Movies with as many explosions as Red Dawn are not supposed to make me want to cry. Yet that’s what happened with this movie. This is an action flick with a lot of heart and it exceeded my expectations.
The film depicts a small town in Washington that has just been invaded by North Korea. A group of young adults escape capture and form a retaliation team known as the Wolverines. The Wolverines don’t blow everything up simply for fun (though they have a lot of awesome explosions). These teenagers are fighting for their lives and their country.
They follow Jed Eckert (Chris Hemsworth), a marine on leave from Iraq. Jed teaches his brother Matt (Josh Peck) and his friends how to be soldiers. Hemsworth is fantastic as a jaded marine. He immediately goes into soldier mode when their town is attacked, and he keeps his emotional brother Matt in check. Matt thinks more with his heart than his head, and, as high school quarterback, he isn’t used to having someone else call the shots.
As Matt, Peck has a lot of dramatic material to work with. It’s easy to have doubts about casting him in a dramatic role, since he’s most known for his roles in Nickelodeon comedies such as “Drake and Josh”. As it turns out, Peck can bring on the tears just as well as the laughter. He is really the character that has the more emotional role in this film. While Jed puts up a cold, stoic front due to his training, Matt reacts with sorrow and anger to the ones he loves being killed or captured, much like anyone would.
However, Peck is kind of shoved in the corner of the movie poster. He really carries the movie just as much as Hemsworth, but it seems like advertisers thought that the newfound fame and success of Thor’s Chris Hemsworth and The Hunger Games’ Josh Hutcherson would bring in more viewers. It’ll be very disappointing for any teenage girls on Team Peeta who discover that Hutcherson’s part as Robert is rather minor.
Robert supplies comedic relief when he can. When fellow Wolverine Daryl (Connor Cruise) mentions that he misses Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Robert supplies “Dude, we’re living Call of Duty, and it sucks.” The writers really try for comedic relief in some parts, but many jokes fall flat.
For the most part, though, the dialogue is believable and well written. The overarching plotline is where they hit a bit of a snag. We have North Korea invading.
While plenty of viewers who have seen the original 1984 Patrick Swayze film think the reboot is unnecessary, but to someone who hasn’t seen the original, it’s an entertaining movie. The only major qualm is that North Korea invading and taking over our country isn’t as scary as the Soviet Union taking over at the height of the Cold War. It removes the viewer from the film a bit because this isn’t something we fear actually happening.
It looks very real though, and this is due in part to first time director Dan Bradley’s history as a stunt coordinator. He has worked on stunts for The Bourne Supremacy, Quantum of Solace and Superman Returns, just to name a few. All of the combat scenes are very well done. Even the explosions look fantastic, which is always an accomplishment for a small budget movie.
This movie does very well as an action movie, but its romantic subplots are seriously not up to par. Jed has a flirtation with Toni (Adrianne Palicki), and the actors have plenty of chemistry. Palicki does really well as Jed’s female counterpart. She is tough and won’t take crap from anyone, even Jed. However, the scenes with their interactions are spaced so far apart in the movie that it was easy to forget that they have a romance. It feels almost as if the romantic scenes were only there because the writers felt a romance for each lead was necessary.
Matt’s romance is more natural, but unfortunately, his captive girlfriend Erica (Isabel Lucas) suffers from damsel in distress syndrome. She has to stand there, look pretty and not question anything her boyfriend does because he is the hero. Her screen time is rather minor, but the writers could’ve given her a little bit of depth or personality.
This movie isn’t really about romance, though. It’s a movie about family and fighting for your loved ones. While the theme is on the charming side, keep in mind that this is a dark film. There is a lot of bloodshed, and they don’t just kill the nameless extras. It’s PG-13 for good reason.
At roughly 90 minutes, the movie never drags. It’s a lot of fun explosions and heartfelt speeches and patriotism. It makes for a great Thanksgiving weekend movie. Red Dawn will be released nationwide on November 21, 2012.
