EXCLUSIVE: ‘Red Dawn’ Producer’s Message to Big Hollywood Readers
by John NolteVincent Newman is one of the producers of the upcoming ”Red Dawn” remake and was good enough to reach out after the L.A. Times story about the switch from Chinese to North Korean invaders exploded online. After a couple of conversations, I can tell you that he and everyone else involved in the film appear to be absolutely committed to the original, especially the central message surrounding the importance of fighting against tyranny and for America and liberty.
The switch to North Korea for the reasons spelled out in the L.A. Times piece is maddening, but as far as the film itself goes, my main concern isn’t who the invaders are, it’s the themes explored throughout the story. Will we be presented with young people forced to grow up and come to grips with the fact that America is worth fighting and dying for? Will duty, valor, self-sacrifice and manhood drive the narrative? If the answer is yes, the North Korea stuff is academic — just a revealing look at the studio mindset, not the quality of the film.
When I first spoke to Vincent, the idea was that I would write something up afterwards in the form of an interview, but after hearing him out I thought a better idea would be for him to communicate directly with the BH community — and so in the spirit of Big Hollywood, a group site where we encourage artists to come on board and talk about their projects — he generously agreed.
I received this email yesterday afternoon with permission to publish it in full:
John,
There has been a great deal of commentary and speculation as to the nature of the latest round of changes that have been made to our remake of Red Dawn. I’m reaching out to you in hopes of adding some facts that might give greater insight in to what has actually occurred.
As has been rightly pointed out, all of the filmmakers loved the original Red Dawn. Our hope is that the remake can have the same generational effect in the present that the original did, and still does, for so many of us. Therefore, the utmost of care has been applied to all aspects of the production, including the ever-evolving and on-going editing/revision process that occurs on every film.
Once Red Dawn is finally seen by an audience, we hope it is found to be an entertaining and heart-pounding action film worthy of its name. Also like the original, the film tells the story of a group of teenagers who face a choice to fold, or ban together to fight for their country against an invading force made up of and supported by multiple international players. It is about a generation of kids who have everything that everyday Americans possess, including the inheritance of freedom. Now, they must learn what it is like to have to fight for that freedom on their own soil, or lose it. In doing so, they both learn the value of freedom, and demonstrate to others why their home is worth fighting for.
It should be pointed out that nearly everyone who has commented on the film in the media has neither seen it nor been told specifically what the on-going revisions entail. It might be helpful to know that the film’s set-up is based on suggestions and input from some of the country’s leading think tanks in the intelligence, military and foreign relations community. The elements surrounding the global forces and events resulting in the invasion of US territory— while fictional— are absolutely viable, and in truth, are as realistic if not more so than any version or cut of Red Dawn.
Even amidst challenging economic times so much is taken for granted, including our freedom. It seems worthy to me that we have found an entertaining and credible way to portray a group of young people fighting for a cause in which we all can believe. As Red Dawn is made available to audiences around the world, we hope they will arrive at a similar conclusion.
Vincent Newman
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132 Comments
Go Wolverines!
Hey Vince. Guess what? I'm not going to see this movie because you & your people lack character for changing the villain. An invasion by PRNK isn't believable. Even if I do suspend disbelief.
Are they going to redo the scene where the Nicaraguan commander is writing home telling his love how much he misses her and how badly he wants to go home? Only this time with a North Korean officer wanting to go back home???
"Dear honey – the war is going well but I can't wait to come home. I miss the taste of grass and the sound of the hourly propaganda broadcasts…"
We bought "Red Dawn" after the 08 elections, showed it to our teens and friends. Made em think.
Now we are discussing the reasons for the change in villains in the remake. More thinking.
Smell that smelly smell? It's the stench of discovery.
I think the " re-vision " misses the point ….In the original , A large country with what may seem to have un-limited resources – ATTACKS AMERICA ! In the new version it's N.Korea ,a small country that has trouble feeding its population and keeping the lights on… One is a real threat and the other –
- not so much…..
But I like the theme of individual liberty , to bad this version doesn't take that theme and apply it to
their own movie…
I can promise one thing: The South Koreans will go howling mad about the movie every bit as much as the people who changed the movie expected the Chinese to do. I am much less familiar with the Chinese xenophobic nationalism. I can remember a few instances where the government has fanned it and then stamped on it. It seemed generally more controllable than in South Korea – which I am intimately familiar with…
Remember – South Korean society, including the media, got very angry when one of the recent James Bond films had just a rogue faction within North Korea as the bad guy. One scene they obsessed over was instructive:
It showed a poor Korean peasant walking beside an oxen attached to a plow in a scene of third world poverty farming. The South Koreans were livid. They had had the Miracle on the Han economic growth. Hollywood must have just been trying to be bigoted to film that scene. —– It didn't matter whatsoever that the scene was clearly set in NORTH Korea.
