The Awful Red Dawn Remake

[@M1912TrenchGun]

“All that Remake hate is gonna burn you up, kid” “It keeps me warm”

[@justanothergunnerd8128]

Oh that is good...

[@adamwarlock3530]

My friend had a copy of the original Red dawn right when it came out in VHS. We used to watch it so many times, I lost count, it was so good. It was like a ritual. I tried to watch the remake once. I couldnt make it through 1 time, it's so bad.

[@iwantmynametobeaslongaspos7194]

Red dawn is a cult classic for me, it has flaws, but it’s really really good and one of them only realistic US invasion sequences

[@Jetsparx373]

You wanna know what's even funnier, the actor who plays Captain Cho, Will Yun Lee, had more gravitas playing a North Korean Colonel in the pre-title sequence of Die another Day... Yeah, you heard me right, he had more charisma and character in a freaking James Bond movie then he did here in Red Dawn 2012 as a generic North Korean Captain.

[@strikingmachine2975]

they could have at least had an epic Hand-to-Hand fight between the Marine and the Captain. But instead, we get a forgettable pistol scene..

[@Jetsparx373]

That hand-to-hand fight only lasted about 10 seconds until they started moving into using guns and Chris Hemsworth's Jed just conveniently knew where his father kept spare glock and knew the code to unlock safe... Action movie hero logic, I don't know?

[@strikingmachine2975]

@@Jetsparx373 Trash director is Trash..

[@Jetsparx373]

@@strikingmachine2975 No, I blame the writer(s) for that dose of plot convivence, just like with Daryl getting tagged was dumb and contrived.

[@LoveSickWorld]

“In a Freaking bad James Bond movie” don’t go making it out like all bond movies are bad

[@aslag94]

The only good thing with the remake is the fun you can have trying to spot the China->NK digital edits and thinking about what other things they cut or changed post-production. There's no way the little 30 second bit of them at the end rushing a prison camp with trucks wasn't just a repurposing of some footage from a cut climax set piece of whatever.

[@chasecreamer727]

True. The “North Koreans” are still wearing Chinese uniforms.

[@derniercaesar5319]

Oh yeah, my favourite underrated channel

[@noobie1890]

Just finished watching it and my god…killing off Chris Hemsworth the way they did…pure comedy.

[@Aviator-Chicken]

This movie could have been just as good as the original except there were 2 huge problems for me. For starters Jed being a Marine. Him knowing what to do in every situation and being a survival expert really ruins the idea of being kids in a terrible situation. And changing from Russia to North Korea. It was originally supposed to be China and for whatever reason they changed it which is so much more believable. China is a true military threat to the USA, probably even more then Russia nowadays. And it also doesn’t make sense for them to invade a small city in Washington. There’s literally no strategic value.

[@RavenStorm332]

personally the remake could have still worked with Jed being a Marine and the rest being just high school kids they could have played like Jed has to teach them to survive but they want to be all COD and try to fight the invaders head on, also the writers could have made the hunting cabin into the "Partisan Rock" of the remake and have a brick fireplace inside the cabin where they write the names of their fallen on the bricks as for the squad of Marines they run into it could be that those guys were already on the mission to get the radio but lost all but three of their squad and stumble upon the cabin. Also sorry about the reply to your year old comment but I agree that the remake could have been better.

[@joshuawells835]

Spokane is the second largest city in Washington State.

[@BruhDeez]

​@@joshuawells835Washington is just Spokane and Seattle.

[@bradentwidwell7955]

Him being an expert and knowing what to do being a marine isn't exactly that big of a stretch. It shows he can train them and help them survive in combat. In the original jed was working with his dad or to that extent (its kinda vaguely hinted at in the movie) as a cop in the town. Him and Matt hunted a lot and camped out that's how they knew how to stay alive and live off the land. They showed nothing close to that in the remake. There's a lot of flaws with this that legit could've been fixed. Few that bug me are stuff like showing the passage of time (never an indication of how long they were hiding out or training themselves like in the original). Jed dying the way he did (it really should've been toni who died much like her original movie character did completely by surprise when they were celebrating their victory. It didn't need to sequel bait. All in all I don't think it's the worst remake but it definitely.. definitely sucks

[@richardmendoza738]

​@@joshuawells835Its also on the eastern side of Washington. Not Russia, China or North Korea would make it that far that easy.

