Review of Red Dawn (1984) by Mike

Title: Red Dawn (1984)

Original UK Release Date: Unknown

Original US Release Date: 10^th August 1984

UK Rating: 15

US Rating: PG-13

Director: John Milius

Genre: During the dawn of World War III, a group of school friends escape the invasion and while behind enemy lines they disrupt the war effort as best they can.

Plot: Action

Mike's Review

In the mid eighties, there were a few films that cast the best up and coming stars. These included St. Elmo’s Fire (1985), The Breakfast Club (1985), Young Guns (1988), The Outsiders (1983) & Red Dawn (1984).

Red Dawn (1984) starts on a typical school day. During the lesson hundreds of military forces land via parachute in the school grounds. A teacher goes out to see what is going on and is immediately shot. The children scatter and a group manage to escape together into the mountains. Once there they struggle to survive and they attempt to fight back.

The cast is incredible including Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson, Charlie Sheen, Jennifer Grey, Darren Dalton, Harry Dean Stanton & Powers Boothe. They gel together perfectly and the film shines for it. But finding one stand out performance was once again hard. There were many great performances but I finally settled on Patrick Swayze. His performance is both memorable and moving as Jed. A talented actor and his death was a tragic loss to the movie world.

The film really expertly portrays the effects on people lives and the struggle to survive. Filled with great personal accomplishments mixed with heartbreaking losses. The story played on people’s fears in the mid 80’s during the height of the cold war. People expected war to break out at any moment. Tensions were high and this film really hit home to some. For me living in the UK I just really enjoyed the movie. It’s a hard hitting story with outstanding performances.

There has been a remake of this film sitting gathering dust for the last few years staring Chris Hemsworth, Adrianne Palicki, Josh Hutcherson, Josh Peck, Isabel Lucas, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Connor Cruise & Edwin Hodge. Many great actors some playing superheroes including Thor, Wonder Woman & the Comedian from Watchmen. It has a release date of 2^nd November 2012. The release date has changed many times. Maybe this will be the final one?

10 out of 10

Additional Information

Stand out performance: Patrick Swayze as Jed

Trailer