The remake of Red Dawn should, once again. put the gun rights cat amongst the gun control pigeons. The original was a pretty startling piece of pro-gun flag waving, in a overearnest, overacting, hyper-violent sort of way. The remake is all that and a terraflop of CGI. Ironically enough (for fans of George Orwell), the original Red Dawn was released in 1984. John Milius’ Russia-baiting love letter to American self-reliance and determination became a cultural touchstone, thanks in part to South Park and Family Guy. Quite why the new film switched the scripted bad guys from the Chinese to North Koreans I have no idea. Cough Walmart cough. Expect left-leaning pundits to snort loudly and derisively. Wolverines!

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69 COMMENTS

  1. I don’t do hollywierd movies.

    They have not had an original idea in decades for a movie.

    Everything is a “remake” of somebody else’s work with CGI thrown in and for the prices they charge I think it is criminal.

    I guess this is the outcome from a communist education system, no innovating thinking.

        • Blaming the blandness of Hollywood, its lack of originality, on the “communist education system” or “liberal inbreeding” is silly. Blame it on capitalism. Hollywood is primarily focused on profit. Those who back films generally are not focused on art or messages. They are focused on profit. New ideas are seen as risky; ideas that worked before are seen as safer investments. Beating up the left wing at every opportunity, regardless of whether it makes an ounce of sense, is as unoriginal as Hollywood.

        • Phil, you’re still wrong. The lack of creativity on hollywood is exacerbated because of piracy. You see less ambitiously different films because producers stick with tried and true formulas because those guarantee profits.

        • Virgil, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton . . . They all just rewrote existing stories. Were they products of a communist educational system?

        • Hollywood is propaganda. There’s a reason it’s called “programming”. Just look at the downward plunge our society has taken since the advent of rap music.

          Where at one time, kids wanted to be Stevie Wonder, or one of the Jacksons(pre-molestation accusation, of course), or Miles Davis—none perfect people, but all creative, artistic, and not violent criminals—now they embrace the “thug life” they’re shown as cool. There was a discussion in another thread about the advent of the “sideways gangsta hold”, which started in film and now is a common way for thugs to hold handguns.

          The entertainment industry shapes values and opinions. When is the last time you’ve seen a positive representation of a gun owning citizen in a TV show or movie? Or a white Southerner? Or a Christian? Oh, no, those three are always shown in the least flattering manner possible.

          ABC ran a show this year titled “Good Christian Bitches”. From what I gather, the show was about hypocritical Christian women, one of whom apparently owned a strip club. Imagine if the show was “Good Muslim Bitches”, and one of the women owned a pig farm.

          Turn off your TV. Don’t go to the movies. Better yet, keep your kids away from both of them.

        • Hollywood produces PROGRAMMING. Everything produced by the mass media since the 1970s has been aimed at destroying long-standing moral beliefs and emasculating the men in the US(and the world).

          MTV and BET have poisoned two generations of minds. Millions of youth are either in prison or on their way, due to the brainwashing of American’s youth into believing being “gangsta” is a worthy goal. Blacks score lower than 70-80 percent of white people on the SAT, a number which is WORSE than it was 25 years ago, right around the time hip-hop culture broke wide. Meanwhile, scores for Asians are going up, now they’re 30 percent higher than whites. Asians seem to be immune to the poisoning, so far.

          I’m waiting for the SEAL Team 6 movie when the team is suddenly made up of 4 black guys, 3 Hispanic guys, 2 gay guys, and one straight white male—of course, he’ll be the SEAL who cracks up. Never mind that the Navy SEALs are less than 2 percent black.

          How many times do you see a black male/white female couple in the media? I’d wager you’ve seen many more BM/WF couples than the opposite. Young white girls are trained to sexualize black men from an early age. There was almost no miscegenation 25 years ago, now it’s accepted. Why? To what benefit? It certainly doesn’t benefit white people. Now deadbeat black dads can have black kids and mulatto kids on the dole.

