Red Dawn 2012

Red Dawn 2012

93 Min. | Action – Thriller – War | December 2012

IMDB Rating: 5.4

Director: Dan Bradley

Staring: Richard Dreyfuss, Kurt Russell, Emmy Rossum

Red Dawn Review: Ending on a far more positive note that the first Red Dawn, this updated 21st century adaption of that Cold War classic has the USA invaded by North Korea and of course with help from Russia. Interesting how the film was made in 2009 and shelved for two years while we changed the villains from Chinese to North Korean because we have to think of that big Chinese market. That’s capitalism at its finest. Geopolitically it doesn’t make much sense either. The Russians if anything have become super nationalist with the Russian Orthodox Church having more power than they did with the Czars. But about 30 seconds after Mao Tse-tung could not fog a mirror the revolution was over in China and not a moment too soon. Those who survived Mao’s Red Guards could testify to that. Now they’re as capitalist as we are with certain lip service paid to Mao just like in Russia lip service to the ideals of Lenin.

What these two did do after the fall of the Soviet Union which kept North Korea alive is say you’re on your own Kim family and the little family enterprise you call a country. Like Prussia, it’s a state that supports an army because if you don’t join the army, you and your family might starve. And now they can’t feed their people, but they can build their own nukes to threaten all around who enjoy prosperity. That’s all of their neighbors. The recent saber rattling of North Korea has given some credence to the popularity of this film as it did in the recent Olympus has fallen. The North Koreans invade, thousands of paratroopers over the Pacific rim and we’re told that Russians are in the East Coast. They declared cyber warfare by screwing up our military defense systems and invaded.

And like the first version some high school kids fight the invaders and they call themselves Wolverines after their football team. The Wolverine which ironically is an endangered species is one fierce animal that never gives up and will take on a bigger foe and win. Unlike the first version the kids are lucky enough to have Chris Hemsworth who was in Iraq to train them. Hemsworth’s brother is Josh Peck and they gather a crew together and reek havoc on the occupiers. The action is also located in the Pacific Northwest and the Wolverines do some urban guerrilla warfare. The original story had the kids living and doing their thing in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and Wyoming. Thomas Howell were killed and the story had an Ishmael like ending with one Wolverine surviving to tell the tale of the kids who fought back while America regrouped to reclaim itself. This one ended on a more upbeat, but false note. Then again it was a far wackier premise with this plot than with the other version.