Red Dawn in 1984 was relevant and at times chilling. The threat of Russia invading the US at the time was real and terrifying. Now, that threat is more infeasible and the choice of North Korea as the main villain makes the premise in 2012’s Red Dawn illogical. On top of that, character development is ignored in favor of explosions, never a good sign to draw someone in.
Unfolding similarly to the early film, Jed Eckert (Chris Hemsworth) is back from active duty watching his younger brother Matt (Josh Peck) quarterback his high school football team the Wolverines. Cut to next morning: the kids wake up to planes, paratroopers, and guns from the North Korean Army. They grab their car and take off to the family cabin with other kids Toni (Adrianne Palicki), Robert (Josh Hutcherson), Daryl (Connor Cruise), Julie (Alyssa Diaz), and Danny (Edwin Hodge). While away from the town, the teens evolve into a resistance force called the Wolverines, drawing the ire and attention of the North Korean Forces.
Red Dawn is not all bad. The beginning, like the original, is very chilling. Watching Anytown USA (Spokane in this case) be attacked by armed forces is jarring and forcing kids to watch their parents in such helpless state is never easy to behold. In addition, the changes to the fate of the characters are surprising and unexpected.
Unfortunately the hour or so of filler is poorly developed. Cramming a large story like this into an hour and a half film requires Red Dawn to half-ass the character development. Most of the Wolverines are given one note to repeatedly hit; the first film at least gave them some complexity. As a result, the payoffs lead to no catharsis and just raise logic questions. The ending feels like the end of an episode of TV instead of a film ending. The action should be better, however the camera holder must have some version of palsy, since the shaking is ratcheted up to very high levels.
Acting in Red Dawn is on the whole bad, mostly due to the script. Chris Hemsworth is the best of the bunch, playing stoicism very well. Josh Peck is too whiny and self-indulgent for us to buy his transformation. Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s marine is criminally underutilized and could have been excited from the script. Other characters are so poorly developed that it becomes clear that they will not be in the movie very long.
Red Dawn lacks relevancy to be taken seriously. Already starting off near forgettable, it really drifts into indifference with the mediocre script and boring action sequences. Chris Hemsworth and Josh Peck are no Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen.