Rating: 
Summary: Preachy but entertaining!
Review: I wish this film were a poorly made piece of schlock that isn't worth a second of your time, but it isn't. It is a slickly made, ingeniously crafted, suspenseful, exciting, entertaining and extremely frightening film. And thereby hangs the rub.It's frightening from the basic plot: Russians invading America and starting a war. But it is even more frightening the way that the plot is unfolded and the opinions expressed in the process. The job of film critique is not an easy one. We are only human. But to critique properly we have to be strong in an area homo-sapiens usually are not: objectivity. And when a film has so much going for it-sensitivity and intelligence of characters, logicality and believability of story line and technical excellence-it makes the negative things within the course of the running time all that harder to digest. Director John Milius has taken his own rightist viewpoint and made it the only negative thing about this film. I consider myself a liberal-minded individual and I have a hard time swallowing some of the dialogue and actions that evolve from this point-of-view. In an attempt to be objective a person has to realize the views expressed here are one man's beliefs. It then becomes more important to judge how the content is presented, rather than the content itself. The thing that makes the movie important is the way it holds your attention throughout, never pulling punches either way. The troop of actors have a hard time delivering the tough preachy dialogue and through Milius' heavy handed directing of those actors the audience not always in agreement with Milius' theories will find themselves cringing. But even when those theories are being put over the strongest you still will find yourself unable to pull away. And if you stick with it you may find yourself learning something as well. The C. Thomas Howell character particularly comes across at first as a boy but later becomes "a man" through a series of events more associated with a psycho-killer than someone fighting for their country. Is this what we want out children to become? Do we really want them to turn into relentless, cold-blooded killers as bad as any sniper? I don't think so. If you listen closely, this may be one of the thoughts that the director is trying to say, regardless of the machisma he otherwise pushes to the audience. Technically, this film really shines. The music by Basil Poledouris (who also did the Conan films) is perfect. The cinematography is fantastic. And the screenplay, co-written by Milius moves things along at a rapid pace. The actors do come through well in the long run and this, along with all the positive things about the movie must also be attributed to the director. If you like RED DAWN and can stand for or even agree with the directors beliefs you might want to see it more than once. But you must see it at least once. It will cause you to think and have discussions with friends and/or relatives. You will not remain apathetic about the possibility of this happening or what might happen in this country if it does.
Rating: 
Summary: UNREAL
Review: This movie was unreal for a number of reasons. 1. WHERES AMERICA'S DEFENSCE? We have SEAL teams, Special Forces, Air forces, US Marshalls. In real life they would have been hit with more than just a few air plaines. 2. Wheres the CIA they should have at LEAST give them some info.
Rating: 
Summary: The Frontier Spirit
Review: Red Dawn is a movie that I think unfairly gets targeted as a no-brain shoot 'em up. On the surface this may be true. If you dig deeper, you can see a very interesting characteristic of American life. It is a characteristic that is far too often ignored or even ridiculed by the left. In hindsight, the prospect of a Soviet bloc invasion of North America was highly improbable. We now know that the formidable Soviet arsenal may have far outnumbered our own; but, by the 1980s, it lagged far behind in technological innovation. The bulk of the Soviet force consisted of Vietnam era weapons that they didn't have the money to replace (thanks to the Reagan administration). Of course, we didn't know that at the time. Many Americans believed in the possibility of a Soviet invasion. Red Dawn was the manifestation of American anxieties on this point. However, it was also a glimpse into the American psyche. America has always been torn between it's settled eastern areas and it's western frontier culture. In colonial times this represented the difference between the few urban centers (New York, Philadelphia, Boston) and the rural farming areas scattered throughout the colonies. It was the people from these farm areas that supplied most of the effort in the Revolutionary War. The populated cities supplied most of the Tory support. This struggle between city and frontier has been an ongoing process in American life. Fortunately, it has been the frontier mentality that has succeeded most of the time. We can thank that for the relatively non-intrusive government that we have today. Red Dawn captures this frontier attitude perfectly. It is no coincidence that this resistance of a foreign invader takes place in a small town, rural setting. The teenagers fighting for their homeland are torn between their desire to just be left alone and their sense of duty to protect their homes. In the end of course they choose to fight against the invaders. Make no mistake, if America were ever invaded the urban centers would roll over and die. It would be left to those Americans with the frontier spirit to rise up and defend the country and even the 'Americans' who would choose to live under the tyranny of an oppresive system like Communism just so they wouldn't have to face the hardships of a struggle for freedom.
Rating:
Summary: Monstrosity
Review: Red Dawn is, unfortunately, one of the worst films I have ever seen. It should be checked out only if a prospective viewer happened to be totally anti-American. Observing the totally unrealistic stupidity in which the characters are portrayed would justify the sacrifice of two hours of one's life. I couldn't help thinking during most of the picture that the `heroes' are acting this way because Russkies have cut off their cable. `We gotta fight for our right to party' is obviously a motto of this trash. Wooden characters, egregious script, and all of this bathed in new-cold-war hatred towards any culture that is not synonymous with conception of McDonald's and gas stations where one can ALWAYS depend on Campbell's Chicken Noodle soup. Don't take even a minute of this rubbish seriously. This film is viewable only when the viewer is intoxicated AND has agreed from the very beginning to perceive this thing as a fable. One has to see a bad movie in order to be able to appreciate the good things in life. So go ahead, grab a six-pack and enjoy yourself.
