So..... Red Dawn remake anyone?

[RickOShea]

I guess I'm just a sucker for John Milius movies. Anytime Dirty Harry, Jeramiah Johnson, Apocalypse Now, 1941, Conan the Barbarian, Farewell to the King AND Red Dawn come on, I have to watch them.

[Sckitzo]

I'll have to do the same thing I did with Homefront then. Just mentally edit everything.

I think they did that for one of the overseas versions, literally changed them to Canadians IIRC. I don't have a source for that so don't know how true it is, I just remember reading about it I think PC Gamer.

I'll see the remake, Red Dawn was just a fun, shoot em up movie to me. The political climate of that time is interesting to see, but I am too young to remember it first hand. Though I may just skip it until it ends up on netflix. Given they blatantly changed the original around, like one of the guys with the group is someones big brother back from Iraq and needs to save his girlfriend. Some stupid shit like that.

[Blacksmith]

While they did digitally change all the flags and insignia from Chinese to NK, in this "revamped" new version, the NKs "just happen" to be the occupying force in the kid's area. IIRC, there will still be some allusions to the participation of the PLA and PRC in the film.

They gave the North Koreans Detroit.

The one place in America that might actually be worse off than North Korea already.

[RickOShea]

If I were a resident of the Pacific Northwest, I would be more upset that they used Detroit to represent Spokane, WA.

[Blacksmith]

If I were a resident of the Pacific Northwest, I would be more upset that they used Detroit to represent Spokane, WA.

Not at all.

Detroit is Spokane after the Apocalypse.

[mr_slappy75]

I'll have to do the same thing I did with Homefront then. Just mentally edit everything.

I think they did that for one of the overseas versions, literally changed them to Canadians IIRC. I don't have a source for that so don't know how true it is, I just remember reading about it I think PC Gamer.

I'll see the remake, Red Dawn was just a fun, shoot em up movie to me. The political climate of that time is interesting to see, but I am too young to remember it first hand. Though I may just skip it until it ends up on netflix. Given they blatantly changed the original around, like one of the guys with the group is someones big brother back from Iraq and needs to save his girlfriend. Some stupid shit like that.

Quite a few movies from that era are more difficult to "get in to" if you do not have a recollection of what growing up during the height of the Cold War and all the many proxy wars we and the Soviets were deep into.

I grew up in Panamá back when the Southern Command was based in the PCZ. At the time Cuban and Soviet backed guerrillas were active in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Colombia, Bolivia and other countries in neighboring Central and South America. I went to school and was friends with the children of Cuban parents that fled the Castro regime and with refugee kids from Nicaragua and El Salvador. Then the invasion of Grenada happened.
It was the geopolitical reality of the time that it was U.S. vs. "them". As much as the movie was not terribly deep, its staying power and appeal came from being relevant to it's time.

When Red Dawn came out, it was not in a vacuum... when you are already aware of your immediate reality, anything that rings true even if just a little and as far fetched as it me be, will be effective in generating a response and creating interest.

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2

[RickOShea]

Given they blatantly changed the original around, like one of the guys with the group is someones big brother back from Iraq and needs to save his girlfriend. Some stupid shit like that.

Well, to be fair, there are a lot more "big brothers back from Iraq" now, then there were in 1984.

[Blacksmith]

Quite a few movies from that era are more difficult to "get in to" if you do not have a recollection of what growing up during the height of the Cold War and all the many proxy wars we and the Soviets were deep into.

The information war we have going on with China currently does not compare well. The rhetoric of the old Soviet Union making open threats then paratroopers dropping into Afghanistan vs. China hacking shit from JPL that most Americans don't what was even stolen and then giving technology to Iran does not make for great filming. A modern update to Red Dawn would look more like Anti-trust than Rambo III.

[JTNieman]

I don't like that they changed the lead character into a hardass marine just back from combat. Part of the original's endearment was that it was scare teenagers at first with no idea what to do.

I don't like that they now have some sort of super weapon they have to hunt down and capture. That changes the entire dynamic. Now it's going to be some hunt for a magic box or gun and less of a guerrilla warfare epic.

Otherwise it looks good so far. I think it's neat how they incorporate nearly identical scenes from the original but modernized it, such as the girl getting soldiers to chase after her, and when rounding a corner, many combatants flip up their covers that concealed them against the ground, and mow down the enemy with machine guns. Righteous.

I'm still hopeful for the potential though. Those previous two dislikes are kinda hefty though. :/

[TheLastOne]

Still has the bitch ass little brother that probably fucks things up for everyone all the time and has one redeeming moment at the end that is supposed to make us love and forgive him

Huh?.....You talking about Charlie Sheen as Matt Eckert?.... I don't remember him being a "bitch ass little brother" to Jed. We musta watched two different versions of the original Red Dawn.

yep, my bad. I was getting him confused with the guy that sold them out that the group ends up shooting... and then in my head I started thinking about every cliche in movies (think Pvt. Ryan towards the end where the guy let's the German go who just stabbed Hebrew Hammer, but the movie tries to make us feel he is redeemed when he 'captures' the guys at the end... he coulda saved hammer. Meh)

Back to your regular scheduled postings.

