines, this band of determined rabble rousers led by military trained Jed Eckert (Chris Hemsworth) is set on a mission to steal secret North Korean communication technology. Steal the tech and save the country….oh, and save the girlfriend (Isabel Lucas), and don’t get killed.
Now it’s a tall order to replace the love many felt for the original, so how to measure? Well let’s start with the basics, the story is still hokey, but how’s the acting? Actually, not so bad considering the absurdity of it all. Yes there’s overacting, but hey, BIG EXPLOSIONS! See? So it almost doesn’t matter. While the younger cast is clearly the weaker in chops, we actually can appreciate Hemsworth in another role pre Thor (the film was shot back in 2009). And yeah, BIG EXPLOSIONS. While we don’t develop deep feelings for many of our supporting actors, those who live and those who die, the bottom line is still moderately more entertaining than one might anticipate. Maybe a matinee, probably a rental. Red Dawn is rated PG-13.