RED DAWN: INVASION USA

It seems the Koreans have become the go to bad guys when it comes to trying to take down America. In the recent theater release OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN (a good movie by the way) they take over the White House and capture the President. And in this week's pick on DVD, RED DAWN, they actually invade the US.

RED DAWN is a remake of the 1984 film that starred Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell and Charlie Sheen. This time around the story remains similar and the cast is a new group of up and coming young stars.

Jed Eckert (Chris Hemsworth) is a Marine back from Afghanistan visiting his family. While his police chief dad welcomes him apparently there is some issue with his younger brother Matt (Josh Peck). The reunion is short lived as his first morning home the youngsters are awakened by a thunderous noise and then an airplane crashing into the house next door. Looking to see what is up they witness a mass invasion via parachute into their northwestern town.

The two jump in Jed's truck and head out, finding their father and then separating as armed soldiers begin trying to shoot at them. As they drive off they pick up a few other teens and head for the family cabin in the woods. Listening to the news they find out that the North Koreans have invaded the U.S. and taken over many major cities on the west coast. During the night two of the kids picked up head out on their own, taking the food that was in the house. They return later with the North Korean head Capt. Cho (Will Yun Lee), the mayor (whose son is part of the group) and the boy's father. When given a chance to call them to come out, he instead tells them to kill Capt. Cho and stop anything he does. This results in his death before their eyes and a thirst for vengeance.

With Jed in the lead this group of youngsters becomes an insurgent force, sabotaging various areas that are under the control of the North Koreans. Along the way they tag the places they go via spray paint with the word WOLVERINES, the name of the high school mascot. Their exploits inspire others to aid them even at the cost of death. As in the original, the team eventually comes into contact with a soldier in the U.S. Marines who lets them know what's been going on. Word of their exploits has reached them and they need their help.

On one hand the whole plot of this movie might seem far fetched. But when you suspend belief as all good movies ask you to do, you find yourself rooting and cheering for these young people out to fight the good fight, taking on an enemy that wants to do nothing more but destroy America.

The film holds plenty of well choreographed action scenes, plenty of gunplay and explosions and all involved present themselves incredibly well and believable in their roles. All of them come off as people you'd want in your corner if things turned bad. But there's another star of this film whose names won't appear in the credits.

That star is the American people and the spirit they possess. For far too long, for me at least, viewers have had to sit through countless movies where American's are portrayed as the real bad guys, the ones who do nothing but harm people around the world, who go crazy at the slightest thing and wreak havoc on innocent people no matter where they are. They have heroes that are anti-heroes at best, men who save the day but at the cost of abusing someone, raping some woman or being the nastiest person around. This has become the norm it seems. This movie doesn't have that.

Instead, the white hats and the black hats are easily identifiable here. And in today's world surprisingly enough that's a nice change. Maybe the world isn't all black and white, but when it comes to movies it's nice to feel that perhaps we aren't the terrible people that Hollywood would have us believe we are. RED DAWN is a movie that inspires while entertaining, giving you a sense of pride in this country. The same holds true of OLYMPUS. I hope these movies are successful enough to inspire more to be made but doubt it. Until then we can enjoy these movies and those made in the past. Maybe one day they'll learn. 

Click here to order.