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Red Dawn [2012]

Mal12345

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In the year 2012 and the 11th month, Hollywood's darlingest cocaine snorters decided in their vast wisdom to release a digitalized remake of the 1984 masterpiece motion picture Red Dawn to the American public.

My first impression of Red Dawn [2012] was - as you can probably guess - that it was not nearly as good as the original. This latest effort begins with a glimpse of normal American high school life, as in the first movie. But when the digitalized paratroopers were landing, this time in heavily-treed suburbia, I envisioned dozens of parachutes stuck in our ubiquitous elm, honey locust, and maple trees. However, all of the foreign military paratroopers somehow managed to land clear of such obstacles which were all around. Or at least, the audience was spared the hilarious consequences of trying to land with a parachute in a heavily treed area of a town. Foreign military vehicles also drove into town, although the method of their arrival on American soil was not mentioned in the movie, which takes place in and around land-locked Spokane, Washington.

Gone is the eeriness of the original movie, the distinct feeling that, yes, this could happen here, given the right political conditions. One day, you could be sitting normally and innocently in your classroom when, from out of nowhere, you see through your window foreign military paratroopers landing in the field next to you. And then, you are privileged to witness your school teacher shot down in cold blood.

Throughout the rest of the original Red Dawn, the audience is emotionally drawn into the struggle for freedom against foreign invaders. The freedom-fighters watch as their parents are murdered. Certain necessary sacrifices are made, and the audience is spared nothing. The actors and actresses could be our sons and daughters. Probably the eeriest scene in the original movie is the tank battle scene, which occurs toward the end, in which there is nothing but empty wilderness and tanks presumably containing soldiers who are never seen. No great speeches are necessary, it is a simple matter of kill or be killed.

The original Red Dawn was filmed in the 1980s, an era when movie-makers allowed tension to quietly build up. By contrast, in the 2000s we have an era of noisy blockbusters and great speeches. But Red Dawn [2012] was no blockbuster. It was an average remake made by an average (if not below average) movie studio, by average cocaine-snorting movie producers who are out simply to make a profit off of the successes of Hollywood's past.
 

Totenkindly

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Yeah, basically the sets and imprint quality might have been better, but it was rather forgettable and unevocative. And unbelievable in today's world. Korea, trying to take over the US? Originally it was supposed to be China, but China was one of the main markets for the film, so they changed it in order to avoid cutting themselves off at the knees financially.

Yes, the original was kind of roughly hewn and absurd (some high-school kids, fighting off trained soldiers on the fly?), but at the same time the location made sense for those kids to be able to live off the land and have that kind of backwoods patriotic spirit leading to such a choice... and at the time the Cold War with the Russians was still ongoing. There was also a kind of kitschy nostalgia in terms of the cast, many of whom ended up being well known from the Brat Pack crowd (Jennifer Grey, Lea Thompson, Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Charlie Sheen) -- it even had Harry Dean Stanton as the dad.

The biggest claim to fame this movie had seemed to be its inclusion of Josh Peck (from Josh and Drake) in one of his first major appearances after having lost so much weight and thus the appearance/persona everyone knew him by.

There was also just something really sweet there in the original, at the end, with the guerilla leader catching one of the two characters cradling the other one who was dead/dying, that was lacking in the new version. IOW, the original wasn't a dramatic success but still had some kind of raw evocative power that lingers after it ends.

The remake was technically more proficient but had no real heart.
 

Mal12345

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Yeah, basically the sets and imprint quality might have been better, but it was rather forgettable and unevocative. And unbelievable in today's world. Korea, trying to take over the US? Originally it was supposed to be China, but China was one of the main markets for the film, so they changed it in order to avoid cutting themselves off at the knees financially.

Yes, the original was kind of roughly hewn and absurd (some high-school kids, fighting off trained soldiers on the fly?), but at the same time the location made sense for those kids to be able to live off the land and have that kind of backwoods patriotic spirit leading to such a choice... and at the time the Cold War with the Russians was still ongoing. There was also a kind of kitschy nostalgia in terms of the cast, many of whom ended up being well known from the Brat Pack crowd (Jennifer Grey, Lea Thompson, Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Charlie Sheen) -- it even had Harry Dean Stanton as the dad.

The biggest claim to fame this movie had seemed to be its inclusion of Josh Peck (from Josh and Drake) in one of his first major appearances after having lost so much weight and thus the appearance/persona everyone knew him by.

There was also just something really sweet there in the original, at the end, with the guerilla leader catching one of the two characters cradling the other one who was dead/dying, that was lacking in the new version. IOW, the original wasn't a dramatic success but still had some kind of raw evocative power that lingers after it ends.

The remake was technically more proficient but had no real heart.

I'll take rough-hewn over no-heart any day. The entire movie industry started out rough-hewn, with no sound, no color, and stop-motion animation. Yet they managed to produce some of the greatest movies of all time.

Edit- I'm not disagreeing with you, just making a new point.
 

Totenkindly

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I'll take rough-hewn over no-heart any day. The entire movie industry started out rough-hewn, with no sound, no color, and stop-motion animation. Yet they managed to produce some of the greatest movies of all time.

Edit- I'm not disagreeing with you, just making a new point.

Oh yeah, I know.

And yeah. I've found over time that while a budget can help / provide opportunities, some of the most amazing stuff can transcend the limits of a low budget, and sometimes a high budget can lead to sloppy film making. Heart and soul is powerful, and we watch movies looking for some kind of emotional connect (which can even just be as basic as fun or fear).

I can't imagine anything worse in this kind of endeavor than a piece of art that is inert.
 

Mal12345

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Oh yeah, I know.

And yeah. I've found over time that while a budget can help / provide opportunities, some of the most amazing stuff can transcend the limits of a low budget, and sometimes a high budget can lead to sloppy film making. Heart and soul is powerful, and we watch movies looking for some kind of emotional connect (which can even just be as basic as fun or fear).

I can't imagine anything worse in this kind of endeavor than a piece of art that is inert.

Oh yeah, I forgot to ask someone, anyone: WTH is a "tactical non-nuclear weapon"?
 

Mal12345

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By an interesting coincidence, Red Dawn [1984] is playing right now on ION.
 

Mal12345

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Cocaine-snorting appears to be on your mind more than the film.

Imagine if her name is Dawn and she's on the rag, they could make a porn movie with her called Red Dawn.

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