RED DAWN on blu-ray!

RED DAWN

Jeri Jacquin, Movie Maven

Coming to DVD from director Dan Bradley and 20th Century Fox comes the retelling of an iconic classic film with RED DAWN.

This film tells the story of Jed Eckert (Chris Hemsworth), home to visit his brother Matt (Josh Peck) and his father in their small Spokane, Washington town. Jed isn’t home a hot minute before there world begins to turn upside down.

With the landing of a foreign army, Jed and Matt must flee to the woods with friends Robert (Josh Hutcherson), Daryl (Connor Cruise) and Toni (Adrianne Palicki). Trying to gather there wits at a cabin, the enemy led by Captain Cho (Will Yun Lee) forces the group to make serious choices.

The “Wolverines” decide to fight back and begin to make the enemy’s fight harder. With the unexpected arrival of Tanner (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), Smith (Kenneth Choi) and Hodges (Matt Gerald) they need one thing to disrupt it all – the black box.

The teens and the Marines come together to make a stand once and for all!

FINAL WORD: Hemsworth gives his usual solid performance as Jed. He has the quiet persona of a leader and has no problem putting himself out there. That has to be very difficult in this situation because the audiences of 1984 are watching with a keen eye.

Peck is fine as brother Matt and with this telling he gets a chance to learn from his brother, take charge and become a leader. Hutcherson gets to be quite a fighter, as the transformation from young boy to capable fighter seems believable.

For Cruise this was his opportunity to experience the family business, he holds his own. Palicki as Toni does well. Morgan as Tanner is also an iconic character that he manages to make his own. Expanding to add Choi and Gerald again added believability to the role of these Marines.

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment brings films to DVD! With RED DAWN they have brought together several ways to enjoy the film. With blu-ray, DVD and Digital Copy audiences get a crispy and clear theatre experience at home owning the film.

Other cast include: Julian Alcaraz as Greg, Alyssa Diaz as Julie, Edwin Hodge as Danny, Brett Cullen as Tom Eckert and Isabel Lucas as Erica Martin.

This film really does have a difficult time with its iconic history. In 1984 many roles became memorable in that RED DAWN because of Patrick Swayze, and Charlie Sheen among others. I personally think that not enough time is allowed to pass by Hollywood before remakes are done. Many viewers feel that their beloved films become distorted by special effects and twisting of the story line. 

TUBS OF POPCORN: I give RED DAWN three tubs of popcorn out of five. Each of the actors brought something to the table with their own interpretations of their characters. Hemsworth is always solid and that did a lot for setting up this film. There is definitely action, twists and patriotism enough to go around. You can’t fault a film for trying to get that!

In the end – the fight begins at dawn!