Red Dawn Remake!

[Frank Frey]

Greetings,

On November 24th, 2010, the remake of the Reagan Era/Cold War classic "Red Dawn" will hit the theatres in time for the holiday season. I gotta tell you troopers, while I reallyl liked the original, I'm not holding out much hope for the remake.
According to what I've been able to dig up, the Chinese launch an airborne assault on Spokane, Washington. The plot synopsis makes it sound a bit more Twilight than Twilight 2000. I dunno. What do the rest of you think

Out Here,
Frank Frey

[pmulcahy11b]

We had a discussion on this a few months back; the general consensus was No, No, NO! The horror...

[kato13]

Yeah in general it has not gotten much support here. The Chinese are not the Red Bear of my youth so most likely I will catch it on video at some point.

Previous threads.

Red Dawn 2010 rant!
OT: "Red Dawn" To Be Remade

[Legbreaker]

Chances are (as usual) the trailer will include all the good bits and the rest of the movie (especially the plot) will be one great big steaming pile of bison crap.

Still, it's always possible we'll be surprised and it turns out to be not half bad...

[Webstral]

The idea of the Chinese invading is beyond silly, although I still love Fortress America. By the way, is there anyone in Northern California who'd be interested in a game I have a copy with only one or two missing/broken pieces.

Webstral

[headquarters]

suspension of disbelief

I hope that people here arnt provoked when I say that the premiss for the original Red Dawn wasnt exactly credible either - the USSR wouldnt have a prayer if they tried to invade CONUS.Cuban auxilliaries or not .

As for teh artistic merit of the film itself -well lay just say that opinions vary on the subject.


But I did love the movie when it came out in Norway .And it did color my views for the next decade or so. I still love it - but now for all "the wrong reasons".

As for the Chinese invading the US .

LOL.

But con grano sal and a hefty dose of suspension of disbelief it could be an enjoyable b-movie .A sci fi film or action movie that can claim no reality strings attached.

Definently going to see it at some point .

[kato13]

Was just reading the IMDB page. The director has 24 years as both a second unit director and stunt coordinator, but this is his first project as lead director. Not quite sure how to read that beyond the fact that action will probably take precedence over plot.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0103187/

[Cdnwolf]

Now vampire or zombie chinese soldiers invading the USA might make it worth watching!!

[Marc]

But con grano sal and a hefty dose of suspension of disbelief it could be an enjoyable b-movie .A sci fi film or action movie that can claim no reality strings attached.

Definently going to see it at some point .

Probably this will be the right predisposition required to enjoy the film. I hope the first minutes of the movie won"t destroy it.

An added factor is, of course, our current age. I was a teenager when I saw Red Dawn and my suspension of disbelief was in automatic mode. The little cinema of my town, now closed, showed two consecutive movies each Saturday and Sunday. You paid only for one movie and watched both, spending all the afternoon in the theater. They were movies shown with years of delay if compared with the theaters in Barcelona. So I went with my sister to watch ET, while Red Dawn, the second movie was totally unknown to me (Red Dawn went nearly unnoticed in Spain). My sister left the theater crying with ET in mind while I was jubilant with the heroic deeds of the Wolverines.

[Legbreaker]

I hope that people here arnt provoked when I say that the premiss for the original Red Dawn wasnt exactly credible either - the USSR wouldnt have a prayer if they tried to invade CONUS.Cuban auxilliaries or not.

Don't forget that in the opening moments of the original we're informed the US has somehow managed to alienate all of it's potential allies and basically the entire world is against it.
The invasion is not just by Soviets and Cubans - they're just the only nationalities involved in the AO of the characters.

[headquarters]

hmmm

Don't forget that in the opening moments of the original we're informed the US has somehow managed to alienate all of it's potential allies and basically the entire world is against it.
The invasion is not just by Soviets and Cubans - they're just the only nationalities involved in the AO of the characters.

right .

well as I said - not exactly the most credible backstory/plot for the original then.

Not to mention the red scare factor and all .

but as a heroic story of combatting oppression -go wolverines by all means.
A small band of civillians get together and fight back using irregular tactics against a highly organized and well equipped occupation force.

I think I am going to see it again one of these days .As far as cold war mementoes goes, this one is a landmark.

[Targan]

well as I said - not exactly the most credible backstory/plot for the original then.

The US alienate its allies Never happen... right

[kato13]

Soviet Union suffers worst wheat harvest in 55 years...

Labor and food riots in Poland. Soviet troops invade...

Cuba and Nicaragua reach troop strength goals of 500,000. El Salvador and Honduras fall...

Greens Party gains control of West German Parliament. Demands withdrawal of nuclear weapons from European soil...

Mexico plunged into revolution...

NATO dissolves. United States stands alone.

To refresh our memories.

[JimmyRay73]

"Who IS on our side"

"600 million screamin' Chinamen."

"I thought it was a billion"

"It was." FOOM!

[sglancy12]

I think we all agree that the invasion scenario for Red Dawn was like something out of the 1950s. 5 Soviet army groups come across the Bering Strait From where to where Until you get to Anchorage there's no logistical transport net to move materials south and east. We've had this discussion on this site many times before concerning TW2K's Aleutian Front invasion of Alaska. But let's put all the logistical suspension of disbelief aside for a moment.

What I remember about Red Dawn when it first came out was all the political hubbub about it. This was the same era that produced The Day After and Amerika as television events. People were ranting about how Red Dawn was some sick Reaganite fantasy being used to justify the massive military build up at the time. Such reactions were often coupled with people's fears that "The Gipper" was so addle-minded that he wasn't really running the country and that somewhere there was a cabal of advisers who were planning to comfortably sit out WWIII in bunkers filled with hookers and blow while the rest of us died while vomiting out our teeth.

Turns out we didn't blow up the world because the senile President thought he was in a movie. Turns out the Soviets went bankrupt trying to keep up with us. And it turns out that Red Dawn has more going on in it than just being an advertisement for the NRA.

At the time, I didn't think much of the film. The idea that the Soviet Army could kick the shit out the US Army on our home soil but couldn't get a grip on less than a dozen untrained kids was just downright stupid. But over the years I started to gain an appreciation for the incredible work that was done creating props for the film. The Soviet vehicles created were all top flight, especially the Hind-A helicopters. I also had to appreciate the director's attention to detail concerning all the firearms props. The films looks extremely good, especially considering the modest budget.

Ultimately though, I learned to love Red Dawn because of an interview with John Milius, the writer/director. Milius was always one of my favorite directors. He gave us the only good sword & sorcery film of that era (Conan the Barbarian), and really good period piece action films (like Dillinger, The Wind and the Lion and Jerimiah Johnson).

Anyways, Milius said in the interview that when he was a kid growing up in Colorado in the 1950s that he was subjected to equally heavy doses of Cold War Red Scare and frontier history. He and his friends spent a lot of time reading about frontiersman like Jim Bridger and the like. So when they went out to play, they would pretend that the Russians had invaded and that he and his fellow grade school commandos would have to defeat the Red Army using all that back-woods Indian lore they'd learned. Well, fast forward 30 years and somehow John Milius found money out in Hollywood to finance putting his childhood fantasy game on the big screen. That would be the same thing as any of us getting to make a movie out of our favorite Role-playing game.

On that level, I gained a new appreciation for Red Dawn.

A. Scott Glancy, President TCCorp, dba Pagan Publishing