Wednesday, April 09, 2014

"Red Dawn" (2012)

I have Strep throat.  Which, as we all know, is highly contagious.  So I've spent most of today holed up in my bedroom, downing cough drops and popsicles and watching stuff on the laptop.  Including Red Dawn, just cuz it was up for free on Amazon Prime and I never got around to seeing it before, and hello?  It's Chris Hemsworth!

This will probably be less than coherent, thanks to the large numbers of painkillers and antibiotics coursing through my veins.  You've been warned.

(SPOILERS)  So, yes, Chris Hemsworth is the sole reason I watched this.  Which is why I was screaming (silently, in pantomime, cuz my throat hurts a lot) at this movie by the end, and why I will never watch it again.  Because he was absolutely wonderful until the last 12 minutes, when he got suddenly and irrevocably killed completely dead with no warning and I was very distraught.

(END OF SPOILERS)

The rest of the cast was acceptable at being high school students thrust into a war zone, with only big brother/older friend Chris Hemsworth the Marine to help them adjust and fight back against the bad guys led by Will Yun Lee, who has popped up a lot lately, first in The Wolverine and then in a couple eps of Intelligence.  Actually, there was another Intelligence guest star in this too, Matt Gerald.  Kinda random.

Is this movie family friendly?  No.  Lots of violence and bad language, including the big, bad F-bomb.

That's really all I have to say.  Feast your eyes on pictures instead:




17 comments:

  1. Haha I enjoyed reading this very much. :D I haven't seen the whole of this, but I kinda knew how it would go... (spoilers) I'm curious though -- does anyone actually survive?

    Sorry you're sick! Feel better very soon! :)

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    1. (Spoilers) Yes, 4 or 5 of the original Wolverines survive, including the brother, who becomes their leader. (End Spoilers)

      I'm feeling considerably better today, thanks! Thank the Lord we live in an age of antibiotics and painkillers.

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  2. I liked Red Dawn, until that part you mentioned happened...ugh. Still, though I wouldn't watch it again (of my own accord), I liked it, apart from that one part. :/

    xx

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    1. P.S. I hope you feel better soon!

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    2. Yeah, I didn't dislike it, but... not watching it again. Sniff.

      And thanks! My throat now only hurts when I swallow, not constantly, which is such an amazing improvement.

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  3. So sorry to hear you are down with strep. Get better soon.

    My husband begged me to watch this with him - and I relented. I loved the 80's version and wanted to keep that memory. But this one was OK. And handsome, young, courageous, brave, strong military-leader type actors always add more to a movie, too.

    ~ Ruth

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    1. I'm feeling so much better today! Like back to 40% of my usual self. The PA I saw yesterday asked me to rate my pain on a scale of 1 to 5, and I said 5. She was like, "Really?" I said, "I've had three babies with no meds during labor or delivery. This is worse than childbirth." She said, "Okay, pain medication it is!"

      I have always wanted to see the 80s version, cuz... Patrick Swayze! Do you think that one is better?

      Not much better than a handsome, courageous, brave, strong military-leader type (young or old), unless it's a handsome, courageous, brave, strong cowboy-leader type.

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    2. I'm cracking up! Glad you are feeling better.

      And you should see the 80's version just because. But I cannot say which is better b/c we are talking at least 2 decades between movies, right? And the effects are totally different. Plus, the 80's were the hight of the Cold War. But the actors are all the young heartthrobs of that time period.

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    3. My dad has the original, so I'll try to see it when we visit them later this spring :-D

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  4. Enjoyed this review! Feel better soon. ;)

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    1. Thanks! I'm feeling even better this afternoon than I was this morning -- my throat now only hurts when I swallow or cough, or have been talking too long, not with every breath. Such a relief!

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  5. Watch the original. (I say this to everyone and feel like one of those annoying people who insist the remakes are cruddy.) In this case, that is true. The original had better character developments and the brother story was TEN times better. The ending was sadder, but at least the older brother didn't die randomly. He died being cool and heroic and it was SO much better. And I almost cried. I woudl have cried if I had been able to see it all the way through.
    The new one doesn't have the same emotions and feeling. And the older brother dies randomly.

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    1. Right! I'll definitely try to see the original, then. Thanks!

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  6. I only watched it cuz Chris was in it and I will also never watch it again. The way he was just killed....I cried! He was walking over to her and *boom* he's killed! Why?! :(

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    1. I know! So horrible! Bad, bad filmmakers :-( Boo.

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  7. Huh. I was thinking about renting this (someday) but now? Not so much. ;) Glad to have the warning - and glad you're all better.

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    1. Glad to save you the heartache!

      After both my daughters got Strep TWICE each, we are all finished with it at last! Whew.

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