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Summary: A good movie but immpossible plot.
Review: Red Dawn is one of my all time favourite movies but it is quite obviously written by a paranoid anti-communist. The massacres and genocide undertaken by the cuban and the soviets would have been extremely rare had the soviets and their allies truly invaded the united states. I believe that this movie could qualify as a classic case of cold war propaganda from the the USA.
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Summary: KICK BUTT #1
Review: i feel that this post world war 3 movie is one that the 80's could be truly proud to have not only does this movie use the true soviet weapons of the time instead of the cheaper movies which used old bradley tanks with plywood designed to resemble a BMP. i also feel that this movie gives you a true feeling of patriotism in the fact that the only hope of the small town lies in the hands of a small group of high school kids who choose to take it upon themselves to try to stop two of the most powerful communist powers of the time i enjoyed this movie and will everytime i see it!!!
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Summary: Makes you think....
Review: This film makes you think about war, and how you would react in a war. It raises questions of "What would YOU do, if YOU were on the battlefield." The flick starts out all peaceful, and then goes quickly to a massive communist invasion. However, a group of High School students quickly stock up on food and a few hunting rifles and take off to the mountains. There they form a small guerrila fighting force known as "The Wolverines," after their school mascott. We follow the rebel fighters as they spend month after bloody month fighting the Russians and Cubans valiantly. The plot works great (except for one thing, mentioned below), the situations in the film are quite enjoyable and the acting and dialougue are superb. The biggest plot element is the one that is downright ludicrous: Communist forces storm into America in a surprise attack and take a large portion of it over. Not likely, at all....even in the eighties when the combined Commie forces were much stronger than the U.S., the notion that they could come in and take us over that easily even during that time is ridiculous. Other than that, a wonderful movie -- reccomended.
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Summary: An Excellent War Movie
Review: Red Dawn, Despite some of its obvious technical mistakes and shaky political scenarios,is a very good look at what might have happened had a conventional World War III taken place in the US instead of Europe in the early 80's. It was a known fact among the NATO command at the time that if the USSR ever though they could pull of a invasion of Europe and/or the United States, they would probably take the chance at go to war. Red Dawn is one of the only movies ever made that deals with this more conventional premise instead of all out nuclear war like most other films. Despite some short comings, this is one hell of a film, and was too short to fully explore what a World War III in the US would have been like.It screams for a sequel if not several, but until they are made I suggest that you see this film.
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Summary: A unique American war film
Review: One of the Must Have DVDs, "Red Dawn" was one of those films that most of the people who saw it loved, and most of the people who didn't see it condemned. More than just a war story, the film follows a group of teenagers as they first try to get away from invading Communist forces, then turn around and strike back. It is a tale of survival, choices, and individualism, as well as being more technically accurate than originally expected. Though basically an adventure film, the movie nevertheless became a kind of litmus test for both the right and left wing -- a kind of "what if?" that many friends of the Communists found to hard to answer, while the pro-liberty folks took it as a proof that they were right to stockpile food, weapons, and so on. The good guys aren't always good, and the bad guys aren't always bad . . .the production values are superb, the storyline holds together well, and the cinematography is above average. Purists will find a few winces and groans in this film, but they are minor. All in all, worth buying.
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Summary: Poledouris' Ode to Military Machismo on Steroids
Review: Tapped again by director John Milius, Basil Poledouris brought more to the table than he probably should have when he wrote the score to RED DAWN. Like their previous collaboration (CONAN THE BARBARIAN), Milius's approach to moviemaking is good guys wear white/bad guys wear black--a pretty boring canvas for a composer to paint on. But Poledouris pulls some dramatic cues here. From the main title entry, where french horns and sweeping violins are supported by a sinister basso thread, Poledouris makes his statement: this ain't no regular shoot-'em-up score, folks. While the action cues ("The Invasion," "Wolverines") deliver just what they should--rousing semi-martial marching music--other cuts reveal a deeper, forlorn harmony that can evoke great emotion on the part of the willing listener. "The Drive-In" firmly stands out in this score as a Poledouris benchmark, only to be superseded by the surprisingly touching "Flowers." Mixing a blend of electronics and conventional orchestral maneuvers, Poledouris captures the pain and loneliness the film's beleagured freedom fighters face, in between attacking Russian APCs with rocket-propelled grenades. All in all, it's a good listening experience if you're searching for high-octane adventurism.
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Summary: Bad To The Bone
Review: The words "great" and "classic" don't come to mind when considering this film."Moronic" and "stinky" do.Let's get this straight:A group of inexperienced teenagers with no military training whatsoever takes on crack Soviet and Cuban troops and fights them to a standstill.How'd those kids learn how to use captured Soviet artillery and rocket launchers?Did the weapons come with instructions on videotape?Did one of the kids read and speak fluent Russian?They're not just kids...they're Superkids.Truly amazing.This movie should be filed in the "fantasy" section in your local Best Buy because that's what it is.It's not even a good "what if" idea because the premise is so unbelievable.Why would the Russkies invade a big superpower of a country like the U.S. when they couldn't even conquer Afghanistan?Where were the Chinese in all of this?I'm sure they would have loved to get in on the action.Red Dawn is bad all around...bad premise,bad acting,bad direction and a bad script.I give it one star just for Powers Boothe, who plays the only semi-believable character in the whole film.
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Summary: Red Sunset
Review: Dreary "What-If" movie about a bunch of brat packers (a militia group calling themselves "The Wolverines") revolting against Soviet occupied America. The action/battle sequences are third-rate, the characters are one dimensional, and the script is very lame and predictable. The film's core point-of-view is a time-capsule for the Reagan Era paranoia of the evil red empire (Russia). Only thing worth watching in the film is the outdoor wilderness location shots, otherwise there is nothing that is remotely of value in this terrible John Milius film. If this reviewer was a wolverine, I would be very offended by this film.
A film which has almost the same premise and atmosphere, but is a way better film is THE POSTMAN with Kevin Costner.
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Summary: wolveriinness
Review: This is one of my favorites from when I was in elementary. I was big into army and all the stuff young boys use to be.
I have this in my collection today and am happy to have it there.
It is full of great actors at their beginnings. It is a drama.
And can feel long as watched, but if you can pull through, you
can experience it as what at one time, and now today was a speculation. it has some action, but mostly drama and so the ending. one of the few dramas in my collection.
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Summary: 153 customer reviews...
Review: ...and nobody has realized what this movie is:
IT'S A RUSSIAN-MADE WW2 MOVIE RECAST INTO A WW3 AMERICA. Motherland invaded by vicious invaders. Ordinary people band into partisan bands to fight the invaders; most of them die, but in the end we learn our side won. This is one of the standard Government-approved WW2 movie plots of Soviet-era Russian film-making.
And fairly technically accurate: as far as I could tell, the Russian uniforms, weapons, equipment, vehicles, and what I could see of the tactics were accurate to the Russian army at the time the film was made. (The khaki-spots-on-green KVKV camo uniforms had been introduced for real less than a year before, and the various marks of AK assault rifles were what would be issued to the various troop types.)
Naturally, the flick got (and from the reviews here, still is) denounced as Propaganda for The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy (TM). However, there is an apocryphal story that Red Dawn inspired an internal shakeup/investigation in the Russian military -- the "farfetched fantasy" scenario (limited counterforce nuke strike followed by special forces land invasion from pre-secured Latin American staging areas) was apparently close enough to an actual STAVKA contingency plan for war with the US that the GRU/KGB was sure there'd been a leak.
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