[@Gas_Mask_Dude_360]

The bastard said "Blue beret means spetsnaz." No, RED means spetsnaz BLUE means VDV or russian airborne.

[@hewhoplugwalks]

He still isn't wrong. There are spetznas VDV units, like the 45th Guards Spetznas. They still wear the blue VDV beret, rather than the red one.

[@pisbi]

The subway part had me dying. Way better to watch this than that shit bread of without the bread of sandwich of yes.

[@foolsgold5588]

This makes me want to watch red dawn

[@Prepping_is_wise]

Ijust watched the original 2 nights ago.. I must have watched this movie 20 times by now..

[@angelvalle9963]

A story about Denver should have been a the storyline for the remake

[@angelvalle9963]

They packaged up 1 with 2 just to sell copies of that garbage smart marketing lol

[@darius_alex2043]

Story and character wise I prefer the 1984 movie. But in terms of the actual invasion I prefer the 2012 remake. Now hear me out in the beginning they specifically state that North Korea is the world’s fourth army. And to me it makes more sense fot them to drop on the coast than in the middle of the country. Also it states that the Russia also invaded the East coast and there is something at the Mexican border. So North Korea wasn’t really alone in this. Also it a problem I have with the 84 invasion is that from the moment if the paradropping the enemy has tanks and IFVs. In the remake however it shows that the paratroopers use captured HMMWVs and then it shows the actual equipment being shipped to the front lines.

[@JakvsMetalheads999]

My head canon for the remake is that the invasion force is a Chinese-Russian-North Korean coalition (maybe supported by other CSTO countries as well for that matter). The main spearhead of the invasion would be the Chinese and Russians. The reason the North Koreans are front and center are because the coalition are using their ridiculously massive military as a rear line occupation force to hold captured territory behind the Sino-Russian frontline. North Korea might not be a great military power, but that seems like a solid use of a 1.3 million man army. Bring them over on Chinese transports, spot them equipment where they need it, and use them to hold the rear while the better trained and equipped Russians and Chinese do the bulk of the fighting against the US Military. This theory makes even more sense given that, to me at least, some of the editing to change the Chinese into North Koreans failed in my opinion. Most of the uniforms still look pretty Chinese, and especially some of the uniforms of the generals on the stage in one of the scenes midway through the movie look almost distinctly Chinese, and not North Korean at all. Obviously out of universe, it’s just the limits of how much they were able to change in post at the last minute when the script’s villain changed, but in universe, I’d say that’s evidence that China is participating in the invasion too, the Wolverines just don’t have to deal with them in that sector - only the North Korean auxiliary occupation forces.

[@darius_alex2043]

@@JakvsMetalheads999 Yes that makes absolute sense. Also it makes sense for the North Koreans to be the ones paradropping as that would limit initial Chinese casualties and secure a safe area for them to bring in more and better troops.

[@richardmendoza738]

No, it doesn't make sense. Spokane is pretty much on the Idaho border. No where near the coast.

[@darius_alex2043]

@@richardmendoza738 It is closer to the West Coast thanks Colorado at least.

[@darius_alex2043]

@@richardmendoza738 And while the main forces were landing on the West Coast the paratroopers could have been sent further inland for a bunch of different reasons.

[@justanothergunnerd8128]

"It's quite shit actually." - GnorriTV. Yes, yes, yes and yes! This is a horrible "remake" if you can even call it that. This film could've been better than the original in many ways, as the original had flaws. I wish this movie would've improved the Red Dawn experience instead of crapping all over it. The original is good film - the remake is garbage and not worth your time by any means...

