Rent Red Dawn (1984)

Entertaining But Empty Action Film - Red Dawn review by GI

Red Dawn is a typical John Milius film, the law of the gun with heroic American underdogs overcoming greater and more evil odds. It's been cited as a 'right wing' film if you want to put a political angle onto it and Milius is certainly in favour of violence as a justified means of moral redemption but really this boils the film down to an action war film that certainly entertains but really lacks any real depth even with the addition of the Cuban former revolutionary turned soldier character who has a rather soppy role as the moral moment of tender mercy as if he's embraced the American Dream. The story certainly has promise and the opening information of the collapse of political structures in Europe leaving the USA in isolation mode (again!!) lends itself to an epic story of a dystopian future but basically here it leads to an invasion of America by a joint Russian/Cuban & others force. In a small Colorado town the oppressive invaders gain an early foothold and ruthlessly establish control. But a small band of high school students have fled into the nearby mountains where they evolve into an effective guerrilla force. This cues plenty of warlike set pieces that are well executed but none of the characters are well developed and these young people are just violent warriors intent on killing and they do a lot of it and often in a cold blooded fashion too. The whole thing is quite implausible simply because it relies on action only and even the presence of solid American stalwarts like Ben Johnson, Roy Jenson and Harry Dean Stanton do little other than solidify the flag waving aspects of the narrative which is emphasised by the film's coda. Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen are obviously enjoying the moment as the two main fighters aided by Jennifer Grey amongst others and even the big baddie played by William Smith is never really allowed to get to grips with his job of snuffing out these annoying brats. The 2012 remake added little to this but if you like a straight forward action shoot em up this one and that one does the trick.