South Korea is a nation where members of the National Assembly have gotten up to protest Jay Leno telling Korean dog eating jokes. They banned the movie Falling Down for years because the psycho main character played by Michael Douglas went on a rant against a Korean shot owner and bad mouthed South Korea and the Korean War. This is a place where Meg Ryan's face was in just about every cafe and restaurant – until – she said some offhand negative comment about some "stupid" Asian commercial she had just made. It happened it was for a Korean company and her images came down over night and the media and people kept talking about it for weeks and weeks.
You will hear South Korea's reaction to this movie when it hits the screens…
I'm actually watching the original as I'm reading this. A great movie!
Based on intelligence and research we are told this is plausible. Maybe with some really big international force that really isn't led by north Korea but by others. Besides in a movie, instead of doing what is believable by the intelligence community, you need to do what is believable by the audience. Most people who watch the film won't have access to the resources to say it's believable, they will just think it's poor writing. China would have been a better choice, even sticking with Russia would have been believable. I hope the movie does the original justice.
this might be the only way to educate our kids to the fact they are lucky to live here.
Hey, Vincent, have you play "Homefront" the video game yet? The people who made it was way ahead of you. In fact, John Milius, the man who wrote and directed the original movie also developed and wrote the entire story (and future history) of "Homefront".
Your studio have no balls and no spine after changing the make-up of the bad guys. In real geo-political and military views, China has the right potentiality to invade the United States due to the size of its manpower and arsenal, only if an EMP attack on the USA make it happen, North Korea doesn't.
I'm sick and tired of Hollywood bending over backward to kiss the butts of investors with business links to China. They shouldn't do business with a dictatorial government, they just perpetuate the dictatorship of the people by sticking their heads in the sands.
Your letter, Vincent, is not convincing enough. Sorry. Not going to see "Red Dawn" remake anyway. You and your studio people copped out big time.
You know it won't.
I don't know who the heck he's been talking to, but the subject matter experts I've been consulting say this is a very implausible scenario. North Korea has no blue water navy and no means of projecting airpower across the pacific because of its 1960s era COMBLOC air force. And even if it could land a large enough ground force on CONUS, how many of them would defect once they saw how even the poorest in this country live like kings compared to their situation back at home? A Red Chinese storyline had much more topicality and real world possibilities given the current global situation. Hell, even our Director of National Intelligence thinks China is a bigger threat. I smell FAIL all over this one.
The amount of troops NoKo would require to invade and hold part of America for a short period of time, would mean they would have to leave their half of the Korean Peninsula empty except for landmines and the old ladies and children under 10. The South Koreans could send in their version of the boyscouts as a counter attack.
Anyways… a more realistic takeover by China wouldn't be an invasion… but the Chinese government outright buying off local California governments, and installing their own police force, and financing seceding from the union… one state at a time.
No, have them watch Kundun. No love for Scorsese but I have to give him credit for showing how ruthless & callous Communist Chinese were against Tibet & religion. Or even The Last Emperor.
So, what, they should have stood their ground and had control of the movie forcibly taken from them by the studio? You'd end up with the same result, except the Wolverines would have been angsting about whether or not it was immoral to mount an armed resistance.
Besides, as one comment points out below, if North Korea had financial backing (perhaps by a certain country that wouldn't want to lose us as a trading partner if they lost) and was merely the figurehead of the invasion, it might be believable.
Colour me unimpressed, unless I've had a few more Saki's then I can remember I didn't read the part which says why the change was made and if you were forced to do it and by whom. The parts about freedom and the themes of the original movie were good but did you fight for the freedom to tell the story in a realistic way that reflects the original?
No one buys the idea that North Korea could invade the US, as a rule of thumb most countries that cannot feed their own citizens cannot usually invade foreign countries.
Why didn't they just use aliens like that battle LA movie?
It is more believe able that the Chinese would invade than the North Koreans. I am guessing there is some influence from somewhere that they don't wan to "offend" China. I can't believe we are turning into such p*ssies here.