[@MrNegiGen]

Man I love your videos! Keep up the good work

[@jonathonloredo8026]

4:07 I’m so glad someone else noticed Josh peck is basically grinning in 90% of the fucking movie and it bothered me so much but nobody else seemed to see it

[@dstopard]

12:23 he is literally vdv [russian airborne soldiers / paratroopers] not spetsnaz, how you can tell is that spetsnaz have red berets and the vdv have blue berets

[@hewhoplugwalks]

S'petznas' isn't even a unit name or specific type of soldier. It's just a generic term for 'special forces'. In fact, there is a spetznas unit in the VDV, called the '45th Guard Spetznas'. They're the ones who famously stormed Hostomel airport and were seen with all the AK-12s and St. George's stripe early on. And btw, they still wear the blue beret, even as spetznas.

[@Yanespe]

Spetznaz=special force Calling a VDV spetznaz is not wrong

[@rodrigobarcik]

Your CDDA showed up on my recomended list, you just got a subscriber mate, loved your videos.

[@Venuit1233]

That guy was actually crazy He really betrayed his friends and his country cuz he got shoved 😭😭😭

[@Alex-rn8vu]

Well articulated points, some humor, great video, poor remake

[@vassiliblucher2763]

Fucking always knew it that those sneaky spetsnaz were pretending to be russian paratroopers all along with a blue beret

[@hewhoplugwalks]

That soldier IS spetznas though. Not all spetznas wear the red beret. Take, for example, the Russian 45th Guards Spetznas. They're VDV, blue beret and all. The beret thing just ain't a reliable way to tell, since spetznas have their own berets and regulation. In speztnas units, blue is worn by airborne and normal ground units. Green is worn by marine and navy units. Red is specifically for their national guard spetznas units (Rosgardia).

[@dennisjansson6239]

Havent seen this movie yet but i think it would have WORKED better if China replaced Russia as the villains, NOT North Korea. It doesn't make any sense that North Korea would be the villain, ESPECIALLY since Russia & China is bigger & have more weapons. And the movie flopped & wasnt shown in chinese theaters so its pointless to have North Korea instead. Its TIME to portray China as the enemy, NOT just North Korea & Russia. We dont need their dirty & bloody money, ESPECIALLY since China commits genocide on Uyghurs & other etnicities. And i think Hollywood overuse the Russian villain trope TOO often nowadays, even between 1991 & 2022. We need MORE Chinese villains in movies, NOT movies were they overportray China as nice & friendly & awsome like in Transformers 4, Independance Day 2, The Meg Movies, Turning Red etc etc, ESPECIALLY because of the countries genocide on Uyghurs & Covid.

[@jdflasky1969]

You probably already know this, but if you didn't, that _was_ what they were originally going to do. However, the executives ordered them to change the bad guys from the Chinese to the North Koreans, with Chinese symbols digitally edited in post to North Korean ones. (It still got banned in China anyways lul)

[@jdflasky1969]

Never mind the video literally acknowledges this, I'm stupid and don't even bother to finish videos before making dumb comments.

[@dennisjansson6239]

@@jdflasky1969 Yes i know that. Thats why i said all those things.

[@xhagast]

My first complaint about the remake is, why do it? Hollywood is crazy stupid about remakes, with dismal results. GOOD.

[@Troybranding]

I watched it last night and it was so bad i searched for this type of vid today

[@justanothergunnerd8128]

Great analysis - thank you Gnorri! 🙂

[@AManNamedHawk]

I won’t lie, man. First of your videos I’ve seen. I expected a ton more American hate when I heard your voice, but that was my bias. You had good humor, solid presentation and really good pacing throughout. I’m subscribed.

[@Prepping_is_wise]

The remake wasn't half as good as the original.. these remakes need to stay closer to the originals..

[@Loy_Otterton]

The og red dawn has a charm to it. The environment changing as it turns to winter was such a good choice as well. It has some very being scenes.

[@joe61292]

Blue beret means VDV airbourne forces, crimson beret means Spetsnaz.

[@larsharris]

I want to watch this just to see if it’s as bad as I remember. The original? Excellent. The errors just made it more authentic. Iirc the actors spent weeks learning, and shooting real weapons systems. Just like with John Wick. Him training with real guns/ammo on targets you learn how to actually look like you are firing the rounds. What surprised me. As late as 1950 they actually used live ammo in gun scenes. “You lean out fire TWO blanks fast. You duck behind this corner BEHIND THIS MARK. They will fire a burst into corner. WHEN IT STOPS you pop out fire 3 rds duck back”. If you stick any body part out it might get shot off.

