Red Dawn - Review

Red Dawn
(2012 - November 21 )
Action
1 hr. 33 min.

Rated: PG-13 Sequences of intense war violence and action, and language
Grade: D+

Director: Dan Bradley
Writers: Carl Ellsworth (screenplay), Jeremy Passmore (screenplay),
Kevin Reynolds (1984 screenplay and story) John Milius (1984 screenplay)
Stars: Chris Hemsworth, Isabel Lucas and Josh Hutcherson | See full cast and crew

American city awakens to the surreal sight of foreign paratroopers dropping from the sky – shockingly, the U.S. has been invaded and their hometown is the initial target. Quickly and without warning, the citizens find themselves prisoners and their town under enemy occupation. Determined to fight back, a group of young patriots seek refuge in the surrounding woods, training and reorganizing themselves into a guerilla group of fighters. Taking inspiration from their high school mascot, they call themselves the Wolverines, banding together to protect one another, liberate their town from its captors, and take back their freedom.

This is a remake no one was asking for and no one needed. It takes a mediocre film, Red Dawn (1984) and remakes it into an even worse film, it does nothing to improve the original, except for the quality of the explosions. It fails on multiple levels; the nauseating hand held camera technique, the horrendously flawed new screenplay, awful directing and the generally abysmal acting.

This updated take on Red Dawn completed filming more than two years before its release, quite some time before Hemsworth became a god wielding his mighty hammer in Thor or before Hutcherson competed in The Hunger Games. 

Originally scheduled to be released on November 24, 2010, the film was shelved due to MGM's financial problems. While in post-production, the invading army was changed from Chinese to North Koreans in order to maintain access to China's huge and growing box office. In May of this year the Chinese Government (via front company, Dalian Wanda Group, China's biggest movie theater operator) bought AMC Entertainment, America's second largest theater chain, for $2.6 Billion. This is China's biggest takeover of an American company yet and makes Dalian Wanda the world's largest theater group. AMC's day-to-day operations will remain unchanged and Wanda will invest an additional $500 million to fund AMC's development. AMC's American management will remain in place and headquartered in the Kansas City area. The company employs some 18,500 people. It would be a gross understatement to imply that China is aware of the value that cinema can play in the world of propaganda. With Wanda's vast resources there is no question that this positions China to wield influence in what Hollywood produces in the future due to this new dominance in global film distribution. Perhaps the first incidence being the changing of the antagonists in Red Dawn from Chinese to North Koreans.


Anyway, back to Red Dawn. As I was saying these two, Hemsworth and Hutcherson, have a great deal of screen presence and their box-office appeal should draw in audiences of a particular age who will pay to see either of these men in anything, who will want to cheer for them in this patriotic pep rally, who might want to see them as a very different type of 'young warrior'. This remake might be passable for those excited by eye candy holding guns and clucking patriotic cheers, and explosions, but it is inferior to the original in virtually every aspect.

It is all too clear that neither Hemsworth's Thor like charm nor Hutcherson's wholesome boy next door attractiveness is able to rescue  this lame, feeble, clumsy material  and directing. The performances are underwhelming including the particularly egregious acting by Isabel Lucas as Erica, Matt's attractive yet personality-free girlfriend, but she certainly isn't the sole offender. Josh Peck is entirely unconvincing as the high school football hero quarterback. Jeffrey Dean Morgan and two other 40-something actors, show up for the final act as the Wolverines' experienced soldier backup, bringing a little weight to the cast but it is far too little and far too late.

Most remakes try to offer an inventive twist or a realistic updating or modernization from the original. This film, not so much,  here the filmmakers decided it was a good idea to digitally alter the invading army's nationality from Chinese to North Korean (as if they're saying all East Asians look alike),  and then they, not-so-subtly, kill off every cast member of color like in a stereotypical horror movie -- every black and Hispanic teen meets his or her demise, while most of the white kids survive. Then there were the added clips of Obama, Biden and Clinton which were absolutely nauseating, I caught myself hissing at the screen, but I digress. Anyway, in the typical liberal social relativism, so prevalent in Hollywood, we are to view 'The Wolverines' a.k.a. The People's Liberation Army as comparable to the Iraqi insurgents or the Viet Cong 'liberators' and 'freedom fighters'.


We are also asked to believe that a group of teenagers from Spokane, Washington can achieve what the entire US military can not, that the North Korean invaders are so invincible that they could occupy the USA, yet they are so easily defeated by one marine and the cast of Scooby-Doo which he has trained to be SEAL Team 6 in a matter of a few days, but let's not get into all the plot holes, it would take way too long to enumerate them all.

Is Red Dawn an apocalyptic story — not really, it's more a story about the fall of America, how 'her chickens have come home to roost'. Our current political leadership is dedicated  to seeing America knocked down a few pegs, to seeing our sovereignty relinquished to some kinder and gentler, wiser global entity like the United Nations. 
So, America is getting what it deserves for being a big bad bully, for growing greedy, soft and complacent from our ungodliness, liberalism and political correctness or from too much soy in our diet or whatever. Me, I place the blame on the ungodliness, liberalism and political correctness (although soy is also nasty, tofurkey for thanks giving diner or a big glass of soy milk with your pumpkin pie...I don't think so).

