Red Dawn (20??)
Not sure when this was actually made as Chris Hemsworth looks about twelve years old in it. It's never a good sign when the most memorable aspect about this remake is that the bad guys were changed from China to North Korea (even if it is slightly eerily relevant in light of recent events in that part of the world) when the producers realised they didn't want to alienate a huge market.
This updated Red Dawn requires a higher suspension of disbelief than usual to accept that a bunch of high schoolers plus Chris Hemsworth are able to outwit and outmanoeuvre an entire Army Squadron unit. The shift from Ruskies and the Cold War to North Korea isn't as effective as it should be either. Of course you could argue the same implausibilities about the original, but that movie had a cool cast with the likes of Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen and, er, C. Thomas Howell (who was hot stuff in those days). I remember the original being more enjoyable but that could be just nostalgia as its also very much rooted in b-movie conventions.
Here Hemsworth aside, it's largely a charisma free zone. There's plenty of action but they're very run of the mill set pieces and my pulse didn't didn't race once. The movie also feels extensively cut, e.g. There's a Russian special forces guy introduced as an antagonist, but he doesn't get anything to do? It all ends very abruptly with a cringe-inducing speech that Bill Pullman in Independence Day wouldn't be caught delivering. If a sequel is planned you can count me out.