[@surrelljr]

I worked all night in the oilfield, drove back home and stayed up all day to watch the remake at 5pm and was REALLY disappointed. I had a WTF moment. I was on deployment when the original came out and really didn’t hear anything about it, so I caught it during a matinee off base downtown. I had to rewatch it because I couldn’t believe I never heard anything about it, and after the second time I REALLY liked it. I will continue to watch it from time to time, the remake? Probably to just look at what the video pointed out. It’s bad.

[@andrewoldham3675]

To be fair, if there is one thing the remake did better than the original is that it did a better job of showing who the Wolverines were prior to the invasion. Like, you get to see what their lives are like as typical teenagers before everything goes to shit for them, as opposed to the original, where it only shows what it's like maybe just an hour or so before the invasion. That being said, since Amazon now has MGM and all of its intellectual properties, if they ever try to pull the trigger on revisiting the Red Dawn IP, I would suggest making it into a streaming series for Amazon Prime. Have it set in the universe of the original film, the alternate Cold War world that heated up into World War III. Get a good showrunner to develop it, my personal suggestion being Craig Mazin, who developed both Chernobyl and the adaptation of The Last of Us for HBO MAX. Show other aspects of this universe, like maybe show other Resistance groups apart from the Wolverines in other parts of Occupied America. And it won't have to be action exclusively. You could have an episode in the style of The West Wing or House of Cards that shows how whatever remains of the US Government is doing in response. (For example: was then-President Ronald Reagan killed in the nuclear blast on Washington DC that Andrew Tanner mentioned, making it so that George H.W. Bush ended up becoming President much earlier via ascension.) Also maybe show some episodes that take place outside of Occupied America. The original film implies that Canada may have suffered from a Soviet invasion as well, show an episode that tells the story of the joint US-Canadian military operation that stopped the Soviets coming through Alaska and Northwest Canada got their progress halted that Tanner talked about. Maybe show an episode that takes place in Russia when the war starts to take its toll on the Russian people. Are there Russian citizens who in private oppose the war and the invasion, and when it starts becoming too costly for them, do they risk getting executed or being sent to the gulag by openly protesting the Soviet government's decision to invade? How does this invasion affect Germany, as it was still divided between West Germany and East Germany? What about foreign bases? Is North Korea taking advantage of the US being incapacitated to either take South Korea by brute force or launching nukes at Japan? (Seriously, in the original 1984 film, I can't imagine that US military forces stationed in Japan or South Korea were on a great situation, especially being that close to the USSR at the time.) Does Western Europe (outside of the UK) ever have a change of heart in maybe supporting the beleaguered Soviet-occupied USA? How is the Middle East affected, not just with what was going on in Afghanistan at the time, but what is Israel's response? Is Saudi Arabia pissed off at the USSR for them invading the nation that is their best customer for buying oil? Is this affecting the Iran-Iraq War, which was going on at the time? Seriously, if done with some good writers and a good showrunner, I think a Red Dawn streaming series could be VERY GOOD.

[@Xis-ql5pj]

Thanks for the comparison. So I don't waste my time on the 2bd one

[@juanmanuelpenaloza9264]

I don't know about the rest of y'all, but I want to make an anti-remake of this. Basically the same scenario but in reverse. Basically everything goes right for America and suddenly NATO invades Russia. And it's all told from the perspective of Russian teenagers hiding out in the tundra as the NATO occupation just slowly devours their town. You know, a McDonald's on one corner, a Starbucks on the other. I call it Blue Twilight, as a direct inverse to the movies here.

[@dmonsterlove]

We need more "bad guys" like ernesto bella

[@chrispatrick414]

Honestly the remake would have been a considerable amount better if they just had someone else instead of Josh Peck lol

[@badas45]

They should have traded Drake and Joshes characters

[@ML8443]

It’s much better than the point break reboot 💁🏻‍♂️

[@mattyoshimoto284]

this is halarious gj

[@HistoryMonarch1999]

Original red dawn is definitely still a propaganda film but still manages to have a good story despite it (yes despite because it was very much rushed especially at the end) But my god. The 2012 one is absolutely horrid. Somehow homefront the revolution ended up having a better story because at least they tried to show HOW NK could invade, even if they really had to stretch it out

[@RajaIsThatGuy]

If you think red dawn is a propaganda, try movies from my country: "G30S" Althought inspired by a real event(Indonesian 30 september coup attempt), it still had very distinct anti-communist propaganda.

