Back from doing a stint in Iraq, Jed (Chris Hemsworth) is a solider who finds himself up against an entirely new army when North Korean soldiers parachute into his own back yard. As the majority of his small Washington hometown are rounded up and enslaved in concentration camps, Jed manages to escape with a group of high school kids, including Jed’s younger brother, Matt (Peck).
On the outskirts of the town, deep in the forest, the group of escapees form a small rebel army known as the Wolverines, and band together to take down the North Korean army and take back their freedom.
Put on hold during MGM’s financial woes while the studio also wavered over whether their Red Dawn bad guys should be Chinese or North Korean (going for North Korea in the end, as not to affect the Chinese box office draw), this remake of the 80s cult classic of the same name (which featured Patrick Swayze kicking Soviet Union butt with a ragtag bunch of freedom fighters) finally gets a release nearly four years after production began.
With the potential to jump on the youth-in-revolt bandwagon and tap into that lucrative Hunger Games demographic, as well as taking advantage of the burgeoning superstardom of Chris Hemsworth (he accepted this before Thor) in the process, Red Dawn could have easily been a nice little earner for the studio and, as the film hints at during its final act, a potential franchise. Sadly, a wooden and uninterested Hemsworth (this was actually shot before Thor), a shaky supporting cast and a flimsy script ensure Red Dawn’s fate as a forgettable flop.
The gung-ho spirit of the 80s action flick is well and truly dead here and the brains behind John Milius’s original have been replaced with an absurdly swift plot that can’t wait to put machine guns into the hands of its young and ridiculous cast (Josh Peck is especially dreadful).
It’s silly, absurd and dull up until the final furlong, where a fairly neat twist breathes life into the proceedings (albeit an hour and half too late) and sets up what could have potentially been a much better sequel. But with Red Dawn failing miserably at US theatres, there’s not much chance of that happening now.
Overall Verdict: It could have been a contender, but Dan Bradley’s dull and tedious remake of a cult classic makes for a forgettable experience.
Reviewer: Lee Griffiths