Red Dawn: 1984 vs 2012

Red Dawn: 1984 vs 2012

Red Dawn: 1984 vs 2012


Everyone enjoys a classic movie but sometimes, Hollywood decides to take it into
their hands and recreate it with more modern technique. When I heard of a remake of the
“Red Dawn” from 1984, I was excited. I found there was plenty of potential with this film as
a remake, but at the same time felt anxious and nervous knowing most remakes don’t meet
the expectations of the original. Remake or not, every film has its own unique style that is
brought to the audience, and there is no exception for both versions Red Dawn.

At the core of both films, the storyline mainly stays the same. These two movies give
the viewer an action war film, bursting with explosive scenes and tense firefights. These
events follow a group of teenagers using guerrilla warfare against a foreign nation invading
the United States. With that said, there were two distinctive updates to this plot. First, the
films setting was altered. While the original film of 1984 was set in a small town nestled in
the mountain ranges of Colorado, the more recent release brings you to Spokane, Washington
on the West Coast. Secondly, the invading country was updated, which was most likely to
represent the today’s geopolitical and foreign affairs circumstances. In the earliest version,
high school students wage war against the Soviet Union and Cuba. China was the original
villain for the 2012 remake, until someone realized that Chinese citizens make up the fifth
largest market for movie tickets. North Korean citizens on the other hand don’t have much of
any opportunity to view films from outside their countries borders. Having this brought to
the productions attention, the remake then had patriotic american students fighting against
the North Koreans and Russia. 


I found the flow of the films to be substantially different. I felt the 1984 version
transitioned poorly, making it difficult at times to follow the plot. To really understand the
storyline in...

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