Red Dawn

Home
Smell the Movies
Smell the TV

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Year:	1984
Country of origin:	USA
Director:	John Milius
Genre:	Communist invasion actioner
Starring:	Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, Lea Thompson, Jennifer Grey
Rating:	2/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087985/
Tagline:	A full scale military invasion by foreign troops begins. Total surprise. Almost total success
Favourite line:	None worth mentioning

One of those films where the idea sounds great, but the realisation leaves a lot to be desired.

Set in present day America (at the time the film was made, anyway) the opening sequences see an invasion onto US soil of Cuban and Russian forces. A few 'kids' (Swayze, Sheen, Grey et al) escape to the mountains and learn to survive, Ray Mears style. Once the initial shock has died down, they decide to fight back, to fight a war of attrition running guerilla raids on the enemy forces but, as the winter chill bites, their numbers start to dwindle and they realise they are fighting a war they cannot win.
Can the 'Wolverines' as they have dubbed themselves, survive until the warm weather returns? Or will the Communist invaders root them out and kill them to a man?

A great set-up, tapping into the irrational fears of the right wing hawks, this film is sadly let down by the direction. It comes across as nothing more than a feature length episode of, say, The A-Team or McGuyver, and with subject matter this strong, that really shouldn't be the case.
The brat pack cast do a decent enough job, and the script is acceptable.
Just a shame the director had a really bad day at the office.