Rating: 
Summary: A Transformative Spectacle of Carnage
Review: The universal contempt for this film exhibited by professional critics, seems uniformly to revolve around their stated suspicions about what Mr. Milius's "intentions" were in making it. Which is always indicative that journalistic objectivity has temporarily resigned. Doubtlessly because they consider the picture to be a work of propaganda. Which is assumed to be bad, if it glorifies the ethics of German Romanticism. They thereby miss entirely that here, the method itself is the message. That method, is the transformation within the viewer, of the abstract banality of modern patriotism into a manifestation of brutal nationalism. Although the film is drenched in fantasy, it is the essential realism of this idea of patriotism in sanguine collision with reality, that critics of the film seem to find most objectionable. The message that so many find so unsettling is that patriotism is an altogether meaningless property absent killing and dying. Hardly a novel idea, however, if even the shallowest dusting of mediocratic patriotism in a viewer is absent, then this cathartic experience (and insight) is impossible, and the appeal and popularity of the film altogether mystifying. The film becomes meaningless, two-dimensional, even absurd. People to whom the images within stereograms are invisible, rarely recommend them as interesting entertainment.
Rating:
Summary: a well made but not perfect anti-war movie.
Review: although some may accuse Red Dawn of being a jingoistic call to arms it is in truth a condemnation of war. There is no happy ending. Unlike Rambo the heroes do not all live to triumph over the red menace. Red Dawn is a good war film in the sense that it presents the moral ambiguities and contradictions of armed conflict. although the movie does occasionally glorify their battlefield successes it also demonstrates the heavy price of survival. In one of the best scenes one of the american partisans is discovered to have betrayed the group the soviets. The leader of the group decides that traitor is to be executed. This is not an easy decision since a few months before all these kids were highschool classmates. One of the guerrillas asks how they can consider themselves any different from the "evil" enemy they are fighting if they carry out such a heinous action. Their leader's answer to the soldier and the group is "WE...LIVE...HERE!" I believe this scene is particularly effective in showing how war reduces human beings to a state of animal existence and as a result how people's notions of good and evil become irrelevant in the face of day to day survival. The vietnamese are portrayed as a sadistic, fanatical and barbarous enemy in our popular culture but would we have been any different if we had been the invaded and not the invaders? Red Dawn does not glorify war. The protagonists in the film spend most of their time living in a state of misery. Their innocence is lost and their beliefs and ideals are corrupted and compromised by the necessity of survival in a country torn apart by war. Not only that but most everybody dies at the end and that's hardly a progaganda coup. Its hard to motivate people to go to war when you present them with the reality that most of them won't be coming back. The movie has its flaws but mostly this is due to the limited budget although its technically impressive nonetheless considering what they had to work with. The acting is not all top caliber but the movie shys away from portraying all the communists as one dimensional cartoon villains. Some of the soviet soldiers are sadistic animals but others are simply young men looking for the pleasures and diversions common to youth everywhere. In other words, a real army. If you like movies with a dark overtone a la Apocalypse Now or Full Metal Jacket you should enjoy this piece. If you are looking for Rambo or Missing in Action you most likely will be dissapointed.
Rating:
Summary: unfunny
Review: there hasn't been a piece of neo-fascist agitprop this psychotic or lame brained since jack webb. the dialog is cliched tripe, the dramatic structure is crude and forced, and the acting is hopeless. but probably the most incredible part of this film is not its narrative inconsistencies and contradictions, or even its technical incompetence, but the fact that some people took this reactionary jingoist drivel for a sincere appeal to patriotism. there were those who found this movie funny, and for the demented, I suppose it is--but not for long. the unintentional humor evaporates more quickly than a dry ice cube in a napalm strike. i suppose you could look at this film as camp, but only if you feel the same way about 'triumph of the will', or if your sense of humor is on par with hannibal lecter.
Rating:
Summary: A Wonderfully Done Movie
Review: This movie was wonderful. Only in America could a group of teens from high-school help to successfully defend their freedom. If anyone thinks it is totally unrealistic, just look at Vietnam, Afghenistan et al, where common folks who are determined and armed can make life very unpleasant for an occupational Govt.. Thank God for the BIll of Rights eh!
Rating:
Summary: Red Dawn
Review: Despite the somewhat bombastic patriotism, this film does have its parallels in history. Taking lessons from the Russian and Yugoslav partisans in World War II, the filmaker has set the scene in a Colorado town using a 1970s Army War College scenario of an overwhelming conventional assault on the continental United States as a backdrop. With this as a beginning, the film actually portrays a believable situation. The acting is above average, with several good performances by Powers Booth, Patrick Swazye and Jennifer Grey. You'll also see some other faces of the hollywood "brat pack" in small parts, most notably Charlie Sheen. For those who say "it couldn't happen", one only needs to look as far as the Crimea, Ukraine, Yugoslavia, and France from 1941-1944.
Rating: 
Summary: I loved this in 1984, but ....
Review: But then I was a snot-nosed kid in high school who just loved shoot-em-ups with interesting plots. It is true ... with age comes wisdom ... having watched this now, I am appalled at the stereotypes, the unabashed patriotism, and the ridiculous scenarios the teenagers find themselves in and get themselves out of with ease.
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