[Caenus]

Given they blatantly changed the original around, like one of the guys with the group is someones big brother back from Iraq and needs to save his girlfriend. Some stupid shit like that.

Well, to be fair, there are a lot more "big brothers back from Iraq" now, then there were in 1984.

I think that will be a big selling point. With a 400,000 drawback in active duty and tons of vets, I think it will be very popular...because any one of them could be the badass vet that organizes the youth and avenges the fallen. Eventhough the first RD is a classic, IMO it has not stood up to the test of time well with regards to story line and acting (swayze[rip] and sheen I'm talking to you) it was not stellar. Lea Thompson and Jennifer Grey would have been great to be hiding in the woods with though.

I think the guerilla warfare techniques will likely be more Iraq/Afghanistan based (ied's, etc) than Vietnam based like the first movie.

[mr_slappy75]

Quite a few movies from that era are more difficult to "get in to" if you do not have a recollection of what growing up during the height of the Cold War and all the many proxy wars we and the Soviets were deep into.

The information war we have going on with China currently does not compare well. The rhetoric of the old Soviet Union making open threats then paratroopers dropping into Afghanistan vs. China hacking shit from JPL that most Americans don't what was even stolen and then giving technology to Iran does not make for great filming. A modern update to Red Dawn would look more like Anti-trust than Rambo III.

Yes it would, only with a lot more Mandarin

Then there is also the very plot/story hamstringing fact that we were never as economically intertwined (in psycho bable co-dependant) with the Soviets -don't recall having any jeans made in say Novosibirsk or an MP3 player originating in Leningrad. So just as the Studio execs wouldn't want to piss off possible money men (or their future bosses for all we know), it would be kind of difficult to sell to the audience a 'black and white' plot about us being at war with the folks that make most of the products sold at WallyWorld or BadBuy

[KentsOkay]

[So just as the Studio execs wouldn't want to piss off possible money men (or their future bosses for all we know), it would be kind of difficult to sell to the audience a 'black and white' plot about us being at war with the folks that make most of the products sold at WallyWorld or BadBuy

Hey dude, my BadBuy TV's are assembled in Mexico!

With components from CHina, Korea, and Japan... but mostly China

[yale]

I remember sitting in the movie theater watching the original Red Dawn and was gung ho as heck. It took these scared teenagers and turned them into a guerilla team riding horses and wearing clothing similar to what we were seeing the rebel in Afganistan wear wehn they were fighting the Russian invasion in that country.
I gret up in the late years of the cold war. My first duty after graduating Basic Training was border duty at Camp Hoff in Germany on the Chek border. I stood there along with German boarder guards looking across at the watch towers and boarder fences of "the enemy". I sat up nights doing LPOP duties in the back of a modified M113 which had sensitive listening gear pointed at a segment of the border.
Today, Camp Hoff is gone. The enemies are now allies. That was a different time but for the original Red Dawn it was a perfect setting to use as a jumping off point for what could happen if NATO dissolved and the soviets and their allies decided to act.
Times have certainly changed. The remake has to appeal to people of this generation who will be looking at it from a modern perspective shaped by popular media.
I am looking forward to seeing it when it comes out on DVD.

[Evan the Diplomat]

I'm also an old Cold Warrior, (I remember my Dad taking me along to see the Green Berets, first run, at the drive-in.) I used to fantasise of a Warsaw Pact airborne invasion interrupting my morning bus ride to school, especially on test days. Never imagined that Milius could make a bankable film on the ultimate get out of school excuse.

Mr. Slappy is right, as Armand Hammer was fond of quoting Ben Franklin's "Trading partners usually do not make war." China would not make a realistic antagonist, but even today I have my reservations about the Russian leaders.

[Blacksmith]

I'm also an old Cold Warrior, (I remember my Dad taking me along to see the Green Berets, first run, at the drive-in.) I used to fantasise of a Warsaw Pact airborne invasion interrupting my morning bus ride to school, especially on test days. Never imagined that Milius could make a bankable film on the ultimate get out of school excuse.

Armand Hammer was fond of quoting Ben Franklin's "Trading partners usually do not make war."

US trades with just about everyone.

[Evan the Diplomat]

As Slappy pointed out, we had very little trade with the old Soviet Union. It used to be big headlines if we made a grain sale or allowed Pepsi to open a plant in the USSR. How much trade did the old Japanese empire have with the USA? Very little. They had little to lose so it was in their interest to attack Pearl Harbor.

[Rev]

As Slappy pointed out, we had very little trade with the old Soviet Union. It used to be big headlines if we made a grain sale or allowed Pepsi to open a plant in the USSR. How much trade did the old Japanese empire have with the USA? Very little. They had little to lose so it was in their interest to attack Pearl Harbor.

