Red-blooded America runs deep in 'Red Dawn' - film liberal critics love to hate (WOLVERINES!!)

WND ^ | November 25, 2012 | Drew Zahn

[Perseverando]

Out of curiosity, I took a look at how film critics from other newspapers and publications reviewed the new “Red Dawn,” a remake of the 1984 cult classic about teenagers taking up guns and defending America from communist invaders.

You’d think from the critics’ condescending sneers that the remake is utter garbage.

“Preposterous,” said one critic of the remake’s premise that North Korea could invade the U.S. today. “Outdated,” said another, suggesting the plot line be relegated to the ancient Cold War and the once-upon-a-time Red Scare.

The only thing that’s “preposterous,” however, is the speed at which these obviously liberal critics leaped to dismiss the movie. I honestly, without hyperbole, wonder if some of them even watched it.

For starters, the movie explains that North Korea doesn’t invade without “help,” and that they used a cyber attack on the American financial system and an electromagnetic pulse weapon, or EMP, against the U.S. infrastructure. Furthermore, North Korea only invades the Pacific Northwest, while other enemies attack elsewhere. It’s not really that implausible.

Besides, the original film cast Cuba as the invading force – not the Soviet Union, as is commonly reported – so don’t talk to me about “preposterous.”

And as for “outdated,” the Red Scare is far from over, as many Americans outside the leftist worldview recognize. It’s just that the threat of communism in the U.S. now comes from our own public universities, instead of Moscow.

So politically biased bashing aside, let’s look at the film a little more honestly, shall we?

“Red Dawn” is indeed a remake, provoking many of the same themes and even revisiting some of the same scenes as the original (“The chair is against the wall; the chair is against the wall,” drinking deer blood, “Wolverines!” and so on). It tells the story

[bubbacluck]

Amazon.com Prime has it.

[Longbow1969]

North Korea can barely feed its army, they certainly don’t have the means to project force halfway around the world - even with “help” they would be entirely ineffective.

[LadyBuck]

The original has been shown on cable quite a bit recently.

The kiddies watched it a couple of times (still hard to believe it came out when I was a high school lass).

[eastforker]

Watched it on netflix about two weeks ago.

[Tenacious 1]

This has got to be one of the dumbest movies ever. At least in Red Dawn 1 we were overrun by a powerful country,,,the USSR. But North Korea? Sheesh.

I'll withold my theatrical opinion until I see it for free when it is shown on regular TV. (I boycott all Hollywood unless it is a conservative film).

I agree with you on the premise, however. It seems to me someone in Hollywood decided to remake Red Dawn (title and all). Then they had to come up with a scenario that would fit the plot. No conceivable scenario fits any realistic situation that would have America being invaded. That said, we may not have to suspend belief for long. The scenario may become more believable in a few short years.

Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged seemed like far fetched fantasy in the 1950s. Look at us now. It's not so far fetched today. Norms and paradigms are shifting faster than the polar ice caps are melting. America's exceptionalism, influence and might may be just in our sunset.

[chris37]

[Oztrich Boy]

The invaders were originally supposed to be Chinese, before China bought the US instead of invading.

Also one of the Wolverines was suppose to be Asian-American "Erica Wu", changed to "Erica Martin" after Tasha From Home & Away was cast ("Asian: Australian, what's the difference? Obama doesn't know the difference, so why should we")*

"Damn you, Unidentified Asians Who Are Probably North Koreans. Damn you to hell."

Alternative theory; they thought they were getting Katya From Neighbours when they said "Get that Oz soap actress"

[thackney]

http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Red_Dawn/896678?locale=en-US

http://www.amazon.com/Red-Dawn-Patrick-Swayze/dp/0792838041

[Drawsing]

Did not care for all the profanity...otherwise pretty good action...pretty much the same plot as the previous one.

[TexasRepublic]

The film is a silly idea. The communists have already taken over, without firing a shot.

[goodnesswins]

So....if I have an ITunes account I can download to my HDTV??? (Sorry, not the most tech savvy here)

[Charles Martel]

This has got to be one of the dumbest movies ever. At least in Red Dawn 1 we were overrun by a powerful country,,,the USSR. But North Korea? Sheesh.

This film casts the North Koreans as the enemy, but with a wink and a nudge. Everyone knows who the actual enemy nation is supposed to be and that the NKs are only there by proxy.

Ever see the HBO re-make of "On The Beach"? At least in that one, the Soviet role was credibly taken over by the Chinese.

[Perseverando]

I would have made the movie like this: Communists overtake the Democrat party and slowly change the demographics of the country, then they overtake the Republican party which allows a foreign born Islamic communist to be unconstitutionally elected as POTUS and then elected again to a 2nd term in which he further erodes the constitution and before you know it Sharia law is instituted and this is where the Wolverines fight back. But who would ever believe it? Ridiculous plot!

I believe your post borders on the minimum requirements for a "cwiiping."

[dmz]

Better than the original

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Talk about damning with faint praise.

I’ll wait til they show it on AMC in between episodes of the Walking Dead (a slightly more plausible storyline).

[PapaBear3625]

North Korea can barely feed its army, they certainly don’t have the means to project force halfway around the world - even with “help” they would be entirely ineffective.

In the original "Red Dawn", it was explained that Mexico had fallen to a communist coup.

From the Article: "For starters, the movie explains that North Korea doesn’t invade without “help,” and that they used a cyber attack on the American financial system and an electromagnetic pulse weapon, or EMP, against the U.S. infrastructure. Furthermore, North Korea only invades the Pacific Northwest, while other enemies attack elsewhere. It’s not really that implausible."

Consider this scenario: Mexico goes communist. China and the Mexican communists seeks to help consolidate the revolution in Mexico, and import a whole bunch of North Koreans as mercenaries, as well as communist troops from around the world.

Given Mexico as a staging area, and time to transport troops and equipment using China's shipping fleet, an invasion of the US could plausibly be performed, which was one of the major points of the Monroe Doctrine -- to deny European powers a foothold in the Americans that could be used as an invasion staging area.

[Iron Munro]

Too bad they didn’t have the guts to go with a realistic opposing force - like foaming-at-the-mouth muslims.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

Then there is this from 1952.

[discostu]

It just came out on BluRay last month, Amazon guarantees delivery tomorrow. They also have it in their instant video stream. DVD is a little tougher, that’s been out of print a while.

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

*** The communists have already taken over, without firing a shot.***

Kind of like this old made for Tv movie. National Socialists are the villains. Still Socialists.

SHADOW ON THE LAND. (1968)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063589/

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***it was explained that Mexico had fallen to a communist coup.***

There was an attempt back in 1968 or 1969. The Soviets were making plans for this when Mexico got wind of it. They quietly withdrew their diplomats from Moscow, then publicly expelled the USSR diplomats. Russia had no Mexican diplomats to expel as a result and had to lump it.