But back again once more to the movie, the fact still remains that there is no authenticity in this badly flawed film, just one example, a few minutes after their friends and comrades are killed in battle big bad principled marine Jed and his wannabe girlfriend drinking beer and flirting. 

In the original Red Dawn staring Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen there was an emotional connection that included actual conversations, but in this version the brotherly talks between Peck and Hemsworth are forced, disingenuous and virtually forgettable, in fact forgettable is an accurate descriptor for this absurd and  regrettable remake. 

Cast

  Chris Hemsworth         Josh Peck        
 Jed Eckert                    Matt Eckert

 Josh Hutcherson        Edwin Hodge   

Robert                                Danny

   Isabel Lucas         Adrianne Palicki
Erica                                Toni

Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Col. Andy Tanner 

The Possession - Movie Review

The Possession
(2012)

92 min
Horror | Thriller

Rated: PG-13
Director: Ole Bornedal

Writers: Juliet Snowden, Stiles White, Leslie Gornstein

Stars: Natasha Calis, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Kyra Sedgwick | See full cast and crew

Grade: C-

A young girl buys an antique box at a yard sale, unaware that inside the collectible lives a Dybbuk, a malicious ancient spirit. The girl's father teams with his ex-wife to find a way to end the curse upon their child.

Based on a true story, The Possession is the terrifying account of how one family must unite in order to survive the wrath of an unspeakable evil. Clyde (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Stephanie Brenek (Kyra Sedgwick) see little cause for alarm when their youngest daughter Em becomes oddly obsessed with an antique wooden box she purchased at a yard sale. But as Em's behavior becomes increasingly erratic, the couple fears the presence of a malevolent force in their midst, only to discover that the box was built to contain a dibbuk, a dislocated spirit that inhabits and ultimately devours its human host. -- (C) Lionsgate

Sam Raimi wants us to know for sure that The Possession is based on a true story. That makes for the best scary movie doesn't it? Well, having not investigated the 'true story' I can't say how true to the story it is. What I can say is that it is little different to offer than a hundred other possession B, C and D list horror movies. You've seen it all before, you know how it will end. About the only thing remotely original or different is the ethnic Hebraic element to the plot, that the evil possession comes in the from a Dybbuk and the exorcism requires an Hasidic Rabbi. 

The acting is unremarkable, Jeffrey Dean Morgan does an adequate job given what he has been handed by the writers. The film is relies heavily on all the stock horror cliches. There are plenty of my pet peeves too, stupidity...one example, mom is a vegetarian yet in a 'creepy' dark of night scene she finds Em raiding the refrigerator eating raw meat like an animal. 

You know there will be a time or two when the startling 'gotcha' type scary moments may make you jump a bit, but the film in the whole ends up fairly boring.

 Spoiler Alert

The Plot

Complements from Wikipedia

The film opens with a woman trying to open a strange box, protecting herself with holy water and a hammer. She is thrown violently around the room by an unseen force. When her son enters, she is unconscious on the floor. Next the audience is introduced to couple Clyde (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Stephanie Brenek (Kyra Sedgwick) who are in the process of divorce. They have two children, Em (Natasha Calis) and Hannah (Madison Davenport).

Clyde and his daughters shop at a yard sale, where Em becomes intrigued by an old box which has Hebrew inscriptions engraved on it. Clyde buys the box for her. They hear an animalistic noise in their kitchen one night, but when the intruder escapes through their dog flap, Clyde assumes it was a raccoon.

Em becomes solitary and spends her spare time staring at the box. Her behavior increasingly grows more sinister and the house is infested with moths. Em's behavior gradually grows more violent. When she strikes out at a schoolmate who was trying to steal the box, she is brought to the attention of the authorities, who recommend that she spend time away from the box. That night, her teacher dies when a malevolent force throws her out a window.

 Em tells Clyde about a woman who lives in her box who says Em is "special." Her father is alarmed by her behavior. He attempts to dispose of the old box by throwing it in a garbage unit, but Em retrieves it. She seems to become totally possessed by the entity at this time. Clyde, immensely disturbed, takes the box to a professor at the university. The professor tells him it is a Dybbuk box and dates back to the 1920s; it was used to contain a broken spirit, an ancient Jewish evil or demon.

Clyde immediately travels to the local Hasidic community, and learns from a Jew named Tzadok (Matisyahu) that the possession has three main stages, with the third stage being the one where the Dybbuk latches onto the host, becoming one entity with it. The only way to defeat the Dybbuk is to lock it back into the box in a forced ritual.

At home, Em violently attacks her mother when Stephanie discovers her eating like an animal out of the refrigerator. Em is taken to the hospital for an MRI. Stephanie is horrified when she sees the Dybbuk's face in the images, next to her heart. Stephanie realizes Em is possessed. Clyde and Tzadok join the rest of the famly at the hospital. They attempt to conduct an exorcism but Em escapes. Clyde chases her and Em attacks him. He survives but now is possessed by the Dybbuk. Tzadok performs an exorcism which is successful: the Dybbuk crawls out of Clyde and back into the box.

The family is reunited. Tzadok drives with the box in his vehicle. His car is hit by a truck, apparently killing him. The Dybbuk box is unharmed, with the demon still inside.

Cast

Jeffrey Dean Morgan      Kyra Sedgwick

Clyde Brenek                   Stephanie Brenek

Natasha Calis      Madison Davenport

Em                   Hannah

 

Matisyahu

Tazadok