Red Dawn

victor

victor

Antediluvian as Feck
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I just finished watching it. Not that bad actually. I don't know what people are talking about. As a war movie from 1984, it was totally ok. I'm pretty good at ignoring the "America fuck yeah" and "Now you're a man" effects, and that's present in 80% of all US action movies anyway, so I was able to enjoy this movie.

No "Holy shit we killed'em all again, Bob" ending either, more like something inconclusive, giving only hints as to what happened next. I can also see several elements and plot events that were used in later movies.

The Russians and Cubans were given some scenes, and didn't come out as ultimate bad guys, even though the version I saw wasn't subtitled, so I didn't really get what the Cubans were saying, and definitely not what the Russians were saying (but I did detect plenty of obvious American accents). The only bad part I can see here really was the whole Brat pack thing.

I'm not saying it was the best movie ever, or even a good movie, but it certainly wasn't as bad as I had read or heard. Maybe even sequel/remake worthy.


Game-wise, I think it's a good setting, too, the whole guerilla thing. Freedom fighters didn't really do the genre justice, but I read there's a new RTS game coming soon (apparently more realistic and exciting than Red Alert 1/2, I liked those games). An action game would be cooler though.
 
The Wolverines were far too successful in my opinion. I mean, these are trained soldiers, vs. hometown kiddies. Russian or not, I'm sure they can kill you easier than what was shown.

Still, I think Red Dawn is some good propoganda.

Fucking n00bs.
 
Russian troops are damn tough. Especially the Spetsnaz, which I am sure were present. Oh, well it was good anti-commie propaganda back in the day. I mean who wouldn't want to get together with a bunch of friends and get a whole cache of weapons and take the fight to an invading force.
 
Heh, the only way that movie is even remotely interesting is the pulp/trash value, it fails miserably in all other aspects.
 
I always saw the movie as being more about Vietnam than about a Russian invasion, in that the main question it seems to be asking is, would we fight for our land as effectively and as fanatically as the Vietnamese did for theirs? Remember that the trained and well equiped US military was fighting untrained peasants and teenagers over there and we still lost. I haven't watched the movie since I was a kid, but that's the main thing I took from it.
 
[PCE said:
el_Prez]If you want a video game like Red Dawn then play Freedom Fighters.
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I dunno. I like Operation Flashpoint: Resistance better, since you actually have to gather materials from your dead opponents and steal their equipment out from under their noses to even keep fighting- and all the while you're fighting a much larger force with far more armor, helicopters, and dudes than you.

Freedom Fighters seemed to me like a regular action game with a Red Dawn backstory and Russians tacked on, though to its credit it was relatively non-linear and allowed you to tackle other parts of the city to make your invasion of another part easier (e.g taking out a halicopter pad so that you don't have to fight helicopters when you invade the place next to it). I guess that's worth something.
 
[PCE said:
el_Prez]If you want a video game like Red Dawn then play Freedom Fighters.
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The Overseer said:
Freedom fighters didn't really do the genre justice
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Freedom fighters was linear as hell. You have to be an idiot not to do the side missions first, and you always ended up doing them.

Carib FMJ said:
Russian troops are damn tough. Especially the Spetsnaz, which I am sure were present.
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I've read and heard on several occasions that the Spetsnaz were crap compared to a lot of other elite forces, like the SAS.

And it really takes a long time to get a huge army like the Russian one moving. Nor did the Russian/Cuban soldiers really have the motivation to invade the US, just like a lot of invading armies in the past. They were just pushed forward by their superior officers.

It's definitely not the first time a small untrained group (although far more likely to be adults than teenagers) has formed a guerilla army and fought an invading army successully. Just look at WW2: France, Yugoslavia, Norway... And a lot of them ended up dying.

As I said, the only bad thing was the characters, Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen were often ridiculous.

Welsh, the parallel to be drawn here isn't Vietnam, it's Afghanistan. 1984, helicopters, horses, and turbans. You guys liked the muslims back then, remember?



Eeeh, maybe you should just watch the movie again.
 
SAS are definitely hardcore, but the Spetsnaz shouldn't be overly underestimated.

Then again the SAS, Army Rangers and the Green Berete as well as the Israel Airborne group are tough mothers.
 
Spetsnaz can be good & can be bad. the thing is they got a lot of people & are spread out over a huge geographical area.

some of the chapters are hardcore elite, some are just normal troops with a special name and a lil' more toys than average.
 
I enjoy this movie. I could care less about the underlying themes. It's just a fun "what if?!" flick.

John Milius rules.
 
Red Dawn was an awesome movie in terms of its entertainment value. Is it particularly realistic that a bunch of High Schoolers could take on the Cubans? Not really, I guess, but then they weren't meeting them face to face. The only scene that really cries "bullshit" is when they ambushed the Spetsnaz in the forest.

They all died anyways. =/

My Jarhead co-worker and I actually had a minor obsession for a short time trying to determine what state the movie takes place in. Fun times.
 
Bradylama said:
My Jarhead co-worker and I actually had a minor obsession for a short time trying to determine what state the movie takes place in. Fun times.
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Colorado, I thought. Doesn't it say so in the movie?
 
I can understand the RUssian army being big, but how the hell did they just breeze through California. I mean Americans on a while, especially when you are in the midwest are one of the most armed citizens in the world.

OOh, well its just a movie I suppose.
 
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