          Screw Hollywood. It’s poison. The media are intent on emasculating the American white male, reducing him to a beer-swilling sports addict.Hollywood would have you believe that a jive-talking fool like Jamie Foxx could be a test pilot.

      • MMTC was a remake of Mr Ed which was a remake of a series of movies about a talking mule which was stolen from the WB cartoon about the singing frog, shall I continue?

    • Hollywood started as a cesspool. I mean, running out west so Edison can’t sue you for patent violations? C’mon! Bunch of sheisters out there. Nicolas Refn, now there’s a director. Thank gods for Netflix and foreign movies.

    • Remakes have been going on for over 50 years. Anyone ever see the 1960 classic western Magnificent 7 with Yul Brenner? Remake of the 1954 move The Seven samurai . Many other examples like this.

  2. I had my doubts about this movie since I heard about it two years ago. Now that I’ve seen the trailer, I’m looking forward to it.
    When I went to Knob Creek, I spoke with a guy from Long Mountain Outfitters. He told me they have the AK into which one of the characters scratched hash marks for each enemy occupier killed.

  3. I can’t imagine a movie like this done straight these days. I can’t help thinking there will be some anti-American twist to it.

    Not to mention, let’s face it, a foreign country is the least of our worries when it comes to threatened freedom.

    • I remember the morning of Sept, 11, 2001 driving hime from work early thinking that the plot for “Red Dawn” was essentially coming true. First one airplane crash, then 2 then 3 & 4. I had every reason to think that there would be a couple of dozen aircraft used as destructive devices by the end of the day. Thankfully it wasn’t as bad as I imagined, but horrifically bad as it was. To this day, I watch that movie with just a touch of fear that it could become very real.

        • They were. But this movie was originally written as a Chinese invasion. They got wind of it, and b1tched to the State Dep’t.

    • Switching from a Chinese army to North Koreans in the movie seems like a placation move. In real life: Chinese=Frienemy. North Koreans= not our friends.

      And not a single Asian American on the good guy side. So disappointing but that’s Hollywood for ya…

      • That is unfortunate and unrealistic. Talk about Hollywood being out of touch and out of ideas. The invite list to my house in the event of a TEOTWAWKI situation looks like a Benetton ad, and it is strictly BYOG.

        Almost forgot-WOLVERINES!

      • Re: Asian American

        Check out the video game Homefront. It deals with a theoretical North Korean invasion. The creators of the game actually used the writer of Red Dawn as a consultant for the game’s backstory.

        One of the “freedom fighters” in the game is a Korean American.

        To be honest I was a little disappointed with the video game, but surprisingly enjoyed the companion novel they released. Most video-game inspired literature is garbage, so I was actually surprised that I enjoyed the book more than the game.

        They’re also working on a sequel to the game. It’s been transferred to a new development company, and it actually looks to be a better game than the first.

    • They should have just renamed the movie _Homefront_, as that’s the plot of that game..

  5. I for one am excited for the movie i like comparing the old ones with the new. i just really hope it is another updated upgrading red dawn with the same intensity of plot and action not a CGI watered down pansified leftist influenced .

    • Here’s a Q.. Will the remake reference Form 4473 in the context of invaders picking people to round up?

  6. Thanks to South Park and Family Guy? Huh? Red Dawn was culturally important long before those were even created.

    • Agreed. Red Dawn was something you had to see long before those two shows came about. Red Dawn is still a movie I watch and share with anyone I can. It embodies the American Spirit and the Warrior Culture we were started from.

      WOLVERINES!!!

  7. North Korea manages a major invasion of the United States?

    I believe that sentient robots from another planet landing on Earth to battle it out is more plausible.

      • the “original” movie red dawn was a flag-waving patriotic movie that pandered to the gun rights crowd and showed over & over through tough examples of how american know-how could overcome great odds with no training other than hunting, firearms knowledge, home terrain advantages, clandestine civilian help, and active military leadership in guerilla tactics to a bunch of un-trained highschool kids.

