Red Dawn Film Review

Initial Thoughts

            When I first looked at the back of the DVD cover, I thought that it looked like a winner, you got Chris Hemsworth from Thor, Josh Hutcherson from The Hunger Games, and Isabel Lucas from immortals. Lots of famous stars, from many different successful film franchises. But unfortunately what we got was a poorly written, plot hole infested, jumble of clichéd dialogue and scenes, as well as mindless violence.

            This is just as bad as any other terrible action film I have reviewed on this show. And all I have to do is say the main premise of the film, and all of you will see why this doesn't work. North Korea invades (and takes over half of) the United States.

Storyline: 5 out of 25

            This films storyline is a classic among action/war films. a foreign country invades the land of the free and its up to one marine and a bunch of un-trained riff raff to stop them. And usually I wouldn't have a problem with that, what I do have a problem with is the fact that the story and plot are both torn apart by non logical situations, and tons of plot holes. Basically every plot device that is introduced either spontaneously appears without any background, or isn't explained nearly enough for it to be used effectively. Without any spoilers, there is a plot device that is brought up in literally the last 10-15 minutes of the film, and it is essential to the plot, we never hear anything about the technology involved prior to that scene, and it is never really explained after wards so it literally pops out of nowhere.

            Many, Many plot holes all throughout the entire film, and the logistics for basic physics and real life reactions to the given circumstances are thrown out the window. the story would have been half decent however there are just way to many plot holes and issues with the very basic concepts of the storyline.

Characters: 5 out of 25

            It most action films, you would have one action scene right out of the gates, and then wait for 30-40 minutes building character, establishing setting, and other essential aspects. In this film, the characters are thrown into the action 10 minutes in and it never stops. sure it will try and add some development here and there, but the characters are in the main action now, they should be well developed before entering the main conflict because if one of them die, we would have an emotional bond to that character, thus getting us more engrossed in the situation. However the characters get barley any worth while development and the development they do get is so clichéd, and so lazy, it doesn't really count for much.

            Most of the characters (Protagonist's and Antagonists alike) are complete idiots, a few characters in particular do exceptionally stupid stuff that make you want to smack them upside the head every time they do something idiotic. The character Matt Eckert (played by Josh Peck) is probably the worst culprit for this, having every word that comes out of his mouth being either a complaint or suggesting something stupid.

RANTING SECTION - logistics

            Okay first off, North Korea could never invade the United States. First off geographically it is impossible to get to the united states without being spotted by the united states, as it is explained that they invaded at Washington first, which is on the other side of the country, if they attempted to fly over, they would be shot out of the sky. And I don't care what kind of electronic bomb they had, they wouldn't have enough to disable the entire country, and why would they anyways? they would most likely only strike at strategically essential positions, so this bull that they disabled all of the USA is totally pointless. 

            But okay, lets assume they were able to get across the entire country without anyone noticing. What about Canada or Mexico? they still have radar and stuff, The film says nothing about them being bombed as well, so why doesn't either Canada or Mexico inform the UN or something? And in fact, why doesn't Britain know without the help of North American countries we have the  technology to know what's going on this exact moment in other countries. So why isn't Britain doing anything?

            And lastly, North Korea doesn't have  the military power to take over the United States, they couldn't even take over South Korea for crying out loud! and the only reason they themselves weren't taken over by south Korea is because china dumped a bunch of troops on North Korea, but there's no evidence on that happening here, the only outside help we here about is literally one guy from Russia, that's it. And even if North Korea could out gun the United States, the speed at which the do it is un-reasonable, they take over half within a month! and taking the size of the United States, that's quite the ways to do within a month, would the troops get tired and need a break?

            Okay, know that that's out of the way, lets continue.

Acting Quality: 3 out of 25

            Many of the actors never break an octave and don't show any emotion and when they do its so over the top and so silly that it can't really be taken seriously. In addition apparently non of the actors can play an emotional scene because every time one shows up it looks like they literally splashed some liquid on their face.

Special Effects: 10 out of 25

            While the special effects are defiantly better then that of Battleship: the movie, the action scenes themselves seem to just a complication of things blowing up. No real order, just explosions, and while that might look cool (and don't get me wrong, I love seeing explosions) but when the deaths of many people seems out of context and kind of random, it sort of turns me off to that fact.

And so the final verdict for the movie Red Dawn is a

23/100

Blood Boiling

When I first saw this movie, I was ranting for almost an hour about it, and by the time I was finished, I could feel my heart rate increasing and my blood pressure rising. But who could blame me? The story is terrible, the plot's even worse, the characters have no development, and the actors who play them do a pretty bad job (which is surprising because some of the major stars like Chris Hemsworth are actually good actors).

Stay away from this film, at all costs, avoid it like the plague.