RED DAWN Movie Review

All right, I guess it was inevitable that I make an "official" review of the movie RED DAWN. Which one? you might ask. Well, both. A couple of weeks ago I saw the remake, and I wrote what appears to be a highly agreed upon, very brief, review.
 
Well, I have had the DVD of the original movie from 1981, I believe, sitting in its cellophane wrapper for quite some time now, and having bought this new computer I'm typing this review on just last night, and wishing to try out the player, I popped in RED DAWN, with the simple intention of making sure it would play. Two hours later, I was done watching the movie.
 
That would  not have happened with the remake of this movie, starring Chris Hemsworth, for two reasons. One, I would have never owned that DVD, and two, if I had I certainly wouldn't have used it to test out my DVD player. I guess there are three reasons: If I had made the mistake of beginning to watch the remake I would quickly have thought better of it and turned it off. The only reason I watched it all the way through the first time is because I knew it just had to improve. WRONG.
 
All right. Let's admit this upfront: Critics also blasted the original RD, starring one of my favorite actors, Patrick Swayze, as Jed. They still do blast it. I, however, do not. Did it have its problems? Well, sure. Hollywood did make the movie, after all. Let's face it. Hollywood always has to be Hollywood. The story, about a group of high school kids and one high school graduate, played by Swayze, who escape into the forest after an enemy invasion of the Rockies, and from there conduct rebel warfare against the invaders, is full of action. Some of it is believable, some not. But far more of the original story is believable than the remake. The major problem is that in the original NO ONE involved in this group called the "Wolverines" had ANY reason to understand how to use missile launchers or automatic weapons of war, and yet they all used them throughout the movie, and generally with pretty satisfactory results. At least in the remake Chris Hemsworth, now playing Jed's part, was just out of the marine corps and could feasibly teach the others to use these weapons. That is unfortunately about the only thing the remake can boast over the original.
 
In the original, we had a darn good cast, in my opinion. Patrick Swayze, Charlie Sheen (whether you like him personally or not, he is still a good actor), Lea Thompson, Powers Booth, Ben Johnson, William Smith, and C. Thomas Howell. In the new movie they had . . . um . . . Chris Hemsworth. By the way, this movie was originally made in 2009 and has sat on the shelf since then, and it was AFTER the making of RD, not before, that Hemsworth was cast as THOR. Just a bit of trivia there.

Anyway, the characters in the original RD played very believable parts. They went from terrified kids, to hardened soldiers, and finally to worn-out vets who just wanted to die if that was the only way they could find true peace. They showed them passing through those different stages very believably. The remake forgot to address that. They also forgot to put any emotion into the remake. In fact, if anything I only wanted to punch Josh's young brother Matt in the face, not see him and Josh have touching moments together.

The action in the remake was choppy and annoying, often overbearing. The action in the original was tasteful, generally feasible (except, again, for the war scenes which no untrained force of high school kids could likely have carried out against trained armies, and if they hadn't suspended reality in that part, then there would have been no movie).

If you are going to spend money on RD, go rent or buy the original. Chris Hemsworth is an awesome guy to look at--a real man's man. But you are better off buying a poster of him and hanging it on your wall then wasting any of your time or money watching this lousy remake. Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen are still the kings of Red Dawn.

LET ME BE A SHEEPDOG

To all sheep: 

Please allow me to remain a sheepdog. 

This is  not a new idea. It is recycled. I am simply putting my own spin on the idea. Please listen with an open mind to what I have to say, as you know I would you.

There are three kinds of people in the world. There have always existed these three distinct kinds of people. You have your sheep, who will run with the crowd when they run, even to the point of running off a cliff in blind, emotional panic. They are good people. They want good laws, laws that are enforced. They want their rights to be defended.

You have your wolves. These are the "villains," the "bad guys," if you will. These are the Snidley Whiplashes, the Darth Vaders, the "black hats." They are those who will prey on the sheep, rape them, beat them, kill them. They live by the knowledge that they are bigger and badder and stronger, and if they aren't physically then they will use some man-made means to make it so. They live by intimidation and the willingness to hurt others to get what they want, even if what they want is merely to hurt others for their own sadistic pleasure.

