Basic verdict: good, once you get past the fairly obvious gaping plot hole AND the fact that the pto-PRC agitprop is only mildly subtle (I personally think that it’s cute the way that the ChicComs think that we’re going to deal with societal problems the same way that they do; eg, badly). But dear God but it was grim.
But it was grim that tried to take the concept of time travel seriously, so go ahead if you like the genre.
Moe Lane
PS: Saw the trailer for Red Dawn. Still has an incredibly stupid premise, sorry.
So does it avoid the “Calvinist time-travel” (forget where I read that, but literally LOL’d when I did) trap of “12 Monkeys”?
Re: “Red Dawn” — I watched “Tomorrow, When the War Began” this weekend. Think of it as something like the Australian version of “Red Dawn” crossed with “The Hunger Games”; it’s based on the first in a series of best-selling (in Australia, at least) juvenile novels.
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Not bad — and not apologetic about the source material. They didn’t, um, Anglicize the villains, for example.
Red Dawn was a stupid premise when it came out back in … 1984. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087985/)
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There’s really no way to improve the premise as there’s still really no other military on the planet that could actually do what they do.
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Looper is on my “should probably see in theaters” list, not sure what price point ($15, $10, $2) to pay for it, though. They all keep kids employed, especially since I leave my popcorn container neatly under the seat.
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Mew
Moe, do you mean “pro-PRC agitprop”? If not, what does “pto” means?
Cat, Red Dawn might have been a stupid premise, but it was a cool teen movie with many pro american and pro 2A themes. It was a movie for teenagers, and certainly better than the filth that comes out at PG 13 today.
The movies IMDB rating and initial reviews are meaningless, since Red Dawn became a cult classic, and many of the young actors went on to stardom.
Plot holes? You mean besides
1) Using a time machine is a toweringly idiotic thing to do, or
2) Sending someone back in time to be killed by their younger self is pretty much the definition of conflict of interest?
As for the original Red Dawn, I thought it had a decent premise, and the last time I saw (part of) it, it seemed to have aged reasonably well.
I would have to agree that making the norks bad guys in the remake seems really preposterous, though. Those guys can barely run their own country, let alone a full-scale invasion of the US.
Doc, a bad premise doesn’t mean a bad movie. The Blues Brothers is a terrible premise, but a great film. It’s A Wonderful Life is, if de-sentimalizes, also kinda dumb. Red Dawn isn’t a bad movie, and I agree that it’s a good pro-2A piece… But that’s part of the flaw… There was way less disorganized resistance than there should have been, and what there was seemed too … Tame?
Mew
Well, you didn’t like SST either, so I’m not sure your movie critiques help me very much.
Saw complaints about the remake recently accompanied by a suggestion of a good alternative: the indie project Dragon Day. They’ve got an Indiegogo project up to handle post production, have a look: http://www.indiegogo.com/DragonDay
“Well, you didn’t like SST either…”
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They made a movie about the Concorde? I *know* there was never a movie titled Starship Troopers.