Red Dawn (1984)

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

If you don't like this movie...then you ain't American and that's all there is to it. In fact, if you don't like this movie, just take your butt on outta here you pinko!

Great movie, alot of great lines. WOLVERINES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Entertaining WW3 drama.Russia launches a surprise attack on and invasion of the USA. A small town in Colorado experiences this first hand when Russian paratroopers land in the town and quickly take it over. A small group of teenagers from the local high school, calling themselves the Wolverines, manage to escape into the mountains and start to fight back.Quite entertaining. Yes, it was made during the Cold War so is a tad propagandic and, some might say, dated. However, it is still relevant today to a degree, due to Vladimir Putin doing his utmost to restart the Cold War. Always good to see the Ruskies get their rear ends kicked.Much grittier than I imagined. Being centred around teens and thus aimed at teens I imagined it would pull its punches and present a Disneyised version of war, complete with empty sentimentality and idealised versions of honour, chivalry and the like. Was pleasantly surprised to see that it didn't go down this path. The scene with the prisoner and the traitor rams that point home.Plot is a bit basic and direction more focused on action than drama, so the movie is certainly no Citizen Kane. However, it has great momentum and is never dull.Main cast includes many stars-to-be: Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, Jennifer Grey (in her second feature film), Lea Thompson and C Thomas Howell. Swayze does well but is a bit miscast, looking to old for his part. Turns out, that, while his character is 18 or so, Swayze was 32! Supporting cast includes Harry Dean Stanton, Powers Boothe and William Smith.Good fun.

I re-watched the original version of Red Dawn recently. I'm absolutely baffled by the vitriol this movie engenders among its critics. I've seen it referred to as everything from a racist, jingoistic "Ra, Ra, America" piece of Reagan-era trash propaganda to an allegory for the Afghani insurgency (which is far closer to the truth). The vast majority, I believe, completely missed the point of the movie. Either they never watched it or simply didn't pay attention.To call it a jingoistic bit of Reagan propaganda is a stretch, to say the least because the reason the "Wolverines" take up the insurgency is summed up once in the entire movie: "Because we live here!" That, in a nutshell, is the cry of every partisan, insurgent and guerrilla fighter the world over throughout history. They don't do it for "God, Mom and Apple Pie" or any of that crap. They do it because their home was invaded, their families were butchered and their enemy is relentless.Another jab I've seen is that somehow the movie portrays the Wolverines as super soldiers that never talk about, let alone experience, the horrors of war. So, somehow, Robert's descent into sociopathy, the deaths of Arturo "Aardvark" Mondragon and USAF Lt. Colonel Andrew Tanner, the implication that Toni and Erica were about to be raped (or were) and the eventuality of the war grinding down Jed are all completely and totally ignored.Does the movie involve Commies getting mowed down? Ayep, though I would note that its not front-line troops that the Wolverines usually attack, but troop convoys and rear echelon types....just like what happens in most guerrilla/insurgency campaigns. The one time they attack the Spetsnaz, its a well conceived ambush when the Soviets come blundering into the Wolverines encampment. Somehow, I don't think the critics actually paid attention. Red Dawn isn't a Chuck Norris movie.The other thing is that, unlike in other action movies of the era, the enemies in Red Dawn are not faceless automatons/robots to be blown to kingdom come. Colonel Bella is about as sympathetic an enemy as you can get even though he orders the deaths of the parents of the known Wolverines, minus the Mayor who is Daryl's father. The Soviet Spetsnaz commander Strelnikov is also sympathetic and clear headed. Most tellingly, he says he hates the hypocrisy that warfare produces, that euphemistic language of "containing the enemy" and so forth is a bunch of BS. Again, this is not something a mindless robotic enemy would say in a "Ra, Ra, Ra, USA! USA! USA!" movie. Anyway, for TL;DR - Red Dawn (1984) is a hell of a lot better movie than the then critics, then or even now, give it credit for being. Its a lot more subversive in its message than "Kill Commies for God, Mom and Apple Pie!" as some claim.