2012’s “Red Dawn” is an enjoyable film. I haven’t seen the original but this film is pretty fun (I have no real clue as to whether it’s the better version or not). The film tells the tale of America being invaded. It was originally made with the Chinese being the invading army but was changed via digital alterations and reshoots to North Koreans due to the fact it wouldn’t have sold as well to the Chinese movie market.

This is yet another film to open with a stringing together of various news footage pieces being manipulated to create a new narrative. “Red Dawn” has American townsfolk trying to repel North Korean invaders. Apparently, an electromagnetic pulse managed to wipe out America’s defence systems, allowing the North Koreans to fly their jets over the U.S. and then parachute down to take control. It’s this kind of ridiculousness that makes the movie a good piece of entertainment.

The characters are appalling. We have Chris Hemsworth (“Thor”, “Rush”), Josh Peck (“The Wackness”), Josh Hutcherson (“The Hunger Games”) and a bunch of others being about as exciting as teens in a slasher film but who cares? The action sequences are the film’s substitute for character. The North Korean military are only there to be shot at. It’s like watching a Stallone or Schwarzenegger action picture, you don’t care about the psychology and the discussion but you care about if the exploding stuff looks good.

“Red Dawn” is silly and in many ways, it’s nothing special. However, as a spectacle piece, this is as fun as something like the first live-action “Transformers” film. Forget that the characters are dud, the plot is preposterous and the stunts are unbelievable and just enjoy the shootouts because while physics-defying, they are great. Maybe now, I’ll get round to checking out the original “Red Dawn” with the Russian invaders.