Well, we have another remake to talk
about. This one in question is 'Red Dawn', a remake of the 1984 war
movie of the same name starring Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen. It
was also notably the first film to ever be released in theaters with
the PG-13 rating, though it wasn't actually the first to receive the
new rating. This new version was originally supposed to be released
in 2010, before stars Chris Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson made it big
with 'Thor' and 'The Hunger Games', respectively. However, it was
pushed back two years and the main villains, who were originally the
Chinese, were changed to North Koreans in order to maintain access to
China's box office. However, even that doesn't do much to save this
pretty weak remake of a film that may not have been a huge critical
hit, but has become a cult hit. This film on the other hand...
The film opens up as U.S. Marine Jed
Eckert (Hemsworth) returns home to Spokane, Washington after serving
in Iraq, reuniting with his father Tom (Brett Cullen) and his brother
Matt (Josh Peck). However, the town is soon hit with a surprise
invasion by North Korea, and Jed and Matt flee into the woods with
some other teens as their dad stays behind. After the town is overrun
and Jed and Matt witness their father being executed by the Koreans,
Jed announces his intention to fight back and is joined by the other
teenagers, including Matt, their friend Robert (Josh Hutcherson),
Matt's girlfriend Erica (Isabel Lucas), her friend Toni (Adrianne
Palicki), and the mayor's son Daryl (Connor Cruise) to fight the
Koreans as 'the Wolverines'.
When
this film was in pre-production, MGM (the original distributors of
this film) said that this remake would be done "keeping
in mind the post-9/11 world that we're in". Well, if that was
the plan, than this remake is very much dated because I did not see
how this was supposed to feel like a modern-day take on the original
story. I may not know much about politics or warfare, but I seriously
doubt that a invading country can just simply fly into America and
expect to take over anything. Also, there's not even much of an
attempt to make it feel like the country is really at war, something
the original did. Instead, it only seems like the Koreans are just
invading the town of Spokane and really no other part of the country.
If they really wanted to do a 'post-9/11' remake of Red Dawn, they
should have done something along the line of 'cyber-terrorists'.
Also, it doesn't help
when you don't care about any of the characters, especially when some
of them make really stupid decisions, primarily the character of
Matt. When the Koreans first invade, his girlfriend Erica is captured
and that compels him to try and rescue her. But by doing so, he gets
one of his friends killed in the process, and by the end the film
tries to establish him as the one who becomes the leader of the
Wolverines. I don't know about you, but I would not want to serve
under this guy. His brother Jed is the more suitable leader and
speaking of Jed, that brings me to the only good thing in this movie;
Chris Hemsworth. Even though this was made before he wielded the
mighty Mjolnir as the Asgardian God of Thunder, Hemsworth still gives
a rock-solid performance here with what he's given, and he truly does
get into a role once occupied by Patrick Swayze. The rest of the cast
is rather forgettable at best.
When looking at this
remake, I'm reminded of the other major remake of the year, Total
Recall, which also got a rather mixed reception. But if there's one
thing that I give that film credit for, it is that at least director
Len Wiseman did do something different with his version of Total
Recall. The remake of Red Dawn, on the other hand, feels like the
1984 version all over again except this time the Koreans are the bad
guys. Aside from Chris Hemsworth in the leading role, there is
nothing memorable at all about this remake. It is just a unnecessary
remake that didn't need to be made in the first place but still, I
believe that it could have been done if just a little bit more effort
was made but obviously, that is not the case with this film.
Rating: 1/5
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