And then there are the sheepdogs. These are your defenders. Your cops, your military, and anyone of like convictions. 

I am a sheepdog.

Although I am no longer a police officer, I still have that mindset. I have carried that mentality since I was a child, when my grandfather was the sheriff of the county I grew up in, when I spent countless hours watching Matt Dillon, on GUNSMOKE, save the day and rescue the helpless, and when I watched Davy Crockett walk into the Alamo and fight for Texas against all odds.

I spent a young childhood being picked on at school and watching others be mercilessly harassed as well, and that is why I started lifting weights--to be a sheepdog. To be the one who stood up for the underdog--the "sheep," who "equalized" for those who weren't as strong. It is also why I became a cop, and then a firefighter. 

As an off-duty cop, I once waded into the middle of a riot of people of a ... different color of skin than my own. I had two things going for me--a badge and a gun. I took my own life in my hands to stop a riot which ended up being five or ten people beating to death one who was of the same skin color they were.I have no doubt that he would be dead today if I hadn't stepped in, and if I hadn't been armed. Was it a little suicidal? I guess so. But the gamble worked.

I am the one carrying a weapon wherever I go. Why? Not because every day I walk out of the house I am paranoid that I will be set upon by thugs or murderers. But because I know that on ANY day there is always that chance. And too many times innocent lives have been lost because there were NO sheepdogs present when there were wolves, or the sheepdogs who were present were not equipped and ready to play their necessary role in society. They were unprepared.

Now... Do I take a sheepdog and pull his teeth and still expect him to fight the wolves? NO!!!! My sheepdog, to defend the flocks of sheep whose lives I am in charge of, MUST have the same weapons the wolf will always have. He MUST have the same teeth. In the human world, like it or not, those teeth are guns.

If you want to be a sheep, or for whatever reason you feel like you HAVE to be a sheep, that is fine. I have many friends in that category, who are unable, either physically, mentally or emotionally, to play the part of a defender, of self or others. I will defend my right to defend them, no matter what. But if I choose to pull my own 'teeth," in other words give up my guns, or if my teeth are pulled by the laws of the land that are supposed to protect me, and I abide by it, and then I am forced to watch innocent lives be taken when I could have stopped it if I only still had my teeth, then I am at fault. And I will always mourn that I was not there when I could, and should, have been.

I defend anyone's right to be a sheep. I don't understand it, but I defend it. And understand that I am not using the term "sheep" in a derogatory sense. Of course there are the innocent children and the frail or handicapped. I KNOW they can't defend themselves. And then there are some people who simply can't wrap their minds around taking another human life, even if it is in defense of someone they love. This concept is so far from my understanding that no amount of debate could ever change my mind. 

But as for me, I refuse to be part of the "flock." So PLEASE do not take away my right to be a sheep dog. PLEASE do not take away my ability to defend the innocent or the helpless, whether they be sheep by choice or by circumstance. 

I will defend my own "sheep" and any I see around me who are in need of defense with everything I have, but hitting a wolf with my tail because my teeth have been removed isn't much of a defense, I'm afraid.

Wolves will always be wolves, and sheep will most likely always be sheep.

And until my dying day I pray that I can say I will always be the sheepdog, even if I am standing alone. Please do not take away my ability to "equalize."

It has been said, if we can outlaw guns and save even one life, isn't it worth it? My response is, "You are forgetting about the countless millions that have been saved BECAUSE of guns." What of them? Were they, then,  not worth saving because we used guns to save them?

This is the anthem of Colonel Colt's revolver:

"Be  not afraid of any man,
No matter what his size;
When danger threatens, call on me,
And I will equalize."

I am a sheepdog. I am here to defend the helpless and those unwilling to fight against the wolves that will ALWAYS plague our society, as they have done from the very beginning. 

I will not require you to become a sheepdog, against your nature. In turn, I ask one thing:

Please do not take a part in removing the teeth I need to defend you and your loved ones.