Changing the villian so as not to "offend" the Communist Chinese was a BAD move! First off, who's going to ever believe that the hapless N. Koreans could even get over here, let alone invade! Ridiculous! All we'd have to do to defeat N. Korean troops is feed them. They'd quit and defect for a cheeseburger.
Why? Castro wanted to put a bunch of commandos into a commercial plane and hit Florida. Why is it so unbelievable?
Sorry dude, this is no different that "The Sum of All Fears" using Russians to set off a bomb in a football stadium instead of muslim dirtbags. You Hollywood types are all a bunch of spineless pansies.
Like China's going to finance NK for an invasion they can do themselves? I don't by it & I'm not going to see this movie. What's the point of remaking this movie (besides profit) if you're not going to make it BELIEVABLE. An invasion by PRNK is NOT believable. But by all means, go see it. I'll go see B:LA a few more times. B:LA will never happen but @ least it's very fun to watch marines kick-ass.
Or: Dear Honey, I've had my first real meal in months, received a welfare check, a free hospital visit and got financial aid to attend college! Me and the rest of my division have defected after the Americans gave us all cheesburgers! F*ck Kim Jong Il. WE QUIT!
Where's John Milius when you need him?
I think it's hilarious that Hollywood can worry about pissing off Chinese customers but not give a rat's ass about losing half it's American audience.
The idea that any country could invade and occupy the US (as we currently are at least) is a joke. OK, maybe the Right Coast down to the Mason Dixon line but that's about it.
Thank you, Vincent… now, here's my suggestions:
1. As you said, the movie really isn't about the villains. It's about a small group of people that band together to defend life, liberty, and country from an invading force. That force could be Russians, Cubans, Chicoms, NorKorComs, or Royal Canadian Mounted Yaksmen. It doesn't matter, because the story is about the individuals. Don't forget that.
2. At the same time, one of the major strengths of the original film was its believability. We believed that Russia and Cuba could team up and that the events could play out exactly as laid out in the film. Millius took his time studying and building that plotline, and it's important for you to remember that.
3. Simply put: North Korea can't easily act unilaterally. This will have to be a part of a major worldwide conflict, probably involving believable villains like the Chinese or a united militant Islamist front. The NorKorComs could be the main occupiers of the town where our attention is focused, but the wider conflict is going to have to be much, much bigger to meet the believability requirement.
4. Don't screw this up or we'll make sure Swayze haunts you. And not in the "Unchained Melody" way, either.
I am washing my Schnauzer as I read this. Later, I am going to peel celery.
They should have Iranians attacking surrounded by children as human shields. Since Americans can no longer have guns, we will throw pig feces at them.
You're kidding, right? NORTH KOREA?!?!?!?! That's as plausible as Taiwan invading China. I'll wait til it comes to TNT before I waste any money on it. By the way…Newman you're a chicken sh-t.
I'm glad the producer took the time out to comment, but a Nork invasion seems less like a possibility and more like studio cowardice. The video game Homefront caved and made the invaders Norks instead of ChiComs as well. It seems the various forms of entertainment media are unwilling to speak that truth. How long will America be afraid? I'm glad the film is still directly exploring the evil of tyranny and so forth. Maybe I'll still see it. But this wasn't a good thing.
So, I was a young buck when my dad called me one day and asked if me and my new bride wanted to go see a good movie. He had gotten an invite to see a new movie called "Red Dawn". We knew nothing about it, and were handed surveys to fill out as we walked in.
We absolutely loved it, and said so on the surveys.
That next weekend, I watched "Sneak Previews" with Michael Medved and Jeffrey Lyons. They absolutely trashed the film. I remember Lyons saying, "The Russians were portrayed as the worst people imaginable. They did everything but eat BABIES for breakfast!"
My father and I have never forgiven Medved for that. He can pretend to be as Conservative as he wants, but I will always remember him for that moment.
As far as this article is concerned, John, why didn't you make Newman explain WHY he made the changes?
Better yet, Dear Honey, We captured a capitalist pig yesterday named Rambo. He's locked in the dungeon and…lka jfiejl;am
We wouldnt want to offend a country that thrives on slave labor and oppresses its people
Well I feel for the producer. Knowing they made a brave film. Only to be turned on by the Studio Stanford graduate elites.
Hmmm… be cool if there was a "Director's" cut blu-ray!?
I am washing my Schnauzer…
Is that what the kids are calling it these days?
