Red Dawn (2012) - Written Review

Remakes are nothing new to audiences today.  In fact it's very much expected.  And no other decade has supplied more fodder for remakes than the 80's.  Many people even dislike remakes with a fervor like you only see during a sports championship.  Many people don't see the point of remakes and believe they're a waste of time.  The original in many cases is good enough and considered by many to be a classic in it's own rite.  So what's the point in making another of the same story just with different actors?  An especially since Hollywood is going to change it and make it stupid?  Well, remakes have been getting better.

Sorry.  No Patrick Swayze in this one.

Obviously you can't get away with talking about this remake without talking about the original.  And this prequel was loyal to its source material, paid it homage, and told it's own story while still remaining similar enough to the original that, yes, you can clearly see the source material in this remake.  Bottom line - this movie is not a lie.  It's called Red Dawn, the original was about a group of kids who group together and wage guerrilla warfare against an invading communist government and use the the name of their high school football team, the wolverines as they're group's name.  This movie does that, it does all of that.  But at the same time it tells a new story, it's own story with new characters, new events, new takes on an old story without changing it so drastically that the original is unrecognizable as the source material.

For Asgard!!  I mean,...Wolverines!!

The acting and story are good.  It may just be me, but I found it a little hard to believe that these untrained high school kids were able to absorb and pick-up new skills that made them killing machines against the invading army in a very short time.  However, I rolled with it, because it was a good story and with all the Gears of War and Black Ops that people play today, I can see kids picking up on this stuff.  That really was my only complaint.  Other than that, the movie proceeded at a good pace.  They don't wait too long, maybe 8 mins before the invasion begins.  And the action goes from there.

Now?  Now she's taking off her top and - whoa.

Overall, this was a good take on an old movie.  This is how remakes should be done.  Take a story, lock in the key elements that made up the original, add a few new things along the same lines as the original, and update it.  Was this movie necessary?  I will honestly say, not really.  The first one was good for what it was and as it was and didn't really need to be remade.  This, however, was a good movie and well done job in remaking none the less.

Film Crazy Adam approves and recommends this movie.