        The unbroken will to fight is what made it all possible and if I recall correctly, our forefathers did the same thing, in the same way, to the british!

        • In his post-mortem published biography, Patrick Swayze recalls he and the Wolverines were trained by some former military guys. Apparently so well, that they arranged a field exercise with a local National Guard unit and thrashed them pretty soundly.

  8. So…it’s basically a movie adaptation of the game Homefront, with a different name.
    Milius co-wrote the book following the Homefront game.

    • Except that before writing Homefront (which he might have not actually written) Milly wrote the original Red Dawn.

  9. Real life is better than fiction, will O-boy have a OCT. surprise so we have no elections , the Internet is full of lots wild stories , and I must ask what is Homeland getting ready for…???? We will see soon enough !

  10. Before I watched the trailer I was guessing the bad guys would be a combined force from China, Mexico (but that wouldn’t be PC), Venezuela, Iran, possibly volunteers from the middle east and south Asia, and definitely several fifth-columns from within the USA such as La Raza (but that wouldn’t be PC either).

    • That would have been way more interesting. Instead, we’re expected to swallow the idea of an invasion force large enough to present the US real problems being sent across the pacific ocean by a country whose populace subsists on bugs and tree bark soup.

      • One of the characters in the trailer states that the Invaders used EMPs prior to the invasion. Electro-Magnetic Pulse weapons take out all electronic devices not properly protected. The US does not currently have everything protected, most especially civilians. Best options are to buy auto’s and all things without electronic components.

        Nous Defions

        • Good point. I only know of one person and his family that have created a ‘safe room’ from a EMP burst. If an EMP ever does fry all my electronics someday I guess I still have my bicycle to get around. Can you imagine the poor people’s fate on an airplane if one of those EMPs goes off in their vicinity?

      • I understand that it’s far fetched that an impoverished country like North Korea could pose a threat to the United States. In this regard the backstory to the video game “HomeFront” (which others have mentioned) presents a compelling explanation.

        The backstory to the game explained that after the Dear Leader’s death, his son rose to power. Western educated and charismatic, he engaged in internal reforms and eventually managed to united the North and the South into a single country.

        South Korea is already a rising minor power. South Korean technology and economic prowess combined with a North Korean style autocratic government could make for a pretty formidable foe.

        In the game the united Korea eventually overruns Japan and various southeast Asian nations, forming a sort of greater Korean empire. China remains “neutral”, but probably trades with the Korean empire. The Koreans launch a satellite that secretly contains an EMP device, which is detonated over the continental United States disabling all of our electronics.

        • JLR

          That sounds like a very interesting and relatively more realistic game than the scenarios we usually get. If I was a gamer I’d look into it.

        • A reunited Korea does make it less implausible. If it were a scenario where US economic problems were to deepen considerably (to the point that we couldn’t immediately rush to Japan’s aid/had to bring the 7th Fleet home), then I suppose I might be able accept the premise.
          The Japanese would still bloody ’em up pretty good though.

    • Why use reality when Fantasy can be skewed towards brain rinsing far more easily. A war movie based on reality would have to cast o-boy and his ilk as the invaders, the traitors, the genocidal racists with the biggest guns.

    • “really can’t call it “Red Dawn” being north Korea is the fictitious Invader…”

      Why not? Communist nations are often referred to as “Reds”, and North Korea is one of the world’s last surviving Communist states.

      Even China’s so-called “Communist Party” is more fascist-capitalist at this point.

    • This movie is torn from the head of a Pentecostal preacher I knew back home. He was on and on about the RFID chip and how when they put it in you the mark of the devil was on you and you would be oppressed. He ranted and raved about this for so many sermons. This movie sure is controversial.