Not completely true. We had quite a bit of oil trade but we had been imposing sanctions to try and reign in their military expansion.

[Evan the Diplomat]

As Slappy pointed out, we had very little trade with the old Soviet Union. It used to be big headlines if we made a grain sale or allowed Pepsi to open a plant in the USSR. How much trade did the old Japanese empire have with the USA? Very little. They had little to lose so it was in their interest to attack Pearl Harbor.

Not completely true. We had quite a bit of oil trade but we had been imposing sanctions to try and reign in their military expansion.

That's a pittance compared to the near symbiosis we have with China. The fact that we were imposing sanctions on the Japanese caused less interdependency between our two nations.

[Sckitzo]

Given they blatantly changed the original around, like one of the guys with the group is someones big brother back from Iraq and needs to save his girlfriend. Some stupid shit like that.

Well, to be fair, there are a lot more "big brothers back from Iraq" now, then there were in 1984.

Touche` but

I don't like that they changed the lead character into a hardass marine just back from combat. Part of the original's endearment was that it was scare teenagers at first with no idea what to do.

I don't like that they now have some sort of super weapon they have to hunt down and capture. That changes the entire dynamic. Now it's going to be some hunt for a magic box or gun and less of a guerrilla warfare epic.

Otherwise it looks good so far. I think it's neat how they incorporate nearly identical scenes from the original but modernized it, such as the girl getting soldiers to chase after her, and when rounding a corner, many combatants flip up their covers that concealed them against the ground, and mow down the enemy with machine guns. Righteous.

I'm still hopeful for the potential though. Those previous two dislikes are kinda hefty though. :/

Exactly, I get it is a strong selling point like Caenus said, and if they made this movie but didn't tote it as Red Dawn I'd be fine with it and just wait for it to end up on Netflix.

But their not rebooting it, their throwing it into a blender full of shit then serving it up

[Blacksmith]

As Slappy pointed out, we had very little trade with the old Soviet Union. It used to be big headlines if we made a grain sale or allowed Pepsi to open a plant in the USSR. How much trade did the old Japanese empire have with the USA? Very little. They had little to lose so it was in their interest to attack Pearl Harbor.

Except for about 1/3 of their grain imports which the loss of would have led to mass starvation in the USSR.

It was the cut off of trade with Japan that triggered Pearl Harbor for gosh sakes, I have no idea where you are getting your info about Japan from. We were selling them fuel, airplanes and machinery. The US helped to drive the Japanese war machine. When we pulled the carpet out from underneath them they threatened us diplomatically and then they attacked.

My point was that we did not trade much the Soviet Union but have always historically traded a lot with:

- Germany
- UK
- Spain
- Japan
- Canada
- Mexico

For example all of whom we have more than one war with, even when we were large trading partners with recently beforehand. We only invaded the Soviet Union once with land forces.

[RickOShea]

But their not rebooting it, their throwing it into a blender full of shit then serving it up

Well, they did the same thing to Star Trek three years ago, and I enjoyed that one. Hopefully I'll like this "blender full of shit" also. YMMV.

[Niblick]

I'm pretty excited about it. It's gonna be a shallow splosion-fest, but so was the first one (for me, born the year it came out). I like that it seems more urban, that would be more line with the majority of my training.

I'll go see it in the theaters (with a vest on), and I haven't gone to the movies since Avatar.

[ninja-elbow]

Still has the bitch ass little brother that probably fucks things up for everyone all the time and has one redeeming moment at the end that is supposed to make us love and forgive him

Huh?.....You talking about Charlie Sheen as Matt Eckert?.... I don't remember him being a "bitch ass little brother" to Jed. We musta watched two different versions of the original Red Dawn.

Yeah, that totally did not happen. It was the Mayor's boy who was a bitch-ass and he **SPOILER** got executed by his own boy-hood chums ... and it made us think as the scene was intense and slightly uncomfortable **/SPOILER**.

The movie was about kids like me at that age growing up in The Cold War. As per the media then USSR was going to FUCKIN KILL US any day. Just imagine waking up every morning, and this was not just me but anyone that was a preteen to teen back then, thinking that this could be your last day as the USSR and it's satellites had 8 times more missiles than us and a huger army. If you watched TV that is what you learned. I was lucky in that my Dad was in Special Forces and he would talk me out of the mess I was becoming thinking Russians were coming to eat our babies. Anyways, lets just say that many of our bug out to the woods fantasies come from this movie.

The new movie? Fuck it. I want to hear more about the WWIII that took place in the original. There is a whole war to explore and elusions made to such stories in said original film. We'll never get to see the siege that took place in Texas or how the Chinese actually joined us against the Warsaw Pact. We'll never get to see how we won the war and maybe hear about The Wolverines and other US rebel groups that became heroes post war in the background.