[@kevinstrade2752]

Yeah....the remake is a mix...somethings they did were better....others were step backwards.... The first will always be a masterpiece and a blazing symbol of the cold war.

[@somerandomswimmer2726]

If they kept the Chinese plot, it probably would of been a lot better

[@ScottWiecenski]

They changed the enemy from Red China to North Korea because they found out that China is like the second most movie attending country on the planet and if they had left China as the bad guy, they would have lost out on a lot of ticket sales. That's the truth of why the change was made. North Korea, however is a different story. Nobody can offord to go see a movie, so no ticket sales are lost.

[@andengrotary_96]

Chris Hemsworth are comparison on top the same with Patrick Swayze 😅

[@richardmendoza738]

Spokane is NOT on the coast people

[@marcosaguilar518]

amazing video

[@PvtEd]

Can't do accents. Sounds wrong for so many reasons

[@SteveKaye-yl7te]

When in the first red Dawn do the wolverines kill civilians? The Russians executed the civilians, and this narrator makes the jump that they are responsible for that, that’s quite a leap, I believe the perspective of freedom fighter or terrorist agrument is cultural, in the west especially in America the value of human life is much greater then in let’s say any Islamic dictatorship in the Middle East, and definitely Hamas, so that’s why so many debate and disagree on this, it’s just a theory, but it makes sense

[@johnnotrealname8168]

It is not great, the premise just makes you burst into cacophonous laughs but it is okay.

[@johnwest7463]

The original was way way better the new onethat come out sucked

[@darius_alex2043]

I agree. Story and character wise the original is much better. But in terms of the actual invasion I prefer the 2012 remake. Now hear me out in the beginning they specifically state that North Korea is the world's fourth army. And to me it makes more sense fot them to drop on the coast than in the middle of the country. Also it states that the Russia also invaded the East coast and there is something at the Mexican border. So North Korea wasn't really alone in this. Also it a problem I have with the 84 invasion is that from the moment if the paradropping the enemy has tanks and IFVs. In the remake however it shows that the paratroopers use captured HMMWVs and then it shows the actual equipment being shipped to the front lines.

[@valyshknee4203]

red dawn was already bad on its own so nothing was lost, the movie was balant propaganda and honestly none of it made sense, Like come on now, Screaming and crying when their own people get massacred but when massacring soviets right back even when they are in tears begging for mercy suddenly its okay and cool?, parts of the movie where it would have made sense for the script to go like, "Wait, The commies are human beings too just like us, Is killing them execution style a bad thing maybe?" they never did, even when there was a traitor, The kid saying his father set him up and he was under brutal pressure, likely threatening the deaths of his family members to become a rat for the soviets, and then executed him for it even after the explanation. then also the impossible blindness of the spetznas scene with the rat, where you had elite soviet special forces walking thru the woods, somehow not seeing the girl with her black hair in the middle of the white snow staring at them with a machine gun 10 metres away, I mean come on now these aren't recruit soldiers its the fucking spetznas. Like i know movies from this time period are already crazy with their logic like terminator, and rambo, but what is different with them is that they were badass and made sense, people like rambo actually existed, There was a belgian veteran 2 years ago that went rogue in belgium for example, apparently having a sniper rifle and a anti-tank launcher on hand, since he was so experienced and a commando with multiple combat missions under his belt, Even the soldiers of the regular army were afraid to enter the woods where he was hiding because the thing is, Just like Rambo 1, They wouldn't have been hunting him, But he would have been hunting them in those woods, And well with Terminator its a machine made of steel beating the shit out of everything, But what red dawn did was too bad and made 0 sense or logic, even in the slightest it failed to make any sense, As in any realistic scenario the teenage boys with their hunting experience would have easily been cleared out, As hunting experience isn't combat training.