  16. The original Red Dawn will never be topped… leave it to Hollywood to recycle ideas.

    Besides, if this movie really takes place in Seattle/PNW, you’d have a TON OF ASIAN AMERICANS taking up arms… especially against a N.Korean invading army. The Korean American population would be the first to rise up and take up arms… lots of ROK vets. Not to mention WA state has a fair number of US military vets.

    • Asians can only be stereotypical Ken Jeong-esque Asians in Hollywood. Pissed off, gun-toting ROK vets and their families won’t fly in Hollywood. Besides they probably think it’ll be more appealing to star “everyday teenagers” instead of ass-kicking military vets.

    • Seattle would roll over like the Red Dog it is
      As to the NOKOs getting into Seattle,,,,how they get past the Nuke sub base at Bremmerton and The anti-sub base at Whidby Isl. and the 82ndAB near Olympia, and all the airbases?

      • Frank>Hollywood decided the resistance should be led by a fresh-face Thor rather than some grizzled vets. Booo.

        Right!>Yeah, Hollywood sprinkles its magic plot-hole dust and *POOF*, the entire US defense grid disappears, allowing a massive airbourne invasion… uh-huh…

  17. Well, at least Red Dawn is clearly pro-2A.

    Grey State looks to be badass – and something not entirely out of the relm of possibility. Scary stuff.

  18. I’ll watch it for the same reason I liked the original. It may be Hollywood BS, but it still embodies what this country was founded upon. The American spirit to fight for freedom. Which I hope still exists in enough people if and when the SHTF from whatever direction.

  19. I’m less concerned about the North Koreans than I am about the Southern Californians. There’s more SoCals than NoKors, they’re all Commies and their kimchee sucks.

    • Except people in SoCal don’t have real guns… just a lot of plastic surgery.

      And kimchi in LA might not be as good as in Korea, but the food trucks… delicious cheap eats for DAYS! Where else but America can you have a bulgogi beef kimchi taco with a bottle of Bud? Hell yeah.

    • @Ralph

      CA gun sales are through the roof, and SoCal is no exception. I had to wait 90 minutes on a Saturday afternoon to pick up a PSA MOE AR lower. Gun shops in LA and OC can barely keep hardware on the shelves. I think CA gun sales are at roughly 750, 000 for the year to date.

      All is not lost in CA. Tragically misplaced, but not completely lost.

  20. North Korea??? North Korea couldn’t beat Texas! Hell, Mexico has been invading Texas since before they were a state, and they STILL haven’t succeeded! A reality-based plot to this version of Red Dawn would be: The North Korean Army lands here, sees the abundance of goods and services available to all, they desert the NKA en masse, seek political asylum, and open businesses all across America. North Korea becomes a golf course for China.

  21. I wonder where the remake takes place? Can’t be rural Colorado, there would be more people with guns. It’s have to be someplace like the farmland of northern California.

    • Says some city in Washington State. Doesn’t look like Seattle though, so I guess they mean the eastern part. Which is still quite a lot of guns (heck, more CCWs around here than in Texas, per capita!)

  23. Something that caught my eye – watch how they hold the guns in the trailer, when not firing. Specifically, watch where the trigger finger is. Did someone finally do it right and found a specialist to consult them for a change?

  24. I find it funny that so many American movies are remakes of French movies. I’ve lost count over the years.

    Anyway, there is something to say about remakes. They allow the movies to be better, in the sense that much of what has been done before could use a face lift, and better production. How many WWII movies have you seen, old and new. Maybe some do, but really, do old movies really hold a candle to, say, Saving Private Ryan, or Band of Brothers, in terms of the effort made to make the movie historically correct, realistic?

    Put another way, ever watched a WWII movie made cheesy with generic (and bad at that) militaristic sounding yet inaccurate snare drum lines or worse, 60s music? Germans riding around in our half-tracks, armed with G3s (or CETMEs in one case; movie was made in Spain) Incorrect uniforms? Preposterous depictions of tactics? Need I go on?

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