Using North Korea is beyond ridiculous. Anyone who bothers to do a 10 minute Google will find out the North has been on the verge of imploding since the mid-1990s. They will quickly see that the North doesn't remotely have the capability to invade and hold territory in South Korea.
They will see that North Korea has a huge stockpile of WMDs, artillery tubes and multi-ranged missiles – but it is only a terrorist nation. It has a potentially very powerful first punch, but then it is destined to hit the canvas.
It would have been better to make the enemy in the new Red Dawn — a generic Asian army than to use North Korea.
Any amount of consideration of reality the movie evokes from audience members will quickly lead to dismissing it as farcical.
Using a generic enemy would have had a good chance of keeping the mind on the main themes in the original.
China was a potentially plausible choice.
Using North Korea is detrimental to the core themes because it is so utterly preposterous.
[North Korea doesn't have enough fuel to train its air force year to year. How the heck did they make it to the US mainland - commercial flights?]
If China is the leading multinational, then this statement can be taken without a single grain of salt. If it were North Korea, it would be a flat out lie. NO think tank person is EVER going to say that North Korea leading an invasion of the US is REMOTELY possible.
Making Russia and Cuba the primary invaders would make more realistic sense than North Korea. Making Japan a radicalized, newly-communized or even converted-to-Islamism nation invading the US would be more plausible than North Korea.
Aliens from Mars would be more plausible than North Korea.
The South leading a 2nd Civil War would be more plausible.
Mexico invading the US would be more plausible.
You're right on Lazer. It has to be ChiComs. Fighting Koreans is worse than getting invited to the NIT instead of the NCAAs. I'm not sure the PRKs could find America on a map. Besides that, their parachutes are probably dry-rotted.
Well written.
To your third point, why couldn't the NK be part of a larger ChiCom effort? Much like the Cubans were only acting because they were a client state of the USSR.
The ChiComs would do it like the Nazis in France. Vichy governments everywhere, populated by collaborators.
Regardless of what you may think of the new RED DAWN or its premise, I give Mr. Newman all the credit in the world for addressing BH readers directly Shows a concern for audience sensibilities all but absent in Hollywood today. Credit where credit is due.
Wish someone would do a realistic China atacks the USA movie.
First, they would dump all the debt they hold while cutting access to crucial rare earth resources. During the ensuing economic crisis, they would then revalue their money and launch a serious cyberattack on US and state govt IT, and hit the multinationals, especially the financial sector. Finance Iranian war versus Iraq and Saudi Arabia, and Egypt versus Israel. Europe folds with loss of ME oil, or capitulates and ignores/backs China in their actions. They then front an attack on Taiwan by "Freedom Fighters" and Terrorist, so they come in to quell the fighting as a "Peace" force. Then 6 months later, with IT in the gutter, no fuel for our military, follow up with pinpoint attacks on infrastructure, invade through CA and Alaska. They would not need to fight too much, as the place would be a shambles by then.
Here you go.
Bow to your Chinese masters, Mr. Newman. As we all may one day.
Just be happy that they made it the North Koreans. I bet if some people in Hollywood had their way the story would be about a US military coup and the Chinese coming to the rescue, and helping us found the new People's Republic of America.
Possible Problem – Think about the 1970s oil embargoes and the Arab League.
China has financial leverage and rapidly increasing military capabilities, and certainly the man-power, to make the above strategy Hollywood-plausible, but in reality, you'd also have to consider what a collapse of the United States would do to China itself…
The US fuels China's rapid rise. A US in chaos would greatly damage China's economic and financial position and thus greatly degrade it's military capability.
The Middle East had the US in a stranglehold with its oil in the 1970s. As much or more of a stranglehold than China's US debt. But the oil embargo hurt them about as much as it hurt America, and given the fact that economic prosperity was key to their authoritarian regimes keeping their stranglehold on their own people, trying to harm the US threatened their own survival.
'We hope it is found to be an entertaining and heart-pounding action film worthy of its name.'
Um…because that was what the original Red Dawn was about.
Watch it. Its the bleakest movie this side of Saving Private Ryan. The point was the themes, not slam bam :/
Then again they couldn't even spell 'band together' correctly.
