Cold War film 'Red Dawn' makes political switcheroo

[Crow]

In a remake of the Cold War film "Red Dawn," the North Koreans invade Washington state. The enemy of choice was China, but producers say that was too much of a hot potato.

A sunny morning in Spokane — shaggy green lawns, puffy clouds and compact SUVs parked outside of 100-year-old houses. Then a boom, a rattling snow globe featuring the Space Needle and the blue sky fills with white parachutes. The North Koreans have just invaded Washington state.

To children of the '80s this might sound vaguely familiar. In the 1984 Cold War film "Red Dawn," the Cubans invade a small town in Colorado, forcing a gang of teenagers (Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen, Jennifer Grey) to form an insurgent militia to fight off the commies.

The remake, released this week, follows a similar script. Except it's a new teenage gang (Avengers' Chris Hemsworth, Hunger Games' Josh Hutcherson, even Tom Cruise's son Connor Cruise) and a new enemy.

Well, kind of.

Continued...

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[halocog]

I read something a while back about this. It sucks that they changed it, but it still looks awesome.

[Roo]

Pretty misleading to say that the original film was about the invasion of America by Cubans. I had to look it up on Wikipedia, and as it turns out there were a few Cuban characters in the film as allies to the invading forces, but lets not forget that the original film was about a Soviet invasion, as in the USSR. Anyway the remake sounds stupid. North Korea invading the USA is so far from plausible that its just a joke. As it turns out, the entire movie was filmed according to the original script about a Chinese invasion, then changed post-production so as to not offend the Chinese. Weak.

[Crow]

Pretty misleading to say that the original film was about the invasion of America by Cubans. I had to look it up on Wikipedia, and as it turns out there were a few Cuban characters in the film as allies to the invading forces, but lets not forget that the original film was about a Soviet invasion, as in the USSR. Anyway the remake sounds stupid. As it turns out, the entire movie was filmed according to the original script about a Chinese invasion, then changed post-production so as to not offend the Chinese. Weak.

Yeah, they should've at least went back and done their homework regarding North Korea. It could have made for a very interesting remake.

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North Korea invading the USA is so far from plausible that its just a joke.

I'd say it's plausible (under 'Hollywood' terms) given the distance between the DPRK and our beloved Cascadia. Realistically? It's a joke.

[Roo]

One factor that makes it a laughable notion, and there are many, is that right this very moment there are literally a million or more US and South Korean soldiers stationed at their border waiting for them to do something stupid. A million. Ready to attack at the drop of a hat. I miss Tom. He's going to love this movie.