Red Dawn

Starring: Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson, Charlie Sheen, Jennifer Grey, Darren Darlton, Ben Johnson, Harry Dean Stanton, Powers Boothe, Lane Smith
Directed by: John Milius
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
1984

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: After the Russians and Cubans invade the United States, a small band of high school students led by two brothers (Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen) wage a guerrilla war against the invaders from the mountains of Colorado.

Review:

Tim: I would probably say that Red Dawn is a more notable movie than an actual good one. This was the first film ever released with a PG-13 rating. That is pretty interesting and noteworthy, if not completely important. Still, it's an interesting fact. This movie also had the most violent acts of any film ever created, at the time. That's impressive, as not many movies can claim to be the most violent ever. Unfortunately, the movie hasn't held up as well as it would have liked. This is a decent movie, but not a great one.

The film is a pretty good action adventure story that comes from a fantastic premise- what if the United States were invaded? That's a pretty scary thought, and I loved how this film explored that possibility. There's something in many people that causes them to wonder how they would react in the face of an invading army. That's probably because we feel so isolated and safe in America. It seems like such a far-fetched idea. Would we react like rebels and heroes? Or, would be cower and relent? It's interesting to think about here.

What I didn't like was the portrayal of how that invasion happens. I know the film did quite a bit of research into how experts thought the country could be invaded, but this never really translates on screen. The whole idea seems pretty silly. The writers never convinced me that this was a plausible scenario or something that I should be nervous about. This made the whole movie hard to believe, because it's basic premise- though interesting- seemed a bit silly. I'm sure the possibility exists, but the movie didn't convince me.

The cast is impressive, even if they all don't give great performances. One of the biggest flaws of this film is that there isn't enough great character development. I occasionally got confused about who was who, and why I should care. The movie didn't do enough to differentiate each individual and provide a compelling back story for them. I couldn't care about anyone because the characters weren't very memorable.

The one exception is the brothers, played by Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen. While I never believed they were actually related, their story was pretty interesting. I liked when the film explored their relationship, even though it didn't go far enough. I wanted to know what made these teens tick- what allowed them to become the leaders of the rebellion. Unfortunately, we didn't get that. Lea Thompson and Jennifer Grey were good additions, although their characters were too underdeveloped to make much of an impact on the film. I liked seeing Ben Johnson, Harry Dean Stanton, and Lane Smith, but they had too small of roles to make any difference.

There were some very good action scenes. I loved the helicopter battle, and watching guerillas at work against the "bad" guys is always fun. The movie did a good job with the action side- it was the dramatic elements that disappoints.

I thought Red Dawn was an interesting, thought-provoking, mostly entertaining film. It didn't wow me and it didn't win me over, but I didn't dislike it, either. I think it is a film that had a good idea, but failed somewhat on the execution side. This movie could have been amazing, but instead, it's only decent. It's a noteworthy film, but I wish it had been better.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



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