Agree on the plausibility thing — by making North Korea the lead on this, Newman and his team pretty much shift the entire plot from the "stretched reality" realm into fantasy land. You might as well follow "Battle: LA" and use space aliens as the enemy and it would be just as credible as using North Korea (though many conservatives could probably see a plot line where Kim Il Jong makes a threat against the United States and a completely intimidated Barack Obama surrenders the whole country to him, but I really doubt that backstory for "Red Dawn" would fly in Hollywood)
Bingo! Apparently the original concept was not worth fighting for. And there is no way in hell to suspend disbelief for this movie. China? Believable. A coalition of muslim countries would have been somewhat fantasy but believable. But N. Korea? C'mon.
I believe the issue about the 'oxen' was that it was depicting south korea, not north korea. A subtle difference to us, but major to the skreans.
Look, I despise skreans after 2 years in Seoul during a 10 year stretch of anti-American skrean presidents and the Summer '02 traffic accident killing 2 elementary school south korean girls was used by the commies/skrean president to stoke anti-Americanism…so I 'KNOW' about skrean hypocrisy and 'special sensitivities'….and I despise them. But I think you're wrong about the 'oxen'…skrea is not a 3rd World Country…they just act like it.
(Typos and capitalization issues w/ skrea are deliberate)
In my scenario, China would use the desruption of their economy as the excuse to attack the US. Also, I belive a rissing Yuan would then be used as the world currency, gaining them some power there. In the short term (less than 1 year) China could wether any ill effects on their economy by these acts. And regardless of the price, China and Taiwan supply a vast majority of computers for the world markets. They would suffer a small pain for a HUGE payoff.
As far as oil is concerned, Vietnam seems to have some deposits, and a Chinese protectorate, like Tibet, would not be far off. Also, if they "buy" oil from Iran, they would be fine for those resources.
"Even more than Barry misses the call of the Muezzin…"
Best line: "Because we live here!"
I guess it would not have been PC enough if they had made reference to the ACTUAL possible threat to America, which is the Islamic states and not Russia or NK. I suppose it would have been too much to ask of Hollywood to base their movies on facts.
If memory serves,,,
The ChiComs helped the US in the original version – Ironic
Hmmmmm…….. under the circumstances of your more realistic takeover by China we would have to take a more Guerrilla warfare approach and expect to be in it for the long haul. But imagine how difficult governing would be with local collaborators being killed on a near daily basis. There would soon be serious shortage of willing lackeys. Sort of like how the Colonials targeted the Crown's tax collectors rather than the higher placed reps.
It's unbelievable exactly because of your example. Castro's plane would have been able to sustain a battle for one day at the most before such a small a attack army would have been over-run by US forces. The original movie had enough invading soldiers to take control over most of the US. It's hard to fathom that North Korea would have the resources, even if funded by others, to do this.
THAT is much more believable than this POS scenario. Battle LA is a great movie, by the way.
Amazing how the original has stood the test of time. I have to disagree on this remake. The change to a totally beyond belief invader and the reasons they did it just make it totally unwatchable to me. They would have at least had a chance if they were portraying the N. Koreans as they did the Cubans in the original. But they would not even do that.
NK is nothing more than China's sock-puppet regional destabilizer. And all of a sudden NK is going to go all superpower and attack the US? Yeah, right.
Think about the NK invaders in the new Red Dawn this way. The Russians in the original film used the Castro Cuban soldiers as the shock troops. So it is a similar plot device. We all know that the NK army is huge and could be used as a tool by the Chinese to deny that they were invading to have a fallback to save face.
Priceless.
John, you got a point here. There are quite a few positive positions that seem to cancel the switch to the NK invaders plot device Let's give the new Red Dawn film a chance. For all of you purists, think about the NK invaders in the new Red Dawn this way. The Soviets in the original film used the Castro Cuban soldiers as the shock troops and followed them in. So it is a similar plot device with an inscrutable Asian mind twist. We all know that the NK army is huge and could be used as a tool by the Chi Coms to deny that they were invading to have a fallback to save face. The Chinese Communists would just sit back and indirectly supply the NK troops hoping their sheer numbers could overwhelm the U.S. Military. If that didn't happen, oh well, no great loss to the Peoples Republic of China and America is left in disarray to pick up the pieces. A Win-Win situation for the Chinese Communist government both diplomatically and militarily..
Hell, an invasion by Cuba wasn't believable either.
I'm willing to give it a shot. Sure, PRNK invading the US is wholly unbelievable; but, assume that through cooperation of other nations, forces, ideologies (radical Islam?), such a thing were possible (and it's the movies, so I'll let that possibility thrive in imagination). If it was possible, how much more terrifying to freedom would that be than an invasion by the Chinese or even the Soviets? There is no greater antagonism of ideas than our freedom and government of liberty versus the PRNK version. I'll give it a shot.
