Now, as far as movies go, I have seen much worse. The overall plot of the movie, while very flawed, had it's points that impressed me. AS a fan of the earlier movie from 1984, I had been hoping that this movie would be the modern telling of a bunch of high school kids defending their home. The movie succeeded in being exactly what I had hoped. That being said.....

This movie completely lacked any fragment of reality, like the earlier 1984 movie had done. In today's day and age it makes absolutely zero sense that high school kids, with very minimal training, are transformed from bumbling kids into full fledged pseudo-Marines capable of killing fully trained North Korean soldiers. Now whatever it's a movie and things in movies don't always make sense but to me it kinda got outta hand.

When I watch a movie, I put a lot of importance in the actors performances and how invested in I am in their character. In my opinion, the worst part of the entire movie was the acting. Not all of the performances were flawed however. Josh Hutcherson (Robert) did a fantastic job of being a scared little boy turned badass and was extremely believable. Chris Hemsworth (Jed) in all of his "Thor" glory, was quite believable as well. He is a Marine and Marines fight in war and are more used to it than others, so naturally the Marine would be the leader. A few other characters were not overly believable, but Josh Peck (Matt) was by far the worst. His character is so 1-dimensional and Josh does not bring anything to the dialogue. He looks completely out of it for half of the movie and the other half he's either screaming, or is way too close in people's personal space at the worst of times. I couldn't believe they actually let that guy on screen. I most likely would have given this movie a 6 had he not been in it. Chris is almost able to cancel him out, but it didn't work. I dreaded every time Matt was on the screen. And to be honest, the rest of the cast's dislike for his performances came out on screen. It looked to me like Chris wanted to get through scenes with him as quickly as humanly possible, Isabel Lucas (Erica) seemed to shy away from him in any kind of intimate moment and everyone else seemed to nearly be scowling at him in disgust when he would deliver his lines.

Overall wasn't the worst movie in the world, but definitely was not the best by any means. I would say it was a definite renter.

In short, Josh Peck. Close. Your. Mouth.

This is a remake of a 1980s film where America gets occupied by the Soviet Union and Cuba . Hardly a credible premise but you have to meet it on its own right wing terms . Originally this remake was going to feature an occupation of America by the Chinese . Hardly a credible premise but the fact American films get shown in China nowadays means there's a massive potential market and being worried about losing money the producers then changed the enemy invasion force to the North Koreans . This is where the whole movie collapses from the outset

Some people have defended this film on the grounds that such an invasion could be possible down to the fact that NK has an army of one million people under arms . Indeed it does but this misses out that it lacks any logistical capacity . While amateurs talk tactics professionals talk logistics . NK lacks any force projection . By this I mean it lacks any capacity to invade neighbouring countries . It has no real serviceable navy and even a possible invasion of South Korea would involve hundreds of thousands of troops being transported in either trucks or on foot so any surprise attack on America by NK is laughable . The screenplay does try to get around this unconvincing premise by stating the Koreans have launched an attack by EMP weapons that have destroyed America's communication systems and are are being helped by the Russians though it's never stated why the Russians would be brothers in arms with North Korea

John Milius wrote the original RED DAWN as a right wing wish fulfillment . The world has changed beyond all recognition since then so what's the political subtext ? Is there one ? I'm not sure . One of the protagonists is a former veteran of the Iraqi conflict and leading the band of guerrilla fighters he makes the point " When I was abroad we were the good guys because we brought order . Now we're the bad guys because we bring chaos " I fail see the thinking behind this . Order=good , chaos = bad ? How is that then ? Surely it should be democracy good , tyranny bad ? If you're expecting any profound discussion about the difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter you're watching the wrong film because the remake of RED DAWN is more concerned about setting up action packed set-pieces where brave Americans kill nasty Asiatic commies

Even then the action scenes collapse when you give them any thought . Don't the North Korean soldiers have things like road blocks where anyone passes through has to be searched for weapons ? There's also a lack of internal continuity . You can guarantee that when the script demands it there's literally thousands of NKs patrolling the streets of the city then when the guerrillas launch an attack there's only a handful of North Koreans who are cannon fodder , then the good guys are back in their camp safe and sound . Why didn't the thousands of communists just head them off in the pass ?

The original film was bad enough but this one is worse . You can perhaps say this remake has better action scenes but for an action scene to successfully work then there has to still an element of credibility involved and everything about this film lacks any credible element and feels anachronistic in any point it might be making . Indeed in the 1980s American control was criticised in case America became a target of foreign invasion . Try claiming people should be allowed access to guns in case of a sneak attack by North Korea and listen to the laughter

RED DAWN is the remake of an '80s film with the same title which saw America being invaded by Russia and a group of teenagers becoming mercenaries to drive the invaders out. It was a wish-fulfilment fantasy, one which hasn't dated too well, so this rework sees the Russians replaced by North Koreans, although otherwise the storyline is much the same.

Unfortunately RED DAWN has some huge problems which scupper it from the outset. Credibility is one thing - the film never gets over the problem that North Korea would never have the resources to launch an invasion like this - but the main problem lies with the characters. In a word, they're horrible. The producers have picked the most unappealing young actors of the modern generation (I'm talking about you, Josh Hutcherson) and given them scenes in which they're completely out of their depth. It hurts when the best and most veteran actor is Chris Hemsworth, a guy who would be merely average in any other movie.

It's a pity that the lack of decent characters had me hating this, because there's good stuff here. First-time director Dan Bradley is best known for his work as a stunt co-ordinator and yet he does a decent job here, particularly when it comes to crafting the superior action sequences. The use of CGI is very effective, and that early scene with the parachutes coming in is completely chilling. What a shame, then, that the action is wasted in such an insipidly-cast and predictable movie.