[@mchlfr1245]

I love the remake

[@prestige_materials]

....for six years. Hahahaha

[@s.patrick6136]

The original rocks … the remake sucks. Nuff said

[@Rick79LUFC]

The remake wasn't all that bad lol its never making the best movies ever made category..but for a first watch it was OK lol 😆

[@pregifted1591]

its rlly not that bad, you guys are just picky for no reason

[@BBC42618]

A old Soviet soldier was asked one time if the Soviet Union ever had plans for an invasion of homeland USA. He said yes but because of the second amendment and gun ownership in America the idea was dropped. Millions of armed civilians would have made any such invasions turn into a complete failure.

[@southsidecompton9668]

They both are good movies, but in the remake it's way better when the Marines show up. Plus the main Character was a Marine as well and he shows the Wolverines the tactics to survive and fight against the North Koreans.

[@mickusa5338]

No they are not both good movies. The remake is absolute irredeemable trash

[@southsidecompton9668]

@@mickusa5338 why?

[@noobie1890]

The remake rushed everything… The original kept the downed Air Force pilot for a short period and killed him off, leaving the children to be the heroes of the story yet again. The whole idea is being left on your own against a power far larger and greater than a couple of kids should be able to handle. At the end of the day, this is a terrible remake that piggybacked off of the success of the original. The original wasn’t even a good film…it wasn’t awful, but it surely wasn’t the best. It was only popular because the 80’s was a time where the threat of communist influence from the Soviets, was something the USA was worried about. Anti-commie movies were popping out left and right (Rocky, Rambo, War Games, Invasion USA). If it didn’t have to do with fighting communism, they made the antagonist a Soviet. This movie would have done far better if it did it’s own thing with the same premise. All they had to do was change the names of the characters and title of the film.

[@sime1071]

I hated both movies, the original because its propaganda made me feel that the emotional moments were manipulative. I hated the remake more, because at least the original had some identity and it was decent as an action film, while the remake its just a boring, forgattable and generic action film.

[@ChucksSEADnDEAD]

It can't be called propaganda when Russia essentially behaves worse than the Soviets in the movie. If anything, John Milnus didn't go far enough.

[@bobduncanvevo6969]

the fake accent pretty hard to understand

[@TheJokesterSCR]

Oh, shut up. The remake is fucking dope. I like both versions equally. My ONLY grip with the remake is that it's not rated R. It definitely could have been better if it was, but it was still solid.

[@Alex-rn8vu]

Great counter argument, way to go

[@willnailer2118]

The remake was dogshit 🐕

[@Rawyalty220]

It was dope but cheesy at the same time

[@southsidecompton9668]

I watched both and I prefer the remake

[@mickusa5338]

it's absolutely not solid. Its literal shit

[@mauriceortiz8817]

The remake is superior. And I am a fan of the original. You just don't like it because you're a foreigner to the US and the remake doesn't waste it's time with typical woke crap. And I, generally, characterize myself as woke. But a villain is a villain. As far as North Korea invading it's as much BS as Cuba or the Soviet Union invading the US. So terrible comparison. Try again.

[@nickmitsialis]

IT only makes sense if Mexico gets 'Cubanized'; The USSR and Revolutionary Mexican Armed Forces try to 'reclaim stolen lands (Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Alaska if we want to have the USSR want to take back old Russian land) so, with their larger population, THEY are at the front line; Cuba and whatever other Central American Revolutionary governments take care of 'rear area security' because of their smaller populations and manpower. OF COURSE...all that can only happen if a US government is in place that is so weak and passive, they'll allow the USSR to build up an ally and a base RIGHT on the US Border

[@noobie1890]

This shouldn’t have even been called a “remake”. Why bother? Just give it another title and change the names of the characters. They only kept the *Red Dawn* title to sell tickets and gain attention. This movie could have easily been a success if it just changed the characters and title because it’s absolutely NOTHING like the original. Just because you keep the names of the original characters in the film, doesn’t mean you need to call your movie a remake.

[@dhi7058]

I actually liked the remake you just seem kinda like a hater rn

[@mickusa5338]

nope. He is right and your taste in movies is shit