At the very least, it might give a voice to millions in the PRNK that could not otherwise express it, or even dream of the foundations of the expression. I have spent some time at the DMZ (and in the midst of Islamic fascists), and I can assure you that there is "no greater hive of scum and villany" anywhere in the world than north of the 38th parallel.
The only intelligence this is based on is a lack thereof. North Korea hasn't the logistical acumen or industrial capability necessary to relocate and outfit a baseball team let alone an army capable of assaulting Canada. The suspension of belief needed to watch this will exceed that required by Inconvenient Truth and may even approach that of Michael Moore's more imaginative works of fiction.
Now that's believable.
Good one badcrow.
The studio has new management and forced the change.
I'm sure the kids will be a virtual rainbow of cultures, races, and sexual orientation.
I think this is unfair to Vince. He doesn't mention it above but I understand the producing team has been fighting this tooth and nail, and they were given an ultimatum – the studio will make the changes or they will just never release the film.
It's time for conservatives to stop trying to break into Hollywood and concentrate on breaking it.
An invasion by PRNK isn't believable
Agreed. That's pretty much a stretch for any one with a connection to reality.
Agreed. The theme of the story isn't who the enemy is, it's that young Americans step up and do what must be done in the name of securing liberty.
If you ask me, it's simply a twist of American revolution. Against all odds, let's have at it.
That is too funny! You owe me a keyboard!
Art imitating life?
North Korea would have a hard time invading an out house. I'm still convinced the only reason France openly declared they detected radiation from the Nork's last nuke test was to hopefully prevent them from really screwing up, by trying again.
Zombies would have been cool too.
China isn't going to invade N. Korea. They use N. Korea as a pressure valve to keep the US on it's toes.
If the Chinese believe the US is getting too uppity, turn NK lose. When it's to their benefit, reign them in.
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free." — Ronald Reagan
US Forces?? "Castro's small attack" could be fought back by the Metro-Dade PD SWAT team …
It would have been more plausible if Mexico's drug cartels joined by terrorists, invaded us than North Korea. All the sleeper cells in mosques around the country and the White House could have been activated, the border would be blown open… throw in some conspiracy stuff & you have box office hit!
Actually it will be a comedy remake of "The Mouse That Roared" using North Koreans instead of The Duchy of Grand Fenwick.
WINNER!
Do they make tiny violins in S. Korea?
Some thoughts:
A) The original was great, and the enemy was believable, but not in a deadly serious documentary way, in a fun action movie way: it was close enough to what could happen, and how the communists do operate, that the scenes made sense.
B) Changing the enemy is a stupid idea. The bigger the enemy, more fun it is toppling them, and Big Red China is the biggest and more threatening, also easy to depict visually with their own brand of graphics, look, uniforms colors, etc. Muslims might be more realistic villains or more scary, but harder to define and visualize on screen.
C) In the end, it doesn't ruin the movie. The main thing I would want my son to take away from the story is how the enemy is depicted: what makes them evil. They run re-education camps, they plaster propaganda everywhere, they bully the meek into accepting the oppression, the secret police murder in the night. They did that well in the First RD, but judging from the screen shots and posters, it's even better in the remake.
D) the letter from Vince Newman sure sounds vague. They are still in the middle of damage control; hopefully they can keep their movie intact; good luck, Vince.
C)
I've been thinking about the orginal, and even Russia need a surgical nuke strike on "key cities" to accomplish the invasion. Does anyone remember NKorea last long range missile test? It didn't even clear the launch platform. With no strike they will have to rely more on their half starved army. Not only that but how would they hide the staging that would have to happen to prepare for an invasion?
"Zombies would have been cool too."
Where's Darkwolf? This would even put one of our own to work…
Arming the illegal aliens would be more plausible they are already here and don't look at us as their country anyway.
Why would the Chinese be offended at the thought of conquering America, anyway? They make no secret that their goal is to overtake America economically, and along with that are in progress towards developing military superiority as well. Think of the thriving business in selling knock-off copies of the film for them?
This digitial revisionist stunt absolutely reeks of political correctness, cowardice, and appeasement gone wild. You prove you're already their slaves. No one should see this movie as a show of "banding together to fight for their country against an invading force," (the invading force being political correctness and cow-towing).
He might be making another zombie movie. I think I heard he was hooking up with a company that was about to start a project.
Actually you make the most sense regarding this – I forgot that it technically wasn't Russian troops, it was Cuban. Which, quite honestly, is about as plausible as North Koreans.
Someone I know in the military told me that the Russians never had plans to invade us because, well, the populace is armed! Gotta love that good ole 2nd Amendment! So no matter what, an invasion by a traditional military is probably unlikely unless we were already in chaos of some kind.
That said, however, how about a kind of Red Dawn where the radical Muslim sleeper cells awaken and try and take over through concentrated terrorist attacks, including in D.C. and state gov'ts, collapsing civil order, etc.
That seems more plausible. Perhaps the writers should have tried to pick the brains of those in our society who are paid to think of these kinds of scenarios and then perhaps it would have seemed more plausible.
Okay, all that said, it's not like they chose NoKo from the beginning so there is still that question of why they changed it, especially at the last minute.
I appreciate what the producer is saying about standing up and fighting for freedom and I respect that theme – but why the change?
Just ordered the original on Netflix. Been a long time since I watched it and this discussion gave me a desire to see it.
That part probably saves it for me. Although there is still the question regarding the last minute change from China to NoKo.
What would be their motivation for invading? If it was food there are alot of countries closer to them with food. If it is that they(the troops) are ordered to all we have to do is leave the grocery stores open and trap them inside.
John Milius, writer of the original Red Dawn and the writer behind Homefront, a new game for the PC disagrees.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5yyWZ2Z6Ps
But was it any more believable in the first film that it was CUBANS?
Frankly, I think it should have been an "inner invasion" by radical Muslims sleeper cells waking up all over the U.S., using concentrated terrorist attacks to bring down D.C. and state gov'ts, leaving us in chaos.
That makes more sense than the Russians, the Chinese or the NoKos.
After all, the Russians said they never had a plan to invade our homeland – American citizens are all armed! Gotta love that 2nd Amendment!
I'll take the guy at his word, but I still don't see how the PRK scenario would work. There would absolutely HAVE to be international involvement in order for the NKs to pull off an invasion, but as far as I know they're not part of any real bloc – unlike the Cubans and Russians in the original movie. So who are these unnamed international actors? Al Qaida? The Iranians? Anybody else the NKs sell missiles and nuclear technology to? I can't imagine how a movie would pull it off without resorting to some kind of totally implausible James Bond/sci fi twist. That would ruin the movie. One of the things that made the original work was its veracity.
This is definitely a "wait and see" movie for me.
Actually, the same thing happened with Homefront. I finally got a chance to rent it last night, so Im not far into the game but I think it is pretty great so far. However, the original invaders in Homefront were to be the Chinese as well, but they later changed it to the North Koreans. A more believable bad guy.
That is pretty weird. The Russians were NOT portrayed as the worst people imaginable. I'd say the worst moment for the Soviets was when the paratroops first landed and immediately gunned down the school teacher. That was supposed to be dramatic and symbolic, not realistic. As I recall, most of the Russians and Cubans were just soldiers acting like soldiers would act. The real heavy was the Spetznaz guy (William Smith) they brought in to deal with the Wolverines.
If Medved wants to see a real nasty portrayal of the Soviets, he should check out "The Beast of War."
And I agree with you about the article. It has a lot of words, but it doesn't say much – basically just "Trust us, it's gonna be a good movie." I think he could have explained himself a bit better without giving away too much about the movie.
I don't really understand why everyone is so upset about the change from China to North Korea as the invaders in this movie.
I understand that China is big and powerful and it is definitely believable to that some day there may be real hostilities between our countries. However, there are some big differences between the Chinese now and the Russians at the time the original Red Dawn was made. For one thing, we were in a real Cold War at the time with the Soviets – so they were really and truly a "foe" at the time. They were openly hostile and the threat of true war was real at the time. While China is big, has a military and we don't see eye to eye on a lot of things, we are still "allies" with China. Sure there is some d-baggery on their side as far as economic status/borrowing status, but at this point there is basically just back-handed compliments and some verbal nationalistic tongue-wagging between our countries.
North Korea, on the other hand, is a true sworn enemy of the United States. They want to destroy us and would if given the chance. Their leader is much more "big brothery" and their propaganda is much more….Soviet.
I guess my questions is, why get so upset about a real enemy of America being shown as the enemy in this movie? North Korea fits the role, China is just scary to us because they are economically kind of b-slapping us around right now.
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